Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and Lotte Vietnam are committed to supporting Vietnam in the training of high quality workforce for the distribution industry, according to Kim Jeong Min, vice director of KOICA Vietnam.
Overview of the conference. Source: MoIT.
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Tran Duy Dong, director of the Domestic Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), said the country’s retail market has been growing at a rapid rate, thanks to a population of over 90 million and strong economic performance.
Dong added the presence of modern technologies has made Vietnam’s retail market more competitive and attractive with new trends such as online shopping or omnichannel, among others.
Dong referred to the Global Retail Development Index (GRDI) of AT Kearney in 2017 that named Vietnam the world’s sixth attractive markets.
In 2018, total retail sales of consumer goods and services in Vietnam reached VND4,400 trillion (US$190 billion), up 11.7% year-on-year. Of the total, retail sales of goods accounted for 75%, up 12% year-on-year, sales of accommodation and catering services up 12.3%, sales of tours up 14.1% and other services rose 11.8%.
Dong attributed strong growth of the domestic market and the region, expansion of existing markets and infrastructure developments to such rapid growth of Vietnam’s retail market in the 2014 – 2018 period.
KOICA’s research report about Vietnam’s distribution industry suggested Vietnam has to maintain mutual prosperity and settling conflicts between modern, large-scale distribution and the traditional market, in order to avoid conflicts and problems of distribution in mass.
For the development of the industry, it is, therefore, required to support the development of traditional markets in Vietnam, stated the report.
Dong pointed to four factors needed to be addressed for the development of the distribution industry.
Firstly, it is necessary to resolve the conflict between modern and traditional distribution systems.
Secondly, harmonizing the development between large scale enterprises, including the foreign-invested companies, with millions of small and medium enterprises.
Thirdly, harmonizing the development of online and brick-and-mortar businesses.
Fourthly, promoting the consumption of local products right in the home ground.
