Hypermarkets are operating effectively in Vietnam.

Ms. Tu Thi Hong An - Senior Director of Commercial Leasing Services, Savills Vietnam, commented that in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City markets, each city has about 1.5 million square meters of retail space for lease, always maintaining an operating capacity of over 90% for many years. This proves that the large-scale commercial center model is still attractive.

Currently, the hypermarket investment segment is attracting the attention and resources of many domestic and foreign players such as Vincom, Aeon Mall, Central Retails... In the future, it is expected that Central Pattana, another member of Central Group, will be added.

“For domestic investors, the biggest strength is the understanding of consumers as well as the existing land fund of that investor. On the contrary, foreign investors also have their own strengths and strategies such as Aeon, Central Retail is a long-standing and reputable retail investment unit in the regional market, when entering the Vietnamese market, they still maintain that strength,” Ms. An analyzed.

In addition, experts also pointed out some strengths of foreign investors and Vietnamese investors in the retail sector. The group of foreign investors is their experience and identity through many years of existence in the region.

In retail, reputation and experience play a big role in development and operation. In contrast, for Vietnamese investors, the main strength is the existing land fund as well as that land fund will ensure them in covering the retail sector.

However, Ms. An believes that the investment in hypermarkets is a “big cake” that requires a sustainable vision. Because besides these attractive development potentials, there are many important factors that developers need to pay attention to so that shopping centers can be stable in the current volatile retail environment.

“From the perspective of a retail real estate leasing consultancy, I see the biggest obstacle in developing and operating large-scale shopping malls is the strategy and vision of long-term operations. This comes not only from the initial development plan but also from the marketing strategy and leasing strategy to have a long-term path,” said Ms. An.

Consistency in development strategy, marketing strategy, and long-term leasing strategy plays an important role, demonstrating the investor's focused investment in retail space and retail trade.

In fact, when professional retailers and professional retail space operators have different commercial business chains, they will create quite unique and consistent ways of operating. This creates trust for retailers when they put their business into operation at those commercial centers.

This advantage is clearly shown when tenants consider choosing that chain of shopping malls over shopping malls with only one project, creating a chain of loyal customers.

Through research on the operating model of shopping malls, Savills experts also found a shift in the industry to better suit the actual needs of consumers. That is the increase in the proportion of food and beverage industries, while the fashion and retail industries tend to decrease.

The diversified development of other sales channels for the fashion sector also has a higher growth rate than the entertainment and health care sectors in some shopping malls. This reflects the actual demand of users for the services provided in shopping malls in many different areas.

Ha Anh