Thai handbag and accessories label Lyn Vietnam is opening three more stores in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.
One store will be opened inside Vincom Center this Friday. The other two will open at Hanoi’s Vincom Royal City and Trang Tien Plaza, on May 2 and 14 respectively.
The openings coincide with the introduction of Lyn’s Spring/Summer collection.
Lyn was founded in Thailand in 2001, and arrived in Vietnam last November with the first store on Nguyen Trai street, Ho Chi Minh City.
Vietjet today announced its plan to pay a dividend of 60% of its 2017 profits after posting positive business results for the year. According to the audited and consolidated financial statements released by Vietjet Aviation Joint Stock Company (HOSE: VJC), the airline’s after-tax profit stood at VND5,074 billion (US$230.63 million).
The airline’s net revenue stood at nearly VND42,303 billion (US$1.92 billion). After-tax profit of Vietjet in 2017 stood at VND5,074 billion (US$230.63 million). These figures have exceeded the airline’s targets for 2017 respectively by 150% and 103% year-on-year.
Profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company increased to VND5,073 billion (US$230.59 million), exceeding the company’s targets for 2017 by 150% and 103.3% year-on-year. Earnings per share (EPS) stood at VND11,356 (US$0.52), an increase of 73% year-on-year.
Vietjet’s unallocated profit up to December 31, 2017 was VND5,809 billion (US$264 million). Before that, the company raised its 2017 dividend payout from 50% to 60% due to its positive business results. Vietjet advanced the 2017 cash dividend payment at the rate of 30% and plans to pay the remaining 30% dividend in shares. With the higher profits and cash reserves, the Board of Directors expects to submit the proposal for the payment of 10% cash dividend and 20% share dividend in the coming Shareholder Annual Meeting. Vietjet has built a reputation for consistently making high dividend payments to its shareholders.
Vietnamese coffee and tea chain Phuc Long has opened its first Danang outlet.
Located on the second floor of Lotte Mart, the new Phuc Long Danang store drew long queues on opening day, as it offered three days of launch promotional activity. From today until Sunday, customers who come early and check-in on Facebook will get free vouchers and coffee mugs.
Phuc Long has partnered with Grab to offer discount for rides to its store – for both GrabBike and GrabCar.
The second Phuc Long Danang outlet will open soon on Nguyen Van Linh.
Korean cosmetics brand Innisfree has opened its first pop-up store, inside Saigon Center in Ho Chi Minh City, from now until Sunday.
Called New Hydration Station, the Innisfree Vietnam pop-up introduces the brand’s new green tea range through different sections such as Hydration Station, Hydration Wash Zone, Beauty Wash, Green Tea Store, Green Tea Zone.
After the pop-up, the brand will open new store at Crescent Mall in District 7, in the hub of the city’s Korean community.
During the first two days, customers will get the chance to receive Innisfree tumblers, eco bags, and masks with bills over VND300,000.
After arriving in Vietnam in 2016, Innisfree has opened four stores, all in Ho Chi Minh City.
DHL Supply Chain, the global market leader for contract logistics solutions, today announced the appointment of Drew Duncan as Managing Director of DHL Supply Chain Vietnam. In his new role, Drew will manage the strategic development of DHL Supply Chain Vietnam, steering growth in warehouse management, transportation management and value added supply chain services.
Drew has more than 13 years’ experience in the logistics industry and has spent six years with DHL Supply Chain Thailand. Prior to this appointment, Drew was the Vice President — Retail, managing a combined workforce of over 6,000 personnel, 30 distribution centers and a fleet in excess of 3,000 vehicles. Drew is a pioneering leader of change, and has employed many globally tested supply chain innovations in our local operations, yielding significant improvements in cost and service for our customers.
Kevin Burrell, CEO, DHL Supply Chain Thailand Cluster (Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar), said: “Vietnam’s economy is growing rapidly, and this dynamic environment demands a leader who drives constant improvement across all areas of our business. We are pleased to announce the appointment of Drew Duncan as Managing Director of our operations in Vietnam. Having worked in Southeast Asia for half of his career, Drew has a keen understanding of regional and local culture. With his illustrious track record and rich experience working within DHL, we are confident of fulfilling our promise of being the leading enabler for our customers in the country and contributing to improving our consumers’ daily lives. We have huge ambitions for our business in Vietnam, and look forward to capitalizing new opportunities under Drew’s stewardship”.
DHL aims to provide a one-stop service for logistics supply chain integration to global standards, supporting local and international customers in various sectors — Retail, Consumer, Technology, Automotive, Life Sciences, Chemical, Engineering and Manufacturing. Its diverse expertise enables speedy operational set-up for customers from all sectors using DHL’s multi-user warehouses and transport networks. DHL Supply Chain sees a real opportunity in Vietnam to help its customers grow successfully and constantly improve safety, quality and cost management through innovation and market differentiated services.
Superdry Vietnam will open first flagship store on Saturday, at Hanoi’s Trang Tien Plaza.
It will showcase the British fashion brand’s latest menswear, women’s and children’s casualwear, sportswear, footwear, undergarments and accessories.
For its Vietnam debut, Superdry will also introduce its latest perfume collection, Superdry SS18.
On opening day, the first 100 customers will each be given a Superdry shirt.
Superdry comes to Vietnam via Jaspal Group, which owns the Vietnam rights to such brands as CC Double, CPS Chaps, Lyn, Misty Mynx and Santas.
Superdry has 515 locations in 46 countries.
TrueMoney Vietnam has obtained an Intermediary Payment Services License from the State Bank of Vietnam to operate digital financial services in the market.
The company, part of Thailand-based True Corporation’s payment services subsidiary Ascend Money, has secured approval to operate e-money, e-payment, wireless transfers, and payment gateway services.
With the approval, Vietnam will be the second country in the region to launch TrueMoney Wallet after Thailand.
Consumers in Vietnam are expected to be able to use TrueMoney Wallet to make online purchases, pay bills and top up their pre-paid mobile and gaming cards, as well as to transfer money from their bank accounts to the digital wallet and from their wallet to other wallets.
Offline and online merchants will be able to use TrueMoney’s system as a payment gateway and companies will soon be able to disburse payroll to their employees via TrueMoney Wallet.
TrueMoney has a network of over 5,000 agents across 40 provinces in Vietnam. Agents are small business owners who conduct financial services for customers, enabling the Vietnamese population to access services such as top-up and bill payment near their location.
TrueMoney Vietnam aims to soon offer additional financial services such as loans and insurance in the second quarter of 2018.
“Winning the license to operate digital financial services cements our presence in Vietnam, an important market for Ascend in our expansion throughout Southeast Asia,” Ascend Money president Tanyapong Thamavaranukupt said.
“This means TrueMoney is now able to deploy a broad range of safe, affordable and convenient digital money solutions to Vietnam’s population of 90 million. In particular we hope to provide equal access to financial services for the unbanked.”
Vietnam has one of the lowest banking penetration rates in the region, with only one third of the population having an account with a formal financial provider, compared to the regional average of 69%.
“While Vietnam has the potential to surpass China in GDP growth by 2020, the country urgently needs to connect its people and businesses to financial services, to reap the benefits of inclusive growth. As Southeast Asia’s fastest growing mobile commerce market, as well as one of its largest unbanked populations, Vietnam poses a key opportunity for TrueMoney to innovate and scale,” Tanyapong continued.
TrueMoney has e-money licenses to operate financial services in Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia, Cambodia, Philippines, and Vietnam.
Vietnam, along with the Philippines, Indonesia, and Myanmar, has been identified by the World Bank as among the top 25 countries to focus strategic efforts on financial inclusion. According to the World Bank, in 2014 Vietnam had the lowest credit card usage in Southeast Asia, and only 50% of the debit cards in circulation were in use.
The Asian Development Bank estimates that bringing digital financial services to Southeast Asia’s unbanked population can boost the GDP of economies by as much as 6%.
Dickies Vietnam is planning to open its first Ho Chi Minh City flagship store.
Meanwhile, the American apparel brand is paving the way by opening pop-up stores at Diamond Plaza, Parkson C&T, Parkson Hung Vuong, Parkson Saigon Tourist and Takashimaya from this month through to June.
Dickies arrived in Vietnam in November under distribution deal between Son Kim Fashion and Williamson-Dickie, with a flagship store being opened at Vincom Royal City in Hanoi.
The group plans to open 30 Dickies stores in five years.
TrueMoney Vietnam (“TrueMoney”), part of Southeast Asian Fintech company Ascend Money, has obtained the Intermediary Payment Services License from the State Bank of Vietnam to operate digital financial services in e-money, e-payment, wireless transfers, and payment gateways. TrueMoney is processing over one million transactions per month, with 500,000 customers a month transacting with TrueMoney agents and TrueMoney Wallet.
Tanyapong Thamavaranukupt, President of Ascend Money, said, “Winning the license to operate digital financial services cements our presence in Vietnam, an important market for Ascend in our expansion throughout Southeast Asia. This means TrueMoney is now able to deploy a broad range of safe, affordable and convenient digital money solutions to Vietnam’s population of 90 million. In particular we hope to provide equal access to financial services for the unbanked.”
Consumers can now use TrueMoney Wallet to make online purchases, pay bills and top up their pre-paid mobile and gaming cards, as well as to transfer money from their bank accounts to the digital wallet and from their wallet to other wallets. Offline and online merchants can use TrueMoney’s system as a payment gateway. Companies will soon be able to disburse payroll to their employees via TrueMoney Wallet.
TrueMoney has a network of over 5,000 agents across 40 provinces in Vietnam. Agents are small business owners who conduct financial services for customers, enabling the largely underserved Vietnamese population to access fast and easy services such as top-up and bill payment near their location. TrueMoney Vietnam will soon offer additional financial services such as loans and insurance, in the second quarter of 2018.
Vietnam has one of the lowest banking penetration rates in the region, with only one third of the population having an account with a formal financial provider, compared to the regional average of 69%.
“While Vietnam has the potential to surpass China in GDP growth by 2020, the country urgently needs to connect its people and businesses to financial services, to reap the benefits of inclusive growth. As Southeast Asia’s fastest growing mobile commerce market, as well as one of its largest unbanked populations, Vietnam poses a key opportunity for TrueMoney to innovate and scale,” Tanyapong continued.
TrueMoney, an e-payment and financial services provider for digital and unbanked consumers, is the only Fintech company with e-money licenses to operate financial services in Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia, Cambodia, Philippines, and Vietnam. Across Southeast Asia, Ascend Money has reached over 35 million customers in 2017 and aims to reach 100 million customers by 2020.
Vietnam, along with the Philippines, Indonesia, and Myanmar, has been identified by the World Bank as among the top 25 countries to focus strategic efforts on financial inclusion. According to the World Bank, in 2014 Vietnam had the lowest credit card usage in Southeast Asia, and only 50 per cent of the debit cards in circulation were in use.
Tanyapong added, “The blurred lines between the unbanked and the underbanked—those with formal access but limited engagement—points to the need for not just access to bank accounts, but the regular use of banking in the daily lives of the population. This means that digital financial services can reach a much larger segment of the population if delivered through a comprehensive platform—addressing not just the need for a digital wallet, but also broader daily needs of merchants and users to transition from offline to online payment methods seamlessly. By strengthening the overall prevalence and convenience of e-money in daily life, Ascend Money plays a leading role in unlocking the potential of the digital economy in Southeast Asia for digital consumers and the underbanked alike.”
Vietnam is the second country in the region to launch TrueMoney Wallet after Thailand. Following the successful roll-out of TrueMoney Wallet across Thailand in major retail outlets such as 7-Eleven convenience stores, with almost 10,000 branches nationwide, Ascend has continued to expand in markets that are among the region’s lowest in financial inclusion rates.
TrueMoney Wallet was officially launched in Vietnam this year during the Lunar New Year with the TrueGift campaign, in which celebrities and users sent virtual red packets (hongbao) to their fans and friends to celebrate the special holiday.
The Asian Development Bank estimates that bringing digital financial services to Southeast Asia’s unbanked population can boost the GDP of economies by as much as 6%.
Hanoi’s retail supply is growing outside the CBD area, reports real-estate company CBRE.
With a total of 157,000sqm of retail coming from eight projects under development in fast-growing residential areas with good connecting infrastructure, CBRE says the suburban growth is expected to be attractive to both retailers and consumers.
Malls inside residential complexes will continue to thrive, thanks to a high level of supply in the condominium market. Eight out of 12 future projects up to 2020 are retail podiums. “This format has certain advantages such as potential customers on site and increased traffic because of the residential component, providing extra services and amenities, and improving the image for the whole project,” says the CBRE report.
The company predicts an emerging CBD will soon form in the western area of Hanoi. As the largest retail cluster outside the CBD with 41 per cent of total supply, the Cau Giay, Tu Liem and Thanh Xuan district will maintain its position in the next few years with 83,300sqm of supply in the pipeline.
In the next three years, Aeon Mall Ha Dong, FLC and Vincom shopping centres will supply space to the east, while the north will have a new project from Lotte.
The CBRE report also shows that only 7 per cent of total retail supply in Hanoi is in the CBD, and there has been nothing new since 2013. As a result, retailers have been finding alternatives in shop houses and old buildings around Hoan Kiem Lake (such as the first McDonald’s Hanoi), creating demand for more space.
The CBD’s retail rent is predicted to rise in the coming years.
Vietjet is to launch a 3 golden days promotion from April 4 to 6, 2018, with half a million tickets priced from HKD0. Available on its website www.vietjetair.com, the promotion is part of Vietjet’s Summer Promotion.
The promotion applies for international route flying from Ho Chi Minh City to Hong Kong and all other international services from Vietnam to Seoul, Busan (South Korea)/ Kaohsiung, Taipei, Taichung, Tainan (Taiwan)/ Singapore/ Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)/ Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai (Thailand)/ Yangon (Myanmar) and Phnom Penh, Siem Reap (Cambodia). The flight period of this promotion is from May 5 to December 31, 2018(**).
Vietjet’s three golden days promotion will offer passengers the opportunity to experience the native traditions of the new year of Southeast Asian countries, while planning for their summer vacations in many attractive international destinations.
The promotional tickets are available during the golden hours from 13:00 to 15:00 (GMT+8) on their website. Payment can be easily made with debit and credit cards of Visa/ MasterCard/ AMEX/ JCB and KCP.
Aiming to become a “Consumer Airline”, Vietjet is continually opening new routes, adding more aircraft, investing in modern technology and offering more added-on products and services to serve all demands of customers. Vietjet is a pioneering airline that is loved by many for its exciting promotional and entertainment programs, especially during the festive season. With high-quality services, diverse ticket classes and special low-fare tickets, Vietjet offers its passengers flying experiences on new aircraft with comfy seats, delicious hot meals, beautiful and friendly cabin crews, and other interesting added-on services.
Mobile payments platform Alipay is expanding its cross-border footprint with new outposts Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and the Philippines.
The deployment is aimed at connecting merchants with an estimated 520 million active users in China through its Alipay’s in-app marketing platform while they are traveling overseas.
The company says Alipay is now accepted in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville across shopping, F&B, entertainment and hospitality sectors. Notable merchants include Sajibumi, which operates the food and beverage concessions at Siem Reap International Airport and Phnom Penh International Airport, Sokimex petrol kiosks, and Legend cinemas.
Alipay will also be rolled out in duty free stores managed by DUFRY at Phnom Penh International Airport, Siem Reap International Airport, and NagaWorld, the largest entertainment complex in Cambodia.
Mobile payment is gaining momentum among Chinese travelers overseas. According to the recent Nielsen report, 65% of Chinese tourists used mobile payment platforms during their overseas travels, more than six times in comparison to non-Chinese tourists (11%).
Over 90% of Chinese tourists would consider using mobile payments when traveling overseas if more overseas merchants accepted it.
Vietnamese firms should expand their partnership to at least three markets to avoid sole dependence on a particular market, said economist Phạm Chi Lan.
She also urged the firms to provide clear and transparent filings to meet the standards of exporting markets.
Vietnamese enterprises must prove that they do not enjoy protectionism of the government and do not sell products at a dumping price level to ensure they are not affected by the anti-dumping tax policies of the exporting markets, she said.
Given the context in which US regulators have planned to impose anti-dumping taxes on Vietnamese exports to protect their local fishery and steel industries, Lan suggested firms to explore other markets and diversify their targeted markets to ensure less reliance on a sole, large market.
“A three-market strategy will ensure that a company’s export is balanced and that business will not depend on any particular market,” Lan said.
Such business strategy will help Vietnamese firms to survive and exploit new opportunities in the context of a rising global trade war, following intense statements from China and the United States against each other, she said on the sidelines of a conference co-organised by the Vietnam Executive MBA Programme in Hà Nội, University of Hawai’i, and the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam last week.
The United States announced a US$60 billion tariff bill on Chinese imports last week. China, in return, filed a list of 128 US products for retaliation, raising global concerns about a possible trade war.
According to Jack Suyderhoud, professor of Business Economics at the Shidler College of Business, University of Hawai’i at Manoa, recent actions of the US government are aimed at protecting its local industries, such as fisheries and steel, against threats from cheaper imports from China and Việt Nam.
Rising protectionism will encounter objection from those benefiting from free trade, Jack said, adding that the US government should notice how important the win-win principle is and how it exists in every trade deal.
Lan urged local firms to strengthen their competency so that they can take advantage of benefits brought about by free trade agreements, to which Việt Nam must comply, and encounter less negative impacts from a possible global trade war.
Besides the US and China, Vietnamese firms should increase its influence in other markets, such as the European Union, reducing its dependence on the world’s two largest markets, Lan said.
“There are no winners in a trade war,” she said, adding that the United States and China are two of the largest trading partners of Việt Nam, thus, “we need to expand our trade relations to different markets to boost the country’s economy”.
“The establishment of the CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership), signed on March 8 without the United States’ participation, is a good way to deal with the unpredictable policies of the United States and China at the moment,” Lan said.
The CPTPP deal will help other economies to get to know each other, increase their cooperation and protect their economies, offsetting the damages caused by US protectionism and China’s responses, she added.
“CPTPP is proving to be attractive to other economies that are not partners to the deal, such as South Korea and the United Kingdom,” she said.
Vietnam’s tourism industry is booming and is fast becoming the driving force behind economic growth – but it also faces calls for reform to keep up with high standards.
The “smoke-free” industry has witnessed spectacular success in the past few years with higher growth rate every year.
Last year, nearly 13 million foreign visitors came to our shores, earning the country more than VNĐ500 trillion (US$22 billion). That’s up 30 per cent and 20 per cent year-on-year, respectively.
Over the decade, the number of international visitors to Việt Nam has tripled while revenue has increased by nine times.
Việt Nam’s tourism ranked sixth in the top 10 fastest growing tourism destinations globally and was crowned the best performer in Asia in 2017. The industry last year contributed 7.5 per cent to the nation’s GDP.
With such impressive achievements, tourism has been identified a key economic sector by 2020. It can help boost the development of other sectors including construction, real estate, retail, education and job opportunities
A Politburo resolution on developing tourism and seeing it evolve into a major player in Việt Nam’s economy was introduced last year.
The nation hopes to welcome 17-20 million foreign arrivals and 82 million domestic tourists by 2020. Tourism revenue is expected to reach $35 billion, contributing 10 per cent to the country’s GDP by then, and the industry may create four million jobs, including 1.6 million direct jobs.
Bottlenecks
Tourism is forecast to maintain strong development in the next few years thanks to the Government’s support policies, determination of provincial authorities and dynamic development of both businesses and communities.
However, such rapid expansion is exposing many challenges and if the industry cannot be restructured to break bottlenecks it could be beaten by overdevelopment.
“Rapid increase in the number of visitors to Việt Nam in the short term is putting the industry under great pressure of transport infrastructure, human resource and destination management capacity,” said Nguyễn Quý Phương, director of Travel Management Department under the Việt Nam National Administration of Tourism.
Phương said infrastructure deficiencies, particularly overloaded airports, will likely make tourists worn out due to long waiting while the lack of adequate human resource and public management capacity in destinations will affect service quality.
In reality, airports in major cities such as Hà Nội, HCM City, Huế and Đà Nẵng, are facing the overload trouble.
Half of the people who visited from overseas last year flew into Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport in HCM City. It was built to accommodate 25 million passengers per year, but in 2016, 32 million came through its doors.
According to Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index 2017 of the World Economic Forum, Việt Nam’s tourist service infrastructure ranked 113th out of 136 economies, airport infrastructure 61st, ground traffic 71st, IT platform 80th, clean and safe environment 82nd and international openness (mainly visas) 73rd.
“Urgent attention should be paid to upgrade of transport infrastructure, including seaports in the context of increasing demand for cruise tourism, as well as improvements in visa and immigration procedures,” Phương said.
Vũ Thế Bình, deputy chairman of Việt Nam Tourism Association, also stressed the need to create a greater experience for visitors, highlighting the problems with visas.
Việt Nam has granted visa waivers for visitors from 24 countries while applying electronic visa to citizens of 46 countries. However, according to Bình, these numbers are still feeble compared with Thailand which awards free-visa for tourists of 67 countries and Indonesia which waives visa for citizens of 169 countries and territories.
“Not only that, also procedure of visa exemption applied for foreigners is quite complicated, creating inconvenience and displeasure for both foreign visitors and travel companies,” Bình was quoted as saying on the Thời báo kinh tế Việt Nam.
Collective economic sector
For a long time, Việt Nam’s tourism has been developed in a spontaneous manner.
Individuality is key, and many regions hope to promote their own unique brands to showcase to the world but they mostly do so in keeping with the national strategy.
Important things to consider include tourists’ needs, promotional campaigns, infrastructure, human resources and management.
According to Trịnh Thị Mỹ Nghệ, vice chairman of Hà Nội City Tourism Association, tourism is not a single industry but a collective one relating to other sectors and subjects.
“Good infrastructure, management, safety, hygiene and friendly citizens are all surface factors to attract visitors,” Nghệ said.
“Travel companies design and sell products to tourists and the local authorities are responsible for organisation and management of destinations.
“Apart from visiting beautiful landscape, foreign tourists coming to Việt Nam want to learn more about Vietnamese culture, meet and experience the local living,” she said, adding that responsibility of businesses and community is to study customer demand to design attractive products.
Tourism development also requires inter-regional coordination. Việt Nam has developed several successful regional tourism brands such as the connection of the eight Northwestern provinces and cluster of the three central provinces (Thừa Thiên-Huế, Đà Nẵng and Quảng Nam).
The Government is also urged to improve the business environment to ensure the deep participation of private businesses and community in the national tourism development strategy.
Việt Nam hopes for around 16 million foreign visitors, 80 million domestic arrivals and VNĐ620 trillion in total tourism revenue in 2018. These are considered achievable goals but collective efforts among management agencies, businesses, communities and professional organisations are needed to ensure sustainable development in the future.
But as the country evolves, one thing that each and everyone can do, is welcome our visitors with the traditionally Vietnamese smile.
Saigon General Service Corporation (Savico) announced to the State Security Commission of Việt Nam and HCM City Stock Exchange that its taxi brand – ComfortDelgro Savico Taxi – has been closed to preserve funds and reengineer its taxi-related business plans.
ComfortDelgro Savico Taxi was opened in 2005 as a joint venture between Savico and ComfortDelGro Corporation Limited, a Singaporean multinational land transport company.
Even though ComfortDelgro Savico Taxi has operated in HCM City for a long time, its market share has always been relatively modest, with a fleet of only around 400 cars, compared to Vinasun Taxi’s fleet of more than 6,000 cars.
For the past few years the taxi company has incurred high costs due to constant improvement of its cars and service quality. However, tough competition from Grab and Uber has caused the company to struggle to make much profit from the investment.
According to Savico’s 2017 report, ComfortDelgro Savico Taxi only made around VNĐ235 million (US$10,300) of profit, down from around VNĐ3.3 billion (US$145,000) in 2016 and nearly VNĐ7 billion (US$307,000) in 2015.
On March 16, ComfortDelGro said that ComfortDelgro Savico Taxi has merged with Vinataxi (70 per cent of whose shares are owned by ComfortDelGro).
According to statistics from the city’s Department of Transport, as of 2017, there were around 35,000 taxis in HCM City, including around 24,000 Grab and Uber taxis.
Many of Việt Nam’s traditional taxi companies are struggling to compete with Grab and Uber.