E-Mart said Monday it has opened its first outlet in Vietnam, with aims to expand its presence across the Southeast Asian region in the years to come.

The discount store chain operated by Korea’s retail giant Shinsegae will be competing with Lotte Mart, which has been operating 11 stores in Vietnam since 2011.


The new E-Mart store -- two stories tall and about 30,000 square meters wide -- is located in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City at Go Vap District, one of the most developed and densely populated areas in the capital.

The Go Vap branch marks E-Mart’s first overseas store since the brand redirected its focus to the Southeast Asian market in 2011 amid sluggish performance of its Chinese operations.

The firm has set its sights on using the new store as a foothold to expand into other regions in Vietnam as well as neighboring countries like Laos, Indonesia and Myanmar.

E-Mart said it has taken care to localize its services as much as possible to meet the needs and lifestyle of Vietnamese consumers while introducing a number of new services and facilities unfamiliar to locals.

For one, 95 percent of some 300 store employees, including the store head, are Vietnamese. In line with the high motorcycle ownership (80 percent) in the country, the parking lot has been designed to accommodate 1,500 motorcycles and 150 cars.

In terms of its product lineup, E-Mart is featuring Korean goods that are popular among Vietnamese tourists to Korea as well as imported items sourced directly by the store operator.

Popular Korean food such as kimbap and tongdak, grilled chicken, as well as fresh baked goods catered to Vietnamese tastes will be freshly made and sold inside the store as well.

The venue also includes a number of new dining and entertainment facilities scarce in the country including a diversified food court, a sports club for children as well as an English Club.

At the same time, E-Mart plans to implement its flagship customer services system, including immediate refund and exchange policies and compensation for miscalculations at the checkout counter.

“By offering items, services and facilities popular among the Vietnamese E-Mart’s Go Vap branch will seek to sweep the Vietnamese retail market,” said general director of E-Mart Vietnam Choi Kwang-ho.

“After successfully building up a sizeable presence in downtown Ho Chi Minh, we plan to expand into the rest of the country,” he said.

E-Mart has reportedly purchased land near Ho Chi Minh’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport, with plans to open its second branch there in the near future.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)