Marks & Spencer opens its first store in Viet Nam on Friday. In first 10 days, it has reached one-month target. — VNS Photo

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — British retailer Marks & Spencer, which opened in Viet Nam just a fortnight ago, has announced that it has already achieved its first month's sales target.

At the official opening ceremony of its first store in Viet Nam on September 12, Munish Rishi, country manager and senior VP – department store at franchisee Central Retail Corporation, told Viet Nam News: "We have been open for 14 days and have only started marketing now. But the response has been fantastic; we reached our one-month target in the first 10 days."

The result has surprised them, he said, adding that 80 per cent of customers were Vietnamese, proving that the Vietnamese retail market is very promising.

Marks & Spencer's first outlet in the country is in HCM City's Vincom Centre Dong Khoi.

Talking about future plans, Bruce Findlay, the retailer's regional director for Asia, told Viet Nam News that "there is great potential in the Vietnamese retail market … We see about 20 stores in the next five or six years. We will open another store here in HCM City and we are looking to go in to Ha Noi and beyond; so we are very excited."

The second and third stores will open in 2015 before going to other major cities like Hai Phong and Da Nang in 2016.

The company plans to update its products every month, and customers can also order online and get delivery from the store.

Marks and Spencer, one of the UK's leading retailers, has over 800 stores in that country and 460 others in 56 countries and territories.

In Viet Nam, its stores will be operated by Central, which has a long-standing franchise agreement with it. —VNS