Việt Nam, known for its dynamic and evolving business landscape, has become an attractive hub for global investors. Japanese conglomerate AEON is no exception, having made substantial strides in the Vietnamese market since its inception in Viet Nam in 2014. Furusawa Yasuyuki, Member of the Executive Officer Board of AEON Co Ltd (Japan) overseeing the Vietnam Business and serving as the General Director of AEON Vietnam, offers insights into Việt Nam's investment landscape and sheds light on AEON's performance and future business prospects in the country.

The investment environment in Việt Nam keeps changing but overall, we see more potential than challenges. Việt Nam will continue to attract more foreign investors in the future. As a Japanese businesses, we see the opportunity to accompany and contribute to Việt Nam's market development in the direction of joining hands together for future growth. Therefore, I think that Japanese businesses want to invest in Việt Nam because of various attractive investment factors.

For AEON, we researched Việt Nam's market since 2009 before opening our first shopping mall in 2014. When looking back on 11 years, we have achieved our expectations for the first stage of development in Việt Nam.

Regarding the Vietnamese retail market, in the next five years, due to the impact of the wider economic context, consumers prioritising cost saving will continue for some time. The business environment is expected to be more competitive. Consumers always look for new things and the speed of change in consumer behavior is extremely fast. Therefore, retailers must continue to change to meet our customers’ demands. Changes in consumer demand and behaviours also are opportunities for retailers like AEON to change and grow. Currently, many companies are actively investing in Việt Nam and AEON Group has determined that Việt Nam is its second key market besides Japan. So, we will continue strengthening our investment in Việt Nam. AEON will keep doing our best to contribute to the prosperous life of everyone in Việt Nam.

In addition, as a retailer, AEON always identifies sustainable production and consumption as one of our key goals. To realise this, AEON Vietnam has implemented many initiatives aimed at supporting customers and employees to raise awareness and create a habit of making sustainable consumption decisions. — VNS