Vingroup acquires convenience store chain Shop&Go

VinCommerce, the retail arm of Vietnam’s largest listed firm, has taken over Shop&Go’s 87 stores and its debts, the extent of which are not known. 

VinCommerce currently operates supermarket chain VinMart and convenience store chain VinMart+.

At the end of 2016, the latest year for which figures are available, Shop&Go had aggregated losses of almost VND205 billion ($8.81 million).

It was one of the earliest convenience store chains in the country, opening its first store in 2006. It now has 70 in Ho Chi Minh City and 17 in Hanoi, open 24/7 and selling consumer goods, fast foods and beverages among others.

A Shop&Go spokesperson said while the potential in the Vietnamese retail market is still great, "the competition is more intense than we imagined; that is why we’ve decided to leave. We have sold our stores to Vingroup so it can continue to develop them."

A VinCommerce release said Shop&Go made the approach and offered to sell. VinCommerce plans to upgrade infrastructure, staff and goods at the new stores before the end of next month.

VinCommerce is the leading retailer in Vietnam with 108 VinMart supermarkets and around 1,900 VinMart+ convenience stores. It also owns online shopping website Adayroi. Last year it acquired supermarket chain Fivimart with 23 outlets.

The number of convenience stores in Vietnam has increased by 21 percent year-on-year to 1,819 as of last May. Most of them are based in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. 

A previous report by market research firm Nielsen Vietnam had said that Vietnamese people have been going to convenience stores more often in recent years. It said an average Vietnamese shopper make 4.5 trips a month to convenience stores in 2018, three times that of 2010. 

Since 2012, the number of convenience stores in the country has nearly quadrupled, Nielsen said.