Korea Convenience Store Chain Presented in Vietnam

In September 2016, the two first Ilahui stores in Vietnam have opened in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) in the form of franchise.

According to Ilahui brand manager in Vietnam, in the fourth quarter of 2016, this brand will expand to 6 – 8 stores to serve the needs of customers both throughout the country. In the next 5 years, Ilahui will have at least 200 stores spreading across the provinces of Vietnam.

With the advantages of products and prices are updated, diverse in types and designs with elegant shopping space, the company expects this will be a new business model with strong penetration step intoVietnam retail market.

According to Nielsen Vietnam – a market research firm, among 93 million people of Vietnam, there are nearly 60% of the population are under 35 years old. The income of this class has also increased from 433 USD per person per year (in 2000) to 2,111 USD per person per year (in 2015). Vietnamese consumers also have demand to enjoy new and quality shopping experiences.

That is the reason leading to the explosion of the Vietnam retail market in recent years, especially the chain of convenience stores, which significantly including Family Mart, MiniStop, B’s Mart, Circle K, Shop & Go, Vinmart Plus and 7-Eleven… Now we have Ilahui – convenience store chain specializing in Korean style utilities items and fashion accessories in Hanoi and HCMC.

Ilahui strengths are Korean style utility items and fashion accessories, which are interested by Vietnam young people. With more than 3,000 products; 20,000 -25,000 products on shelves at a price from 10,000 VND; 100 new products every month with all types from men/women fashion, accessories, toys, stationery, home appliances, electronic accessories, cosmetics… bringing to customers many choices in terms of models and pricing. Besides, the new trends, fashion accessories that are favored by Korean idols will be updated quickly in Ilahui.

Besides customers are young people aged 15 – 35 years old, Ilahui also owns large numbers of customers over 35 years old who have modern spending habits, preferred the products with good designs and competitive price… All of them have created competitive advantage for Ilahui comparing with other convenience stores chain in the market.

Furthermore, Ilahui also target the personality of today’s youth through creating new style of shopping experience with simply but modern decorated space. The fashion accessories and cosmetics products are packaged in cute and colorful packaging. The number of products is a lot but they are sorted neatly on wooden shelves.

According to representative of Ilahui Vietnam, the Vietnam retail market is booming and the competition will become fiercer. High success rate along with the increasing openness of the market have led the franchise to become the investment plan that is interested by a lot of young Vietnamese people.

Ilahui is the convenience stores chain specializing in Korean style fashion accessories, which is expanding very fast in Asia with more than 500 stores within a year. Despite many challenges but with the advantages in product, distinct market segments and new shopping style, Ilahui is believed to have steady steps to conquer Vietnamese customers.

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Risk Management Necessity in Vietnam?

As Vietnam further integrates into the world business, more investors are eyeing Vietnam for investment. As part of investment due diligence, risk management are always well considered before foreign investors decide to do business with Vietnam partners.

In any parts of the world inluding Vietnam, risk is an inevitable factor in business operation activities; higher return is always accompanied by higher risks. Coping and managing risk is an integral part of any business in order to make profit and create value to shareholders in import export transaction, investment, or merger and acquisition activities in Vietnam.

However, in our daily consulting practice, we have seen a number of businesses whom do not manage risk effectively and furthermore not fully understand about the risks that they are facing.

Typical risks in developing countries like Vietnam are political risks, policy risks, regulations risks, credit risks, bribery and corruptions, and organized crimes.

On daily transaction in trading, according to Vietnam Ministry of Industry and Trade, there are situations a number of corporate scams between Vietnam and foreign enterprises are reported. In particular, foreign companies sell goods or provide services to partners in Vietnam and in return the Vietnam partner fail to pay.

On a larger scale in FDI through business formation or M&A origination and execution, businesses that do not improve the risk management process will have to face with a lot of different types of risks: serious financial losses, adversely affecting cash flows and the value of shares, decreasing prestige with customers, employees and investors.

Many business leaders often put heavy emphasis on the business activity, profit, and revenues instead of concentrating more on risk management especially understading business partners through corporate intelligence investigation, background studying, adverse media search through professional consultants in Vietnam whom understand languages, cultures, legal environment and busieness practices. Further searches could help foreign investors to understand the company itself, owners, shareholders, members of board of directors of partner companies whom make daily decisions of the business.

In the period that global crisis has been predicted that almost bottom out and start to show signs of recovery, although the recovery process can occur with different speed and characteristics depending on sector and location of the business, the fully preparation of business in all aspects including process and risk management strategy could helps business not falling into the passive and also have more possibilities to take advantage of growth opportunities after the recession.

Recently in Vietnam with the impact of high inflation rate and economic recession caused by the global financial crisis, enterprises are increasingly concern about risk management activities. Many experts believe that an effective and well organized risk management system will help businesses withstand and overcome fluctuations.

ANT Consulting is here to assist you from the outset; providing corporate intelligence, risk advisory, management consulting services that assist market entrance, and ensure efficient business start-up operation. 

We strive to save your cost by guiding you towards economical solutions that comply with local legislation and procedures. We support you through early logistic solutions and carry you through as your business grows.  We aim to bridge the gap between international best practices and local cultures and assist foreign companies and organizations entering Vietnam market to overcome commercial and regulatory issues.

We could be reached at email: ant@antconsult.vn or tel: +848 3520 2779 .  To learn more about us, please visit www.antconsult.vn

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German Enterprises Seeking Investment Opportunities in HCM City

At a meeting between the leaders of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and the German Business Association (GBA), Mr Jens Ruebbert – Chairman of GBA said that Vietnam is an attractive destination for investment and business activities of foreign investors, including German businesses.

Go along with Mr. Jens Ruebbert attending this meeting, there are more than 70 German enterprises operating in various fields, wishing to expand investment and trading activities in a number of potential areas such as automobile, production, communication, finance, insurance…

With advanced professional qualifications and also experiences, German enterprises are expected to seek investment and trading opportunities, bringing practical benefits for both sides of the business community, as well as both countries.

Germany is one of the major and efficient partners of Vietnam in the field of education and training, science and technology… It is possible to mention some of their projects that have been implementing in Vietnam as Vietnamese-German University; Construction of Phu Lac 1 wind power plant worth 35 million Euros; No. 2 metro line in HCMC worth 240 million Euros or the project to improve energy efficiency in rural areas worth 120 million Euros…

According to the leader of HCMC, the relation between Vietnam and Germany are increasingly strengthened and is developing in various fields such as political, economic, commerce and education…

Germany is one of the important partners of Vietnam in the European Union. Therefore, Vietnam in general and HCMC in particular, wish to promote cooperation in the field of urban transport, health, education…

Until 2020, the two-way exchange trade turnover target between Vietnam and Germany will reach 15 billion to 20 billion USD.

Therefore, in order to create favorable conditions to help German businesses reaching and searching for investment and trading opportunities with Vietnam partners, the Department of Planning and Investment of HCMC has published information on economic and social development orientation of the city from 2016 to 2017.

Besides, the city also introduced several measures to boost production and trading, in order to remove difficulties for enterprises, improve the investment environment to attract human resources at home and abroad such as enhancing trade promotion, expanding the market by concentrating in investment sectors that are encouraged by the city.

ANT Consulting is here to assist you from the outset; providing corporate intelligence, risk advisory, management consulting services that assist market entrance, and ensure efficient business start-up operation. 

We strive to save your cost by guiding you towards economical solutions that comply with local legislation and procedures. We support you through early logistic solutions and carry you through as your business grows.  We aim to bridge the gap between international best practices and local cultures and assist foreign companies and organizations entering Vietnam market to overcome commercial and regulatory issues.

We could be reached at email: ant@antconsult.vn or tel: +848 3520 2779 .  To learn more about us, please visit www.antconsult.vn

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Forbes: Vietnam is Becoming Economic Tiger of Asia

The website of Forbes has recently published the article of author Ed Fuller with the title “Vietnam is ready to become the next economic tiger of Asia.”

Like South Korea, Taiwan and China, Vietnam is having many base advantages.

According to the economic report till August of 2016, foreign direct investment (FDI) into Vietnam has reached a record level in 2015 and this year could be higher. Only the first half of 2016, FDI into Vietnam reached 11.3 billion USD, increased by 105% over the same period last year although in the context of the global economy is moving very slowly.

Since 1990, the average economic growth of Vietnam reached 7% per year, just behind China. This growth has brought Vietnam from a poor country into the country with average income level of the world. If Vietnam continues to keep the growth rate of 7% per years in the next 10 years, the Vietnam economy will grow just like China and many other economic tigers in Asia.

Vietnam now has more than 92 million people, mostly young (average age is 30.7 years old) and skilled. Moreover, the spending from the national budget for education is around 6.3% of GDP, higher than the average of most low and middle income countries. In the global rankings, 15-year-old children of Vietnam have regularly defeated children in the United States and Britain in math and science competitions. This is an advantage for the factory in Vietnam that requiring workers to have the ability to operate complicated machinery.

Another positive point is the advantage of geographical location, while Vietnam has the border with China, becoming a competitive advantage compared to other countries when Vietnam is closer to the production centers in Southern China with the transportation system connected by road and sea. Furthermore, the rising price of labor wages in China makes Vietnam becoming alternative destination for businesses to move their factory to locations where costs are lower.

Simultaneously, Vietnam is a member of various trade agreements. According to The Economist, Vietnam will be the greatest beneficiary of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP – an agreement of 12 countries including the US and Japan). Moreover, Vietnam also signed other trade agreements with the EU and South Korea.

Besides, nowadays, tourism is playing an increasingly important role in the development of Vietnam. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), in 2015, tourism has contributed more than 16 billion USD to the Vietnam’s economy, equivalent to about 9.3% of GDP.

With the goal of attracting 55 million tourists (both domestic and foreign) each year until 2030, Vietnam has announced the visa exemption policy for visitors from 22 countries in Europe and Asia, including the UK, France, Germany, Russia and 9 ASEAN member countries.

Also, a lot of infrastructure and major transport projects have been planned to implement in the next 15 years, including 7 new tourism development areas, the Hai Phong, Quang Ninh waterways and the railway connecting to China’s Yunnan province. Simultaneously, the upgrading of infrastructure in the area is expected to go further, thanks to a series of bilateral agreements that have been signed with Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar to realize joint tourism initiatives.

Analysts have predicted that the supply of hotel rooms will increase in the next 3 years. The CBRE real estate consulting firm has forecasted that the number of hotel rooms in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi will grow by 8% per year until 2018. The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) also forecasted that the growth rate of the industry will be 6.2% annually over the next decade, creating more jobs and increasing tourism directly of about 2% per year until 2025 .

ANT Consulting is here to assist you from the outset; providing corporate intelligence, risk advisory, management consulting services that assist market entrance, and ensure efficient business start-up operation. 

We strive to save your cost by guiding you towards economical solutions that comply with local legislation and procedures. We support you through early logistic solutions and carry you through as your business grows.  We aim to bridge the gap between international best practices and local cultures and assist foreign companies and organizations entering Vietnam market to overcome commercial and regulatory issues.

We could be reached at email: ant@antconsult.vn or tel: +848 3520 2779 .  To learn more about us, please visit www.antconsult.vn

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French President Visits Vietnam

On September 5^th 2016, Mr François Hollande – President of the Republic ofFrance start visiting Vietnam at the invitation of the President of Vietnam – Mr Tran Dai Quang.

During the visit, the two parties will check, review and concretize the connotations towards promoting cooperation and further strengthen political relations, exchanging high-level visits on both bilateral and multilateral levels. Moreover, both parties will review and further improve the efficiency of cooperation mechanisms between the two countries.

The visit is also an opportunity for both sides to promote the economic cooperation in the fields of infrastructure, climate change combating, science – technology, health, agriculture… This is also an opportunity for France and Vietnam together to discuss international issues. The visit of President François Hollande will last for 3 days.

ANT Consulting is here to assist you from the outset; providing corporate intelligence, risk advisory, management consulting services that assist market entrance, and ensure efficient business start-up operation. 

We strive to save your cost by guiding you towards economical solutions that comply with local legislation and procedures. We support you through early logistic solutions and carry you through as your business grows.  We aim to bridge the gap between international best practices and local cultures and assist foreign companies and organizations entering Vietnam market to overcome commercial and regulatory issues.

We could be reached at email: ant@antconsult.vn or tel: +848 3520 2779 .  To learn more about us, please visit www.antconsult.vn

eck, review and concretize the connotations towards promoting cooperation and further strengthen political relations, exchanging high-level visits on both bilateral and multilateral levels. Moreover, both parties will review and further improve the efficiency of cooperation mechanisms between the two countries.

The visit is also an opportunity for both sides to promote the economic cooperation in the fields of infrastructure, climate change combating, science – technology, health, agriculture… This is also an opportunity for France and Vietnam together to discuss international issues. The visit of President François Hollande will last for 3 days.

ANT Consulting is here to assist you from the outset; providing corporate intelligence, risk advisory, management consulting services that assist market entrance, and ensure efficient business start-up operation. 

We strive to save your cost by guiding you towards economical solutions that comply with local legislation and procedures. We support you through early logistic solutions and carry you through as your business grows.  We aim to bridge the gap between international best practices and local cultures and assist foreign companies and organizations entering Vietnam market to overcome commercial and regulatory issues.

We could be reached at email: ant@antconsult.vn or tel: +848 3520 2779 .  To learn more about us, please visit www.antconsult.vn

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