Vietnam’s leading mobile retailer eyes ASEAN expansion

By Tran Quoc Thoai March 30, 2016 | 03:36 am PT

Nguyen Duc Tai (center), CEO and chairman of MWG’s board of directors, talks with local investors and reporters on the sideline of a conference on retailing in Ho Chi Minh City on Monday. : Thoai Tran

Mobile World JSC (MWG) is aiming to become one of the biggest mobile device retailers in Southeast Asia by 2020 after consolidating their leading position in Vietnam last year.

The regional expansion will be restricted to Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, Nguyen Duc Tai, CEO and chairman of MWG told a conference in Ho Chi Minh City earlier this week.

“We will send a working group to Myanmar next month to study the market and find local partners to discuss cooperation opportunities" he said, adding that MWG intends to open its first retail store with an initial investment of several million U.S. dollars in Myanmar in 2017. The company aims to establish a business presence in Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia by 2020, Tai said.

MWG’s initial survey has shown that no local retailers in the three ASEAN markets have ever captured 20 percent of market share, and this is the gap for MWG to fill, he added.

Meanwhile, the company will continue to prioritize the domestic market. It hopes to double sales to $2 billion in 2018, from the $1 billion in business it did in 2015. MWG also plans to increase the total number of its The Gioi Di Dong retail stores selling mobile devices, and Dien May Xanh (blue-label electronics-electrical) stores, selling household appliances, by over 110 to 800 stores in total by the end of this year, Tai said.

MWG is currently the biggest mobile device retailer in Vietnam with over 600 The Gioi Di Dong stores making up 30 percent mobile retail market share, while its Dien May Xanh outlets make up eight percent local market share with more than 90 stores.