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Tag: Japan

  • Sushi Kit Kats for new Nestle Japan store

    Sushi Kit Kats for new Nestle Japan store

    Nestle Japan will open its first stand-alone Kit Kat Chocolatory store in Tokyo’s Ginza district on February 2 – and marking the occasion with gifts of special sushi Kit Kats.

    Since the first Kit Kat Chocolatory opened in January 2014 as a specialty store offering premium and exclusive Kit Kats, the franchise has expanded to eight outlets across Japan, all within major department stores.

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    For the grand opening of its stand-alone store, the company has created a set of three Kit Kats shaped like sushi – a combination of Kit Kats and rice puffs coated with white couverture chocolate. The maguro (tuna) version is topped with a raspberry-flavoured Kit Kat, the uni (sea urchin) version is made with a Kit Kat with the flavour of Hokkaido melon with mascarpone cheese, while the tamago (egg) version features a pumpkin pudding flavoured Kit Kat.

    kit-kats-chocolatory-japan

    Actually, the idea of a sushi Kit Kat was shared on social media by Nestle Japan as an April Fool’s Day joke last year, but the response was so huge the company decided to make it a reality. There will be 500 sets of the three sushi Kit Kats, with a limited number being offered each day to customers spending more than 3000 yen (US$26.50) or more at the new Ginza store.

    There are also plans to open a cafe on the second floor of the store in the next several months where customers will be able to try special items such as baked madeleines made with Kit Kats, or even make their own Kit Kat creations using toppings of their choice.

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  • E-commerce in Japan: 20% of retail by 2022

    E-commerce in Japan: 20% of retail by 2022

    While the U.S. and China are already known as global e-commerce markets, it’s Japan that boasts the largest e-commerce potential, especially over the next three to five years, say two separate consultant groups.

    In 2015, Japan generated roughly $80 billion in e-commerce sales. This compares to some $350 billion of e-commerce sales in the U.S. and China’s whopping e-commerce sales result, which exceeded $650 billion in 2015.

    Yet, e-commerce will be Japan’s largest single retail channel by 2022, according to a recent report produced by JapanConsuming.

    Having overtaken convenience stores to become the second biggest already in 2015, the firm has forecast that Japan’s e-commerce share of retailing will reach 20% by 2022.

    “This is a forecast that few would challenge, although there are plenty of traditional retailers who are in deep denial,” said report authors, of the predictions.

    “The only point of contention is just how far ahead e-commerce will be by then. Given the sea-change in consumer preferences and shopping behaviour already visible, the coming change will be profound,” added the group.

    Japan’s demographic is ripe for e-tail. Approximately 93% of the total Japanese population (126 million) is urban, giving it the highest urban population of the top 10 e-commerce markets, according to e-commerce consultancy PFS. Much like JapanConsuming, PFS predicts Japan’s e-commerce sales to increase almost 40% by 2018, for a market total of over $122 billion.

    Japan also has the highest digital buyer percentage in the Asia-Pacific region, with 77 million digital buyers last year, said PFS, in its Global E-Commerce Report.

    As well as computers, mobile shopping is quickly growing, with half of all e-commerce transactions being conducted via mobile devices in 2015, a trend set to continue by 2022.
    In terms of payment, debit and credit cards are the most popular payment methods when shopping online, with over 66% of shoppers conducting transactions utilising this method.

    As for what online stores are attracting the Japanese e-shopper, marketplaces continue to dominate the e-commerce landscape. Japan’s three big sites, in order of market share, are Rakuten, Amazon Japan and Yahoo Japan Shopping. Collectively, these sites accounted for around 50% of total Japanese annual e-commerce revenue in 2015.

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  • Give yourself a break with Japan’s limited-edition Kit Kat sushi

    Give yourself a break with Japan’s limited-edition Kit Kat sushi

    Kit Kat, trusty purveyor of cocoa-coated wafer bars, has swooped in with the break you never knew you craved: chocolate sushi.

    The unimaginable “sushi cut kits” debut Thursday at Tokyo’s first-ever street-facing Kit Kat specialty store, according to former Gawker property Kotaku and Japanese media. The treats reportedly come in three flavors: “Maguro” (tuna), “Uni” (sea urchin) and “Tamago” (egg).

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/nestlejapan/sets/72157677570905932

    Maguro consists of raspberry flavor Kit Kat on puffed rice.

    If those sound unpalatable, take heart: There’s no real fish involved. The “tuna” variety is actually raspberry-flavored Kit Kat on top of a white chocolate rice puff; “sea urchin” is Hokkaido melon and mascarpone cheese-flavored Kit Kat encased in seaweed; and “egg” is a pumpkin pudding-flavored delicacy, also wrapped in a thin band of seaweed.

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/nestlejapan/sets/72157677570905932

    Tamago is pumpkin pudding-flavored.

    The sushi kit sets will retail for 3,000 yen (just over $26) at the so-called Japanese “Ginza shop” from Thursday to Saturday.

    Japan, evidently, has a thing for the shareable Nestle-produced confections: The country has sold more than 300 flavor varieties since the brand first went on sale there in 1973, per a 2015 report. And the candy’s name sounds fortuitously similar to the Japanese phrase “kitto katsu” — meaning “you will surely win.”

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/nestlejapan/sets/72157677570905932

    Uni features Hokkaido melon and mascarpone cheese-flavored Kit Kats.

    Chef Yasumasa Takagi, who whips up gourmet delectables for the Kit Kat Chocolatory in Tokyo, says, “The challenge is how to make something handmade out of an industrial brand.”

    “The KitKat has three perimeters: the chocolate, the wafer and the cream. The chocolate and cream are where we can be most creative,” he told the Telegraph. “For me, my goals are the same as in my work as a patissier. I want to surprise people, I want to make them happy and I want to somehow create an emotional reaction.”

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  • Foxconn to help Japanese firm sell robots around the world

    Foxconn to help Japanese firm sell robots around the world

    What guise will robots of the future take? Some see as them as faceless automatons, capable of performing basic tasks for us, whilst the Supermatrix predicts a future where they’ll be actively concious but subdued through a dream within a dream. SoftBank Mobile however believes robots can be our friends before they do our bidding, which is why it launched its Pepper robot in Japan last year and is now partnering with Foxconn and Alibaba to help sell it around the world.

    Pepper doesn’t perform any particularly useful tasks around the house or office, but he can read facial expressions and judge emotions based on language and tone of voice and can react accordingly. If you are sad, he might engage you in conversation or play your favourite song to cheer you up. Over time he learns your emotions and different moods and can compliment or help alleviate them depending on your preferences.

    To date he’s mostly been used as a greeter in Softbank stores, but there are other potential uses such as babysitter, party greeter, serving staff or a companion for the elderly. It’s expected that retailers may be some of the most interested in Pepper, but that there are plenty of other applications for him where end users and other organisations may see him as a good fit for the role.

    Projected costs for the robot are expected to be $1,660 (£,1044) up front, followed by monthly payments of £125 to cover ongoing insurance coverage (should it fall over and break) as well as access to the cloud processing facilities required to make many of Pepper’s more complicated analysis and decisions.

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  • Japan December retail sales below expectations as BOJ meets

    Japan December retail sales below expectations as BOJ meets

    Japanese retail sales rose less than expected in December, government data showed on Monday, unwelcome news as the Bank of Japan meets to set monetary policy.

    Retail sales rose 0.6 percent in December from a year earlier, below the median market forecast for a 1.3 percent increase.

    The Bank of Japan is expected to announce a steady monetary policy after its two-day meeting Tuesday and seek to allay speculation of an early tapering of its massive stimulus.

    Weak consumer spending has dogged Japan’s economy, which has struggled to achieve steady recovery after decades of deflation and stagnation.

    “I didn’t expect December retail sales to be strong because end-year private consumption wasn’t strong,” said Shuji Tonouchi, senior market economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanely Securities.

    “Prices have been rising but it’s mostly due to the rise in energy prices, and domestic demand hasn’t changed…We are looking carefully at whether this would lead to sustained inflation,” Tonouchi added.

    Japan’s economy expanded for a third straight quarter in July-September as exports recovered, but domestic activity remained weak. Recent data has shown Japan’s core consumer prices fell at the slowest annual pace in nearly a year, a tentative sign that inflation and domestic demand may pick up in the coming months.

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  • MUFG to Buy $773 Million Stake in Philippines’ Security Bank

    MUFG to Buy $773 Million Stake in Philippines’ Security Bank

    Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan’s biggest bank, agreed to buy a 20 percent stake in Philippine lender Security Bank Corp. for 36.9 billion pesos ($773 million) as it deepens its expansion in Southeast Asia.

    Security Bank accepted MUFG’s offer to buy 150.7 million newly issued common shares at 245 pesos each and 200 million preferred shares at 0.1 peso apiece, the Manila-based bank said in a filing Thursday. That represents an 81 percent premium on Security Bank’s Wednesday closing price of 135 pesos.

    The deal will be the largest equity investment in a Philippine financial institution by a foreign lender, allowing Security Bank to accelerate its growth strategy and expand its branch network, the Manila-based company said. Japan’s biggest lenders have expressed interest in investing in the Philippines after the country loosened its rules on foreign bank ownership in 2014. The nation’s central bank said after the announcement that it welcomes the entry of foreign bank investments.

    “Security Bank will benefit from the deal by having a bigger war chest to execute its strategy,” Charles William Ang, an analyst at COL Financial Group Inc., said by telephone. “The deal is also a sign that foreigners are still very bullish about our banking industry, which remains under-penetrated. There are more opportunities for growth and profit compared with Japan.”

    ‘Right Price’

    Ang said the transaction amount reflects the large size of the stake. MUFG is paying a 78 percent premium to Security Bank’s average price over the past month, the fourth highest among all bank acquisitions in Southeast Asia, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The price of 245 pesos a share is 2.8 times book value, the data show.

    “People say that it’s expensive, but we believe this is the right price,” Go Watanabe, chief executive officer for Asia-Oceania at MUFG’s main lending unit, said at a briefing in Manila. “We believe this price is fair, calculating the intrinsic or future value of the bank.”

    Shares of Security Bank climbed 6.7 percent, the most since June 2013, to 144 pesos. MUFG dropped 2.4 percent in Tokyo as Asian equities resumed their New Year tumble.

    Second Biggest

    MUFG is comfortable with a 20 percent stake, Watanabe said. The investment will make its Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. unit the second-biggest shareholder of Security Bank, behind the Dy family. The deal is expected to close in the middle of the year, and MUFG will appoint two directors to Security Bank’s board, according to the statement.

    Security Bank will target 500 branches by 2020 from the current 262, the company’s President Alfonso Salcedo told reporters. The investment will allow it to tap new markets through MUFG’s relationships with Japanese companies and its global network, according to the statement. Security Bank’s operations range from retail banking to brokerage services and leasing, its website shows.

    Investments by foreign lenders “further reinforce bank capitalization, introduce global best practices and know-how and expand markets,” Bangko Sentral ng Pilpinas Governor Amando Tetangco said in a mobile-phone message. “These also promote more job-creating foreign direct investments.”

    Indonesia and India remain missing parts in MUFG’s expansion in Asia, Watanabe said. The financial group has been expanding in the region as a declining population and near record-low interest rates constrain growth at home.

    Thailand, Vietnam

    It was among 12 firms that expressed interest in buying United Coconut Planters Bank from the Philippine government, people with knowledge of the matter said last June. MUFG owns 77 percent of Thailand’s Bank of Ayudhya and it bought a 20 percent stake in state-owned Vietnamese lender VietinBank in 2013.

    Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., Japan’s second-biggest lender by market value, was the first foreign lender to get a license to operate in the Philippines under a 2014 law allowing full entry of overseas banks. Five more lenders have since received approval, President Benigno Aquino said Tuesday at the opening ceremony of Sumitomo Mitsui’s first branch in the Southeast Asian nation.

    Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group Inc. ended talks to buy San Miguel Corp.’s controlling stake in Philippine lender Bank of Commerce, people with knowledge of the matter said in October.

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  • Japanese leasing firm expands in Indonesia

    Japanese leasing firm expands in Indonesia

    Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance Company Limited (MUL) has announced its subsidiary in Indonesia, MULI, has opened a branch in Bandung, in a bid to capture new business as the country’s economy improves.

    The Bandung Branch is MULI’s second branch in Indonesia following the opening of its Surabaya Branch in October 2014. Since establishing a subsidiary in Jakarta in 1995, MUL has provided financing services focusing on mechanical equipment leasing and other activities for over 20 years.

    MUL says it aims to tap into growing demand in Indonesia, which is experiencing high economic growth in the ASEAN region, and expand the business opportunities. To this end, MUL is actively working to develop its business through such measures as acquiring an auto lease company, diversifying funding sources with the issuance of Indonesian rupiah-denominated notes, and providing asset management services that attract strong demand in Indonesia.

    Located about 150 km southeast of the capital Jakarta, Bandung, site of the latest branch, is the third largest city in Indonesia where the manufacturing and fiber/sewing industries are thriving. As a growing number of domestic and foreign companies are setting up their business there, growth is expected in the region. Through the establishment of the Bandung Branch, MULI will expand business bases in the West Java area and provide tailor-made services to meet the diverse needs of companies in Bandung and the surrounding areas.

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  • Final Wii U models discontinued in Japan

    Final Wii U models discontinued in Japan

    Production on new Wii U sets has ended, according to Nintendo’s Japanese website. A pagedetailing the models of the console that are currently in production indicates that the final two sets have been discontinued, officially marking the end of the system’s lifespan.

    Following the release of its third quarter earnings financial report this morning, the company’s website updated to show that the remaining Wii U models have been discontinued in Japan. These include the 32 GB Splatoon bundle and the standard 32 GB Deluxe model.

    Nintendo announced last November that it planned to cease production on the console by the end of the year. Rumors flew that Nintendo would stop making new Wii U units ahead of the Nintendo Switch’s full reveal, which came in October. The Wii U’s follow-up does away with many of its predecessor’s features, including the tablet controller’s second screenand the Miiverse social community.

    The Wii U, which launched in 2012, suffered at retail throughout its lifespan. The console’s performance was a letdown to fans and Nintendo alike, as reflected by diminishing sales returns and game releases over the years.

    The Switch will hit stores on March 3, giving retailers just enough time to clear out Wii U stock and make room on their shelves for Nintendo’s latest console.

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  • Waiting for Japanese department store to wake up

    Waiting for Japanese department store to wake up

    Japanese department-store sales dropped 2.4 per cent in November from a year earlier on a same-store basis, down for the ninth consecutive month.

    Overall sales at 234 outlets run by 81 companies stood at ¥525.7 billion (US$4.6 billion), the Japan Department Stores Association says, noting the size of the decrease had shrunk for the third straight month.
    Association officials say department stores are hopeful for a turnaround in December through the year-end shopping spree.

    Sales dropped for almost all categories in November, with exceptions including cosmetics. Sales fell 2.4 per cent for clothing and 0.6 per cent for food. Same-store declines were smaller than October’s 6.5 per cent and 2.1 per cent, respectively.

    Sales of tax-free goods to overseas visitors dropped 7.1 per cent to about ¥14.5 billion – the first contraction of less than 10 per cent in seven months.

    Meanwhile, the Japan Franchise Association has reported an 0.5 per cent increase in convenience store sales in November, reaching ¥773.4 billion on a same-store basis, up for the second straight month.
    It says the increase reflects brisk sales of prepared meals such as fried foods as well as the winter dish oden.

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  • Seven & I plans to triple China network

    Seven & I plans to triple China network

    While Japanese retailer Seven & I, which owns the 7-Eleven brand, has seen sales sliding, it plans to triple its network of supermarkets and department stores in China.

    The company aims to capitalise on the high growth in Sichuan province to grow its general merchandise store network there to 20 outlets by 2020.

    Its local subsidiary will increase its Ito Yokado-branded stores to 10 in the region, while one Ito Yokado supermarket will open in southern Chengdu next year with plans to launch as many as 10 locations in the city by 2020, says Ito Yokado head of Chinese operations Tomohiro Saegusa.

    Ito Yokado will also set up a company to sell Japanese products online, aiming for sales of ¥10 billion (US$85.7 million) by 2020. The company may use the free trade zone planned by Sichuan province.

    Meanwhile, group total sales continued to slide for a second consecutive quarter for Seven & I, which owns the 7-Eleven brand. Its third-quarter sales fell by 1.4 per cent to ¥7909 billion. However, its operating profit improved by 5 per cent for the quarter ended November 30.

    With more than 19,000 stores, 7-Eleven Japan has achieved continued growth. Total sales grew by 5.5 per cent to ¥3422 billion and operating profit reached ¥187.1 billion for its latest nine months, up 4 per cent year-on-year.

    Seven & I says 7-Eleven’s product strategy has largely driven its success. The retailer captured expanding demand for ready-made take-home meals, spurred by a rise in dual-income and elderly households. Private-label products rake in more than ¥10 billion in sales a year, showing the benefits of scale.

  • SSI partners with Muji operator to bring Japan brand to Philippines

    SSI partners with Muji operator to bring Japan brand to Philippines

    Speciality stores operator SSI Group has signed a joint venture deal with a Japanese company to bring the Muji retail brand to the Philippines. SSI Group, through its wholly owned subsidiary Stores Specialists Inc. (SSI), entered an agreement with Japan’s Ryohin Keikaku Co. Ltd. (RKJ) to form a joint venture company called Muji Philippines, which will own and operate Muji stores in the Philippines.

    “The joint venture with RKJ is expected to strengthen the Muji brand in the Philippines and enable cost efficiencies,” SSI said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

    Muji is a Japanese retailer which operates some 420 stores in Japan and 390 stores internationally as of October 2016.

    SSI will have a 51-percent stake in the joint venture while RKJ will hold the balance of 49 percent. SSI will infuse P89.25 million in Muji Philippines while RKJ will invest P85.75 million.

    Muji Philippines is expected to commence operations on April 1.

    “Any profits from the joint venture company shall be distributed pro-rata to the ownership in the company of each of SSI and RKJ,” SSI said.

    “SSI shall provide the joint venture company with operational knowledge and apparel and retail sales expertise specific to the Philippines, while RKJ shall provide the brand management expertise and retail experience specific to the Muji brand,” it added.

    One of the conditions needed for the closing of the transaction is for RJK to obtain a certificate of pre-qualification as a foreign retailer from the Board of Investments, the statement said.

    Specialty retailer SSI Group also has a presence in the convenience store segment through its joint venture with Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) and Japan’s Itochu Corp. to bring the FamilyMart convenience store chain into the country.

    In March last year, SSI and its joint-venture partner ALI sold Wellworth department stores at Fairview Terraces Mall and UP Town Center Mall to Gaisano-led Metro Retail Stores Group Inc. (MRSGI) for P499 million to minimize operating losses.

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  • JV aims to boost Muji brand in Philippines

    JV aims to boost Muji brand in Philippines

    Specialty retailer SSI Group has signed a JV agreement with Japan’s Ryohin Keikaku in a bid to boost the Muji household supplies brand in the Philippines.

    SSI Group’s board of directors has approved the JV between its wholly owned subsidiary Stores Specialists and RKJ, dubbed Muji Philippines. It is expected to launch on April 1 with the mandate to own and run Muji stores in the Philippines.

    SSI Group says the move will enable cost efficiencies.

    Stores Specialists owns and runs specialty retailing boutiques for a range of international brands covering luxury, casualwear, fast fashion, footwear, luggage and accessories as well as personal-care brands. RKJ is engaged in the planning, development, procurement, logistics and processing of goods under the brand name Muji, as well as running Muji retail stores and wholesaling Muji goods.

    The deal is pegged at P175 million (US$3.5 million), with Store Specialists holding a 51 per cent stake. Store Specialists is investing more than P89.2 million, while RKJ is injecting up to P85.7 million.

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  • Pie Face expansion plan in Japan and Korea

    Pie Face expansion plan in Japan and Korea

    As it turns around and heads toward profitability again, Australian fast-food chain Pie Face has plans to expand into Japan and South Korea.

    Its receiver flags the hot-pie business will be sold soon, but it has left behind a trail of destruction: secured debt is AU$4 million (US$3 million) and unsecured debt is estimated to be nearly AU$5 million, with employees alone owed more than AU$1 million.

    Also, listed Retail Food Group has made an application to the Queensland Supreme Court to wind up Pie Face Australia over an unpaid debt. But many creditors are unlikely to receive payment out of the receivership, says Pie Face trading entities joint receiver Liam Bailey, a partner at insolvency firm O’Brien Palmer.

    “I can’t speak to what the liquidator may be able to recover and pay them as a dividend, but it’s unlikely a surplus will be generated on the sale of the business, allowing funds to flow to unsecured creditors.”

    The Pie Face company runs a commercial kitchen and wholesaling business, Pie Face Holdings, which owns the intellectual property as well as Pie Face Franchising, which oversees its franchised business in Australia.

    US market

    Bailey became involved after Pie Face went into receivership for the second time in two years late last year. Founded in 2003 by couple Wayne Homschek and Betty Fong, after spreading through Australia the company moved into the US market and planned to open stores in the Middle East, Japan, Korea and the Philippines.

    Investors including retail entrepreneur Brett Blundy, Fat Prophets founder Angus Geddes and Rothschild Australia chairman Trevor Rowe had poured more than $35 million into Pie Face since 2009 with hopes of a sharemarket listing, reports The Age.

    In 2014, Pie Face collapsed owing tens of millions of dollars, sparking store closures, job losses, lawsuits and board changes. Pie Face then struck a deal with financier TCA Global, which took over loans to major lender Macquarie bank.

    Under a deed-of-company arrangement, unsecured creditors such as food suppliers agreed to receive between 14¢ and 19¢ in the dollar over several years, and Pie Face changed its focus to wholesale and direct retail sales.

    When this turnaround bid came unstuck, TCA Global appointed O’Brien Palmer in late October. The business was then restructured for sale. A new CEO and CFO were appointed, 11 unprofitable stores were closed and three franchised stores were opened. Nearly 100 staff members lost their jobs.

    Pie Face now has 30 franchised stores, about 10 people in its head office and 60 to 70 kitchen workers – and plans to expand overseas, particularly in Japan and South Korea.

    Bailey says seven or eight companies are now conducting due diligence, with binding offers due in at the start of next month.

    “We were very much taken aback by the level of interest in the business notwithstanding the bad press it has received over the years,” he says. “There’s a lot of recognition of the growth potential, if properly managed.”

  • Japan’s bakugai phenomenon fading fast

    Japan’s bakugai phenomenon fading fast

    The drastic slowdown of the Chinese duty-free shopping phenomenon known as bakugai (“buying explosion”) continues to hit Japanese tax- and duty-free retailers, with several companies having sharp revenue falls in recent months.

    As a result of the slowing market, South Korean travel retailer Lotte Duty Free and its partners Bic Camera and New Kansai International Airport Company have pulled out of a planned downtown duty-free shop proposed for Osaka.

    The “bakugai” trend began in Japan in 2015 as travelling shoppers from China poured into Japan in waves, says The Moodie Davitt Report. This led to a proliferation of government-backed tax- and duty-free stores, and like all bubbles this one appears to have burst. Read more.

  • E-commerce firms face rivals from Japan, Thailand, China, South Korea

    E-commerce firms face rivals from Japan, Thailand, China, South Korea

    Aeon, a Japanese e-commerce group, has launched aeoneshop. The website began its operation on January 1, 2017, mostly distributing the products from Japan and the ones bearing Topvalu, an Aeon’s private band. In Vietnam, nearly 1,000 products bear the brand.

    Of the products it distributes, Aeon hopes ‘Me va Be’ (mother and babies) products will be popular with Vietnamese mothers who like Japanese goods.

    Initially, Aeon will only delivery goods in HCMC. Like other e-commerce websites, Aeon will provide free deliveries to orders worth at least VND300,000.

    Analysts said that Aeon’s policies on goods purchases, payments and exchanges are nearly the same as other e-commerce firms.

    With Aeon in Vietnam, the market now has the most powerful rivals in the region. Two months ago, South Korean Lotte launched the Lotte.vn website, hoping for an ambitious plan to hold 20 percent of market share and become a top player in the market.

    Meanwhile, Jack Ma of China, a billionaire who owns Alibaba, has taken over Lazada in Vietnam, while Thailand’s Central Group bought Zalora Vietnam through Nguyen Kim, of which it holds a large capital stake.

    The Vietnamese e-commerce market is known as a ‘money burning machine’, meaning that investors pay big money even though profits are unpredictable.Competing against the four big players from Japan, South Korea, Thailand and China are three Vietnamese groups – Adayroi (Vingroup), Tiki (VNG) and Vuivui (The Gioi Di Dong).

    Lingo, Beyeu and Deca all have left the market because they ‘did not have enough money to burn’. Tiki has reported a loss of VND160 billion in the last eight months since it received investment from VNG.

    Analysts believe that those who have more powerful financial capability will win the battle, leaving the field to foreign companies.

    Commenting about the competitiveness of aeoneshop.com and Lotte.vn, Nhip Cau Dau Tu said they had the advantage of confidence. Lotte.vn focuses on cosmetics and fashion products because ‘South Korean cosmetics’  are popular in Vietnam.

    Aeon focuses on electronics and children’s products because products from Japan have a good reputation among Vietnamese.

    The second advantage is the large store network. Aeon, for example, besides the four shopping malls in HCMC and Hanoi, also has 18 Fivimart shops in Hanoi and 66 Ministop shops in HCMC after acquiring 30 percent of Fivimart and 49 percent of Citimart stakes.