Customers choosing dishes at Aeon Tan Phu in HCM City. Photo VNA

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The Japanese Aeon retail group is planning to team up with two leading Vietnamese retailers, Fivimart and Citimart, later this year, according to the Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Tokyo.

Fivimart and Citimart operate 15 and 26 supermarkets in the country's northern and southern regions, respectively. The co-operation with the two chains is expected to help Aeon expand its activities to the urban areas in the country's two most highly developed economic regions.

According to the Keizai newspaper, the co-operation plan includes activities to develop products with well-known brands, and fully tap the source of commodities and build a supply and distribution network.

In the initial phase, Aeon will sell its food and consumer goods under the Top Value brand through the two Vietnamese retailers, and then tie up with businesses in Viet Nam to develop more products.

The business links will also help Aeon set up a distribution network for goods and reduce the amount of initial capital outlay, while laying the groundwork for its plan to construct a series of shopping malls in Viet Nam.

Aeon opened a shopping mall in HCM City in January this year. It expects to expand its retail network in Viet Nam.

Viet Nam has been closely examining the operations of retailers with foreign investment capital and every project which has an area of more than 500sq.m. Therefore, Aeon's plan to develop a shopping mall network has been progressing slower than expected.

Besides Aeon, other foreign retail giants such as Lotte from South Korea and France's Big C have plans to expand their supermarket network in Viet Nam. — VNS