CHINA VS THAILAND BATTLE FOR RETAIL MARKETS IN VIETNAM
According to Scott Galoway – author of the famous book “Four great powers”, the history of the world retail industry takes place in Europe and the US has gone through 6 stages: (i) Corner store, (ii) door department stores, (iii) Supermarkets (iv) Hypermarkets, (v) Luxury supermarkets and (vi) E-commerce, it is the fast and strong growth of e-commerce websites in the world such as Amazon, Alibaba, Ebay … and the decline of traditional retail industry (Walmart, Kmart, * Macy’s …) have proved the future of weakness in home buying the whole world with one click.
Vietnam’s retail industry has experienced a period of rapid growth and experienced a fierce competition between traditional retail and the dominance of brands (Big C, Coopmart, Metro, Vinmart ….) and the entry into e-commerce industry of domestic and foreign enterprises through e-commerce sites such as shopee, lazada, tiki, sendo, adayroi …
In general, this war shows the inferiority of domestic enterprises, whether in traditional retail or e-commerce, but it is the battle to win market share among selling Corporations. Thailand (Central Group, Singa, TCC Group) and Chinese E-commerce Corporations (Alibaba Group, Tecent ..) … the competition and strong development of foreign corporations are somewhat threatening Threatening the development of the domestic retail industry as well as the difficulty of finding its way into these large distribution systems, it will be a disaster if Vietnamese goods cannot be sold to Vietnamese people on the Vietnamese market. .
(i) THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHU THAI LAN IN 5 YEARS FROM 2014-2019
We must first mention the Thai-owned acquisitions over the past five years, precisely because the saturation of the domestic market has led Thai corporations to seek opportunities in the period. transfer between traditional sales through large-scale distribution / supermarkets to sales through e-commerce sites. Thai corporations have quickly acquired leading enterprises in Vietnam with a clear purpose of increasing the presence of Thai products in the Vietnamese market. With a population of over 90 million people, the distribution systems account for only 20%, Thai goods are very popular in Vietnam, it is clear that Thai goods landing and overwhelming domestic goods is a one-way story soon. .
In the Thai landing in Vietnam market, firstly, TCC Group of Asian Godfather Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi who owns ThaiBev, TCC Land, Frasers, FN … has done a series of big deals in Vietnam. Nam with a total value of US $ 8 billion in Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam, Phu Thai Group, B’smart, 19% Vinamilk and recently Sabeco … This billionaire has announced that he will sell 60 % of Thai goods in Metro supermarket, besides the possession of Sabeco’s huge distribution system, the distribution of ThaiBev’s drinks into the Vietnamese market is only a story of time. Next is Central Group, which owns many popular retail chains in Vietnam such as: Nguyen Kim Electronics Supermarket (south), Big C supermarket chain, Lan Chi Supermarket chain (north) ), Robins.vn (Zalora), Marks & Spencer … the total investment value for merger and acquisition deals in Vietnam of Central is about 5 billion USD. The Thai owner, after successfully acquiring Big C, announced to put 60% of Thai goods into Big C supermarkets, after which a series of Vietnamese brands had to leave the system because of a high discount, typically a series of doors. Mobile World goods have to leave. Finally, Singha Asia Holding Pte Ltd invests more than US $ 1.1 billion in Masan Holding, focusing on fast-consumption sectors such as soy sauce, coffee, mineral water and beer.
As a result, within five years, Thai Corporations, together with significant support from the Thai Government in lending them to invest in Vietnam, owned the main distribution system from the door. small goods, to small supermarkets and hypermarkets, in business who knows the distribution system he will win. Vietnamese goods in supermarkets will certainly decrease, Thai products will be both quality and support because the system will penetrate deeper into the market, and in this war, each Sai Gon Coop supermarket system is alone. regain market share….
(ii) THE REVOLUTION OF CHINA LEGALS INTO VIETNAM
In the flow of e-commerce, the appearance of big names in the Vietnamese market is not too surprising, however, the appearance comes mainly from Chinese giants and does not have any houses. Which major investment from Europe or America is the question that needs to be answered. According to a study by United Nation organization, in Vietnam there are currently more than 64 million internet users and among them more than 65% use smartphones, which makes the size of the e-commerce market in Vietnam has grown one way
significantly and according to forecasts of e-Conomy SEA, the market size of Vietnam will soon surpass Thailand market (USD 43 billion) by 2025.
On the current e-commerce playground after the withdrawal of Adayroi owned by VinGroup, the remaining names Lazada, Shopee, Tiki and Sendo, among the largest e-commerce websites in Vietnam at present. Except for Sendo owned by FPT, the remaining e-commerce sites are owned by names from China including Lazada (owned by Alibaba Group), Tiki, Shopee (owned by http: / /JD.Com/, SEA, VNG which are all investments from Tencent Group). If Tiki and Sendo merged to create a unicorn counterpart with Lazada and Shopee, then clearly see the battle of two rich Chinese men on one side, Alibaba and one side, Tencent.
(iii) OPPORTUNITIES FOR VIETNAMESE ENTERPRISES
Up to now, it is possible to imagine the difficulty and fierce of Vietnamese enterprises on the chessboard of the retail industry, when the traditional retail market is the competition of Thai enterprises, the e-commerce market is money-burning game of rich Chinese men. And in the battle between the traditional retail industry in the transition period to the form of e-commerce, there is still the shadow of Vietnamese businesses such as Sai Gon Coop, Mobile World with distribution stores and commercial websites. 5th largest electronics … but after the rapid departure of Vingroup after ceding its supermarket chain to Masan and ending e-commerce site Adayroi signaling a difficult time for businesses. retail in Vietnam.
It is a battle of two giants in the Vietnamese market, in which no matter who wins, businesses are still the most disadvantaged, Vietnamese goods cannot enter the supermarkets held by the Thai and it will also be difficult to pass through the control of Chinese bosses when distributing via e-commerce channels, the story of “Vietnamese using Vietnamese goods” should be more encouraging than ever.
DINH MINH TUAN
