7- Eleven Vietnam announced on June 7 its first store would officially open at Saigon Trade Center, 37 Ton Duc Thang, 1 district, Ho Chi Minh city.

So, after rumors and recruitment taking place last year, 7-Eleven has officially entered the Vietnamese market.The brand’s target is to develop 100 stores in the next three years and 1,000 stores in the next 10 years.

7 – Eleven is an international chain of convenience stores that operates, franchises and licenses some 56,600 stores in 18 countries, including 18,000 stores in Japan alone. It’s headquartered in Texas while its parent company is located in Tokyo. 7-Eleven aims to reach 80,000 stores worldwide by 2020. On average, a new store opens every two hours.

The emergence of 7-Eleven in Vietnam is a sign of a fierce competition in the retail segment. According to Nguyen Huong Quynh, General Director of Nielsen Vietnam, although the penetration of 7-Eleven market may worry many in the retail sector, this is also a chance for domestic businesses to innovate and improve, so that they could be willing to cope with the wave of foreign businesses in general, 7-Eleven in particular.

The potential of the convenience store segment in Vietnam is very huge, as statistics from Nielsen Vietnam show that the per capita per convenience store in Vietnam is 69,000/store, far exceeding the figure in many countries in the region. For example, the Philippines 37,000 people/store, China 21,000 people/store, Thailand 5,556 people/store and South Korea 1,835 people/store.

Secondly, the structure of households in Vietnam has been recently on the downward trend while the young population has grown rapidly. The busy life of consumers is increasing the demand for utilities.

Thirdly, the habits and income of Vietnamese consumers have changed, the demand for utility has also increased. That is the premise for the trend of convenience store chain.

VNF