VietNamNet Bridge - Household-use and cosmetics stores like Miniso and Ilahui earn hundreds of millions of dong a day from selling products to office workers and university students.

With the population increasing and consumers wanting to make purchases quickly and conveniently, Vietnam is a lucrative market for convenience stores.

Cosmetics and household items convenience stores have been increasing in the last year.

Japanese Daiso has been the pioneer in setting up household-use product convenience store chains in Vietnam.

In early 2008, Daiso began selling a wide range of household-use products, including kitchenware, stationary, fashion, cosmetics and toys at VND40,000 each.

Later, due to competition from many rivals and single-price shops, Daiso had to scale down its network. It now has five shops, mostly in HCMC, and one in Hanoi.

Unlike Daiso, Miniso and Ilahui came to Vietnam late, in September 2016, but they have been developing rapidly.

Miniso sells cosmetics, kitchenware and souvenirs with a Japanese style. At first, it had only three shops in Hanoi. Just one year later, the number of shops rose to 17. 

Though Miniso is suspected to be a Chinese brand under a Japanese name, Miniso still can attract young customers thanks to diverse products and reasonable prices.

Selling similar products, Ilahui has South Korean style. To date, it has had 19 shops. The chain not only has shops in Hanoi and HCMC, but has expanded to Ninh Binh, Thai Nguyen and Vung Tau.

Besides the three familiar convenience store brands, there are more brands such as Mumuso and Hachi Hachi. However, the number of shops remains modest, while the brand identification among consumers is still not high.

An analyst commented that Vietnamese, instead of buying things for daily use at traditional markets and groceries, tend to shop at convenience stores, where they can be served well and prices are not high, from tens of thousands of dong to hundreds of thousands of dong each.

Xuan, the owner of an Illahui franchise shop on Huynh Thuc Khang street, said some people initially window shop, but later change their mind and buy products.

With the initial cost of VND1.8 billion for the franchise contract, retail premises rent, decoration and pay for products, Xuan hopes she will break even in one year.

A franchisee said franchisers offer support to set up shops and train laborers. The discount rate is 40 percent. After paying retail premises, workers’ salaries and electricity and water bills, franchisees can make a profit of 20-25 percent.

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Thanh Lich