Good Convenience Stores

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Group 2: Ice Cream EAP Writing 2

Topic: Convenience Store Chains in Vietnam

TABLE OF CONTENT

Part 1: INTRODUCTION.

2

1. Background of the study 2

2. Rationale 3

3. Scope of the study .. ..... 5

4. Literature review . 5

Part 2 :

METHODOLOGY8

1. Participants .8

2. Design 9

3. Procedure .10

Part 3:

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ....12

Part 4: CONCLUSION...

..18

REFERENCES..20

APPENDIX

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PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1. Background

In many countries in the world, convenience stores are quite popular, not only in

the city but also in the countryside. It is not difficult to see this type of business in some

foreign films or TV channels. However, only a few Vietnamese people know exactly

what a convenience store is. For many years, groceries and markets have played vital

roles in shopping habits of Vietnamese. Around 10 recent years, supermarkets have been

familiar with people as well. Vietnam is a developing country that connect closely with

traditional life style. The late penetration of convenience stores into country adds on the

ineffective propaganda makes difficulties for consumer to clarify its concepts.

In fact, a convenience store is a store or a shop that sells essential items, such as:

candy, ice-cream, cigarette, newspapers and magazines, toiletries and hygiene products,

processed food, groceries, etc. Some stores are part of gas stations, money orders and

wire transfer services or liquor products. They are often located alongside busy roads, in

densely-populated urban neighborhoods, at gas/petrol stations or near railway stations or

other transportation hubs. In some countries, the open-door time is longer, some being

open 24hours. Convenience stores are also known as general stores, Australian milk bars,

corner shops (in Britain), truck stops, night shops ( in Brussels, Belgium). Some well-

known worldwide brand names are 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, Uni-Mart, Royal Farms, Store

24, Wal Mart and so on.

The development of convenienve stores in the world proves its market position .Average annual revenue per worker is about $440,000 for gas station/CS

combinations and $145,000 for c-stores without gas. In Japan, there has seen a significant

increase, and as of 8/2009 accounts for 42,345 units nation wide.7-Eleven leads the

market with 12,467 stores, followed by Lawson (9,562) and FamilyMart (7,604); In

Singapore, in 2004, there were 338 7-Eleven stores and 91 Cheers outlets; In Denmark,

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Food and Grocery market sales accounted for an 83.1% share of the convenience stores

and gas stations format in 2008; In US, about 120,000 stores with combined annual

revenue of about $350 billion. Major companies include 7-Eleven, Circle K , and The

Pantry. The industry is fragmented: the top 50 companies account for about 35 percent ofindustry sales.

General information about convenience stores in the world is found out easily.

Some famous books for reference in this field can be listed, for example: Convenience

stores and retail fuel properties: essential appraisal issues by Robert E. Bainbridge, The

art of buying and selling a convenience store by Terry Monroe, The complete

convenience stores manager by Edward M. Harwell. Furthermore, there are many

websites uploaded articles about convenience stores. Most of the sources are focus on the

content of tips or strategies because this kind of business is such a potential object.

Nevertheless it contains high risk in investment as well. Great experience and lessons

from those books are helpful for junior businessmen. The documents also come from

developed countries or general global overview.

On a smaller scale , this research brings a overview of convenience stores in

Vietnam market. The unpopularity of convenience stores in Vietnam derives from many

reasons, such as: shopping habits, unsuitable strategies of investors, competitive

advantages of traditional business This paper intends to introduce in detail about

convenience stores in Vietnam, especially the difficulties that convenience stores have

been currently facing with. That is a noticeable issue to take interest in, and from

provided knowledge Vietnamese learn easily about convenience stores. This paper,

therefore, includes the reality, causes and some suggestions for future development of

convenience stores in Vietnam. In addition, the research attaches real survey and

statistics.

2. Rationale

Convenience store( CS) started to be known in Vietnam since 2006. Despite the fact

that CS over the world is a booming retail industry with billions dollar of profit per year,

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the business seems unable to find its way to Vietnameses favor. A series of convenience

store chains were opened at the end of 2006: Shop&Go, G7 Mart, Vmart, Best&Buy,

Speedy, Day&Night but they have not developed as in the global market. When Vietnam

became membership of the WTO in 2007, many people considered it a signal for thesuccess of CS, as the local consumers might change their buying habit and be more open

to foreign-style businesses. Nevertheless, the situation stayed unchanged. A great number

of articles were published to mark the launch of convenience store chains (both

Vietnamese brands and international brands) in Vietnam market. In addition, some

articles and reports pointed out the unsatisfactory results of type of retailing, which

illustrated by many examples and images of the current situation. However, published

articles have not figure out what exactly obstacle convenience stores have to cope with in

Vietnam, and not many recommendations were given for this new business. This may be

a deficiency for a general observation of convenience store business, as well as for

further studies. Therefore, the main purpose of this research is to provide a clearer look of

this business in Vietnam. Moreover, this paper shows the disadvantages of CS in

Vietnam, which will be the major concern of future investors or entrepreneurs.

In this paper, we aim to:

1. Find out the current situation of convenience stores .

2. Figure out the possible reasons for unmarketable matter of convenience

stores in Vietnam.

3. Define possible options and suggestions for the improvement of

convenience store chains.

To be more specific, in the two first parts of our research, we will issue survey to

learn about the buying habit of Vietnamese consumers and their opinion of convenience

stores. We will also interview shop assistants of convenienve. The results gained and the

information collected from secondary sources like articles, Internet and other researches

will explain why CS chains are going down in Vietnam. In the final part, there will be a

discussion of the result, and some suggestions for future development in this business.

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Research questions

What is the current situation of convenience stores in Vietnam?

Why do convenience store chains anticipate difficulties in Vietnam?

How can convenience store become more popular among Vietnamese

customers?

3. Scope of the study

Within the limited range of the next few pages, it is hard to cover all relevant

issues of the CS worldwide, this proposal, therefore, attempts to present a snapshot of

development and some basic features of CS in Vietnam only. More specifically, the

study focuses mainly on some analysis of difficulties CS chains have been currently

encounter in the two biggest markets of Vietnam - Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city market.

In the other words, the market analysis has been carried out in these two most potential

markets only then we will make some comparison with the markets overseas in order tofind out the reasons why CS have been blooming successfully worldwide but not the

same in Vietnam.

4. Literature review

Convenience stores evolved from a variety of sources early in the twentieth

century. They drew upon characteristics of many types of retail establishments in

existence at the time: the "mom-and-pop" neighborhood grocery store, the dairy store, the

supermarket, specialty food shops, drug and variety stores, vending fast food chains, and

gasoline service stations. Since then the convenience store industrys scope has been

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largely a result of its enormous number of locations. They are often located alongside

busy roads, in densely populated urban neighborhoods, at gas/petrol stations or near

railway stations or other transportation hubs. In some countries most convenience stores

have longer shopping hours, some being open 24 hours. A heap of successfulconvenience stores, where the open front is a big attraction such as 7-eleven, Backers

Milk, Mac's Convenience Stores, Family Mart, Seven & I Holding Co, Dairy Farm

International Holdings, Cheers , have made a boom a cross the world. Nevertheless, we

just can see the modest development of convenience store chains in Vietnam. Apparently,

the unpopularity of Vietnam CS demonstrates that they have been facing with many

difficulties.

Currently, CS with tremendous growth helps people get its information easily

from the books, newspapers, magazines, televisions, and the internet Robert E.

Bainbridge (2003) widely cited book Convenience stores and retail fuel properties:

Essential appraisal issues concentrated on appraising convenience storeswith the crucial

background knowledge. In addition, Terry Monroe (2009) explained both sides of the

convenience stores sale from the perspective of both the buyer and the seller in his book

The art of buying and selling a convenience store.

Regarding the fast emergence of convenience stores, The Business Time (1984,

March 23) identified the remarkable development of convenience store in the article

Convenience stores pose threat to the supermarkets. The strong features of CS were

mentioned in detail. One of those is Goods on offer when convenience stores may

combine with other services. It is different from supermarket with longer shopping hours,

some being open 24 hours. Also, famous convenience stores in America, Japan, Canada,

Singapore, Taiwan was posted with their success.

Going with The Business Time, Valuationresource had reports providing sources

for industry trends and statistics, financial ratios, salary surveys, and more. It covers key

aspects of this industry's size, scope, and operations, recent news and developments,

industry trends, risks, and opportunities, and include a five-year industry forecast.

While based on research, RNCOS E-Services Private Limited (June 2010)

specialized in Global convenience store market analysis, p.115. The report provides

extensive analysis on the booming CS market. It provides an insight into the CS industry

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filling_stationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Train_stationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shopping_hourshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac's_Convenience_Storeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dairy_Farm_International_Holdingshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dairy_Farm_International_Holdingshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filling_stationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Train_stationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shopping_hourshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac's_Convenience_Storeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dairy_Farm_International_Holdingshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dairy_Farm_International_Holdings


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across Asia, Europe and North America and gives a brief overview of the consumer

behavior in these regions. Indeed, most of those studies focus on rapid growth of CS

market.

Booming expansion of convenience store business, along with economic

recovery, has been propelling the appearance of convenience store chains in Vietnam. E-

newspaper, Marketing4daily (2008, may 4) posted the title Circle K convenience stores

to hit Vietnam, which said Vietnam was being a target market for oversea retailers

launching. Thesaigontimes.vn (2008, December 22) has an article Saigon Co.op to

launch chain of convenience stores, involving Saigon Co.ops expansion plan to bring

convenience to residential areas in the city. FamilyMart, Japans third-largest CS

operator, will open its first outlet in Vietnam this year and plans to have a chain of up to

300 stores in the nation by 2014, excutive officer Takehiko Kigure said in Business

News (2009, April 26), Japanese convenience store chain to enter Vietnam.

Unfortunately, the hope that the stores would be a good alternative channel for

women who worry about the quality and safety of foods at traditional markets anticipates

difficulties. On the other hand, Convenience stores, the familiar distribution channel in

the world, turns out to be less favorite in Vietnam. Confronting with this situation,

Vietnamnet.vn raised a question Are convenience stores convenient?. A series of

convenience store chains, Shop&Go, G7 Mart, Vmart, Best&Buy, Speedy, Day&Night,

were open at the end of 2006 in HCM City and other localities with the hope of becoming

familiar to Vietnam. However, their hope has not come true yet. By interviewing owners,

the article figured out convenience stores specific difficulties in getting regular

customers, having competitive price, and change Vietnam peoples traditional shopping

way. Nevertheless, the question finally stands on the still.

The booming development of convenience store all over the world has been

mentioned a lot in the newspapers, books However, most of the information is about its

high-speed growth. The published articles neither go deeper in finding the difficulties

convenience store is confronted nor work out some possible solutions for this issue. Other

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studies should concentrate more on obstacles preventing the convenience store growth

and businessmen can have strategic vision on expand retailing market.

PART 2: METHODOLOGY

1. Participants

For the results produced, some participants were involved in the experiment

process. First of all, the buying habit of Vietnamese consumers was surveyed through a

combination of questionnaires , and face-to-face discussions. We randomly selected 50

customers who had purchased goods in Hapro convenience store in Dai Co Viet street,

Hanoi and surveyed them. In addition, the online version of questionnaires was sent to

Internet friend lists . These Internet users are living both in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city,

so that the scope of the study is assured. In total, there were 100 people took place in the

questionnaires part.The willingness to respond to the questionnaire and interviews and to

provide quantitative information on traded volumes and values, for example, differed

significantly between the contacted persons. After finishing interviewing and surveying

customers, we turned interviewee into sellers includes market operators, importers and

retailers, store owners. 3 vendors from groceries, Thanh Do marts and Hapro

convenience stores felt very free to share us frankly and honestly information about

products, type of regular customers as well as difficulties that their stores have been

anticipating. All of the results were collected and carefully analyzed while being checkedagainst information obtained from literature and other sources so that the final findings

and conclusions must be valid and reliable.

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2. Design

The exploratory method of research was finally chosen for this study. Exploratory

research is a type ofresearch conducted because a problem has not been clearly defined.

It provides the insight into and comprehension of an issue or situation. It should draw

definitive conclusions only with extreme caution. Exploratory research often relies on

reviewing available literature and/or data, or qualitative approaches such as informal

discussions with consumers, employees, management or competitors, and more formal

approaches through in-depth interviews, focus groups, projective methods, case studies or

pilot studies. Although the results of qualitative research can give some indication as to

the "why", "how" and "when" something occurs, it cannot tell us "how often" or "how

many."

In short, exploratory research is used principally to gain a deeper understanding of

something.

The aim of our research is to answer these questions:

What is the current situation of convenience stors in Vietnam?

Why do convenience store chains anticipate difficulties in Vietnam?

How can convenience store chains become more popular among

Vietnamese customers?

According to the above definition of exploratory research, we found it the most

appropriate method for our research. There are two main reasons. Firstly, we noticed that

not many Vietnamese have knowledge about convenience stores. They often associated

convenience stores with supermarkets. Hence, we want to provide people with a basic

knowledge of this type of business. In addition, the insight into the current situation of

Vietnam convenience stores would also be discussed. Secondly, there were many articles

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Researchhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research


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and some researches about convenience stores, but none of them had examined the reason

why convenience stores are not successful in Vietnam market. The purpose of this paper

is to explore existing problem, so exploratory method is very suitable. When doing

research, we chose the interview method, which is the best way to explore and answer thequestion: What and Why. Generally, in order to make a comprehension of the issue,

exploratory research is the most useful design.

3. Procedure

In the survey process, a list of questions was created in a link of the website

surveymonkey.com. The first step was distributing survey papers to 100 participants.

There were two ways to deliver : via the Internet and via hard copy. In the internet,

participants would receive the link via some social networks like Twitter, Facebook,

Yahoo, Netlog and so on. This link was converted into two languages : Vietnamese (for

people who were not good at English) and English ( for people who were interested in

English). Links were accompanied with invitations and recources at the status bar of

social networks. Besides, hard copies were deliver to people personally. As mentioned in

the Participants part, these people were customers of convenience stores.Participants used

pens to mark their choices or wrote their opinions if necessary. They accomplished the

survey personally in some minutes. And the second step was collecting results. In case of

completing in the website surveymonkey.com, the results were sent back to the

website and analysis, integration would be done in the website. The creator signed in the

website account and collected data. In case of using hard copies, the sender gathered

papers and carried out to calculate. After that, the final figures were integrated from the

average results of the two steps above.

The second process of this experiment was interviewing. The objects were sales

clerks of convenience stores. Three out of many convenience stores of Hapro Mart in

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different locations in Hanoi were chosen to carried out the interview. Those were stores

in Hang Bong street, Hue street and Luong Dinh Cua street. Interview questions includes

six major questions and some extra questions in case of need.In order that sales people

were not annoyed with interviewers, role-play was applied to approach naturally. Aftertaking a stroll around the stores and buying something, interviewers implemented the

task. Interviewees were asked to support facts and figures, expressed their individual

opinions of their stores. It took just only 3 to 5 minutes per person. All responses were

collected by videotaping. As a result, the difficulties in development of c-stores in

Vietnam were figured out more accuracy.

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PART 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

After doing research, we have almost solved the three key research questions. In

order to make the paper clear and easy to follow, this part is arranged according

to these research questions.

Fan Introduction nay chua okie

1. What is tThe current situation of convenience stores in Vietnam?

One of the primary cores through survey and interview process is to figure outwhat is the current situation of convenience stores in Vietnam. In other words, the answer

of this research question will provide a look at the position of convenience stores in

Vietnam market. At the beginning, CS seemed to be a very potential investment into

Vietnam market. Here are the numbers and events of some typical convernience stores in

Vietnam: 8/2006: Saigon Co.op set to expand convenience stores chain with VND 30-

50mil invest in each store. Saigon Co.op aimed to raise the total number of Co.op Mart

supermarkets from the current 15 to 100 by 2015; 5/2008: Circle K signed up a franchise

partner in Vietnam as economic growth spurs spending in the country; 4/2009:

FamilyMart Co. planed to set up its first convenience store in Vietnam later this year and

raise the number of its outlets in the country to around 300 over the next five years.

However, after some years going into operation, the new business is currently facing a

difficult situation.

Firstly, convenience store is not familiar with Vietnamese customers. The concept

of Convenience store remains relatively new and unclear. Vietnamese customers still

mistake it with other kinds of retailing such as supermarket, market According to our

survey (Question 1), the mistake is up to 42%. They do not know how convenience stores

look like, what kind of product the stores sell. As a result, it is hard for that type of retail

to become familiar with and attract customers, let alone regular ones. Secondly, in

comparison with other kinds, convenience store seems less favorable. To be more

specific, convenience store owners have to compete with a variety of other business

selling product types, such as: Market; Grocery; Supermarket and so on; then it is such

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a hardship to make convenience store the most marketable one. This could be easily

found in the table 1 below:

Table Figure 3. 1: Place where customers buy essential product

As the table illustrates, the number of customers purchasing products in

convenience stores only accounted for a half of the one in supermarkets and even less

than a half of the one in markets. The analysis of the statistic information presented in

table1 reveals that convenience store operator somehow cannot meet the requirements of

Vietnam market in some certain aspects, this explains why a number of customers buying

essential products in supermarket and market instead of doing so in convenience store. In

the interview made at convenience store on Hue Street, Ms. Lan acknowledged that this

CS does not have many regular customers while most of visitors to the stores are non-

residents.The residents like going to groceries and traditional markets.Finally, during the

research process, we recognized the shut down of some chains of convenience store.

Confronted with a heap of difficulties, CS in Vietnam are falling into poor marketability,

even in case of ending up their business. The closed CS chain, G7 in Ha Noi, is one

example of unsuccessful operation. The hope of making the new retail model familiar

with Vietnamese consumers has not come true yet.

Grocery, 12%

Supermarket,

34.50%

Market,

39.30%

Convenience

Store, 14.30%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

1

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2. Why do The reasons why convenience stores anticipate difficulties in

Vietnam?

The global convenience store industry has illustrated tremendous growth. It is

becoming a new element in the retail sector of a growing number of advanced

economies.The convenience stores in lots of countries fit the contemporary life style.

Curiously, it has been a significant increase. It sells time and merchandise conveniences

for consumers, introducing logistics systems. However, it has been facing with plenty of

difficulties when being launched in Vietnam. What are the reasons for these obstacles?

Question number six of the survey Mark criterion which you feel satisfied or

unsatisfied when you purchase goods in convenience stores has identified main things

that make Vietnamese convenience stores not popular among residents.

69.70%

30.30%

70.30%

29.70%

52.70%

47.30%

63.60%

36.40%

57.50%

42.50%

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

100.00%

Price Convenient

location of

store

A wide

variety of

goods

Satisfied Unsatisfied

Table Figure 3.2: Criterion which customers feel satisfied or unsatisfied

when purchasing goods in convenience stores

The first reason may cause convenience stores failure is the attitude of the staffs.

After visiting some convenience stores in Ha Noi, we found that convenience stores here

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have not get international standard: the opening time, and the staffs attitude Although

many people remain active until late at night, this new model of retail closes in the early

evening (about 9 pm). This restricts customers shopping demand. Furthermore, many

people complaint about service attitude in those convenience stores. The staff lacks ofenthusiasms and activeness. In our survey, some people claimed that they are not

satisfied with convenience stores due to the attitude of staffs. On the other hand, sellers in

markets are often very helpful and do not mind to suggest customers the best choice of

products , so do the employees of supermarkets.

Apart from not getting international standard, global economic recession has

impact on the launching of convenience stores as well. Although Vietnam has not directly

been affected by the global economic recession, which started in the third quarter of

2008, it still suffered from some negative effects in terms of the huge FDI flow into the

country each year. At the deepest point in the recession, most people were worried about

an uncertain future, and reduced expenditure. The whole market and some traditional

channels suffered the effects of the recession in the first half of 2009. It was the time

when convenience store started in our country. Most retailers saw a period of sharp

decline in demand at the beginning of 2009, which continued until the second half of the

year.

The other reason seems to be the high price of goods in convenience stores . In a

developing country, price is a very decisive factor to the success of products. Only a

small part of customers feel satisfied with price of products in convenience stores, it is

usually more expensive than in market and supermarket. From question 5 of the survey,

53% of people interviewed consider price as one important factor. People say that they

would rather buy food and essential products in market, with a little lower quality, than

pay more to shop in a convenience store.

The last but most important reason we have found out is the buying habit of

Vietnamese customers. First, Vietnamese have the habit of buying fresh food everyday,

which is totally different from other countries. They often go to market to buy fresh pork,

beef and vegetables. Convenience stores can not fully supply the demand of this type of

food. On the other hand, Vietnamese people associated food in these stores as frozen and

unnatural food. Therefore, domestic customers only go to supermarkets and convenience

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stores to buy canned food or cosmetic products (as resulted from the interview with shop

assistants). But actually they often choose supermarkets because of their wider range of

products. Besides, the convenience store, in the eyes of many Vietnamese people, is

something luxurious. They have to pay additional prices for what is called high quality, such as air-conditional, staffs uniform, renting feeAs a result, they would like to

spend time on buying merchandise in traditional shops and markets, which is normal and

popular with everyone. The fixed opinion is very difficult to change only after a short

time.

Thieu 1 conclusion

3. How can convenience store chains become more popular among

Vietnamese customers?chuyen thanh dang tran thuat

From the results of the survey and interview, it is not difficult to identify why the

development of convenience stores has signs of slowdown, in spite of investment on a

great scale of many brand names such as: G7 Mart, Family Mart, 7-Eleven, etc. For the

purpose of researching the reality of retailing, focusing on convenience stores chain, this

paper would like to give some recommendations to the long term strategies in Vietnam

market.

One remarkable point is that investors have to answer these two questions: Who

are objects to aim at?, Where to locate the stores. Answering to the first question, the

fact is major consumers of convenience stores in Vietnam are housewives. However,

housewives are faithful to purchase fresh food in market and prefer to go shopping in

supermarkets at weekend. Because fresh food in market is usually latest food, they are

very green, new and nutritious; meanwhile fresh food in convenience stores is often

refrigerated. Supermarkets such as Big C, Fivimart, Intimex, Metro, etc with profuse

goods meet fully the demand than convenience stores. Therefore, convenience stores

meet with difficulties in competing. A solution for this problem is concentrating on other

objects, for example drivers and people who are in need at midnight. With the second

question, they should be located alongside busy roads or crowded street, in addition, the

positions at petrol stations or near railway stations, bus-stops, etc are good choices. These

positions are optimal as they are crowded and needed places. People drop in store to buy

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anything when they are in need or they wait in. From that point, shopping habit will be

taken shape in their sense.

Another significant point is standard form of stores like in Western countries and

the US. In developed countries, the amount of goods is huge as the definition: a store ora shop that sells essential items, such as: candy, ice-cream, cigarette, newspapers and

magazines, toiletries and hygiene products, processed food, groceries, etc and part of

gas stations, money orders and wire transfer services or liquor products.Convenience

stores in Vietnam should expand various kinds of products, especially essential goods,

and intensify to supply services at midnight, the time when supermarkets, markets and

groceries close. Most of convenience stores in Vietnam make the consumer confuse the

difference between them and supermarkets or groceries. Many people answered Hapro or

Family Mart are supermarkets when they were asked. For this reason, convenience stores

in Vietnam should focus on time service and typical goods to distinguish themselves.

The final point, also the ominous sign, is the shop-assistants attitude. In

accordance with our survey and interview results, many customers felt unsatisfied with

stores staff. In the survey question number six, some participants added their opinions

about the satisfaction or unsatisfaction when purchasing in convenience stores:

Question: Mark criterion which you feel satisfied or unsatisfied when you purchase

goods in convenience stores?

Other answers:- The attitude of the seller was so bad, I felt unsatisfied with payment

system

- Do not like the staffs attitude

This is a negative side in competitive advantages of Vietnam convenience stores. Finding

a remedy for such problem much depends on shop owners. It is the thing to recruit well-

educated employees or frequently train the staff, not only the specialist knowledge but

also the attitude in dealing with customers.

The recommendations are provided after studying consumers reactions and

responses on the side of convenience stores manager board. Nevertheless, the

prerequisite for future development of convenience stores in Vietnam is much conditional

upon investors strategies.

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PART 4: CONCLUSION

This study set out to consider the extent to which difficulties and challenges havebeen affecting the development of convenience stores chains in Vietnam market. The

finding indicated that the concept of convenience stores has still been appearing to be

an unpopular notion in the retail business. It is a matter of fact that many people looked

puzzled when they were made request for recognizing some provided brand names. One

of the most significant results from this study is the explanation to these obstacles. We

feel it true that the primary causes to those problems involve poor staff training,

inadequate international standard, unreasonable price and Vietnamese buying habit.

Those problems cannot be solved overnight. Another significant finding relates to some

possible solutions to those problems. If the convenience store owners still yearn for

enlarging their business in Vietnam market, one recommendation might be to change the

operating system so as to adapt to subjective buying habit of Vietnamese consumers.

More specifically, this could be a reform regarding products, staff training and services

sides. These findings hopefully will contribute to convenience store in particular and to

retail business in common saying; So that, in this way or another way, they can find the

most suitable way for operation in Vietnam to find target customers and cover much

higher market share. As for investors, they could prove the strong points and overcome

obstacles by cautiously calculating and analyzing typical traits of Vietnam market so as

to make smart investing choices.

To conclude, this research has provided readers an overall look into a new kind

of retailing and examined the reasons why it is unfamiliar with Vietnamese. Nevertheless,since the CS is a new business in Vietnam, it is not easy to find information about it. The

secondary information is mainly about convenience stores in foreign countries where we

can see the blooming growth whilst there are only some articles on this area in our

country. Apart from the lack of information as well as within our limited knowledge and

time, making effective recommendations and suggestions for tribulations of convenience

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stores is not much easy for us. Therefore, additional researches on convenience stores are

recommended, which are both to confirm the findings of our research and to examine the

problems more thoroughly. Based on such findings and on the quantitative results of the

current paper, further researches may focus on how to improve the quality of conveniencestores, or how to change the local customers buying habit. Accordingly, effectual

solutions to push this brand-new retails expansion can be figured out. Another idea that

researchers may be interested in is to compare Vietnamese convenience stores with

international ones. The result of that study may help the CS owners clarify their almost

all shortcomings and overcome them. Hopefully, we could see the potential development

of convenience stores in our country, especially in Ha Noi.

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REFERENCES

1. HnPaya-Aya (2008) Circle K convenience stores to hit Vietnam,

www.marketing4daily.blogspot.com.

2. Quoc Hung (2008) Saigon Co.op to launch chain of convenience stores, The

Saigon Times Daily.

3. Robert E. Bainbridge (2003) Convenience stores and retail fuel properties:

Essential appraisal issues. Chicago:Appraisal Institute.

4. Terry Monroe (2009) The art of buying and selling a convenience store, Self

published.

5. (1984) Convenience Stores Pose threat to the supermarkets, The Business

Times. Singapore.

6. (2010) Global convenience store market analysis, RNCOS E-Services Private

Limited, p.115.

7. (2009) Japanese convenience store chain to enter Vietnam,

www.lookatvietnam.com.

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APPENDIX1. Survey questions

1. Where do you usually buy essential goods?

A. Supermarket B. Market

C. Convenience store D. Grocery

2. According to you, what type of business do Hapro, G7, Family Mart belong

to?

A. Grocery B. Supermarket

C. Market D. Convenience store

3. Do you know about convenience stores chains, such as: G7, Hapro or Family

Mart?

A. Yes B. No

4. How do you define a convenience store?

A. It is similar to stalls in market

B. It is similar to supermarket

C. It focuses on selling essential goods. Goods are arranged on the

buffet shelves like in the supermarket but with smaller scale

5. If No.1 is the most important criteria for you choose a product in a place,

number from No.1 to No.4 of which one you think is the most and less

important criteria.

A. Price

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B. Quality of goods

C. A variety of goods

D. Convenient transportation

6. Mark criteria which you feel satisfied or unsatisfied when you purchase

goods in convenience stores.


A. Price

B. Product quality

C. Convenient location of store

D. Logical and in-order

arrangement.

E. A Variety of goods

F. Others

7. Do you believe in the development of convenience store in Vietnam market?

A. Yes, why not? C. Maybe, Im not sure.

B. No way! D. God know!

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2. Interview questions

1. Which object are the major customers of your store? (E.g.: Foreigners,

senior citizen, housewives or students?)

2. Do customers often buy fresh food in your store? (If not, it can be referred

convenience stores dont meet the need in supplying fresh food which is

essential demand of Vietnamese customers).

3. Does your store have any promotional program aiming at customers

loyalty? Does your store have kind of reward card (to earn shopping points)

for regular customers?

4. Do you intend to enlarge store scale in the future time? (If no, why? If yes,

then what the biggest challenges are?)

5. Can you tell me several best-sellergoods in your store? Or which ones areeasy to be inventory in one-month business circle.

6. Do customers often buy retail (E.g.: A shampoo bottle or a chocolate bar

only) or a large amount of stuff in one time?

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3. Interview and survey results

Interview results

Objects: Convenience stores chain of Hapro Mart at 3 different locations in

Hanoi.

Interviewees: Shop assistants and the owners.

Store No.1: Hang Bong street

Store No.2: Luong Dinh Cua street

Store No.3: Hue street

Content:

Question 1: Which object are the major customers of your store? (E.g.:

Foreigners, senior citizen, housewives or students?)

Store No.1:Mainly foreigners because this store located in the Old

quarter street.

Store No.2: Housewives, people living in the neighborhood

Store No.3: We have many kinds of customers. But, our main

customers are house-wives and foreigners.

Question 2: Do customers often buy fresh food in your store? (If not, it can be

referred convenience stores dont meet the need in supplying fresh food

which is essential demand of Vietnamese customers).

Store No.1: Rarely

Store No.2: Not much

Store No.3:Yes, our convenience store sells lots of fresh food and

customers frequently go here to buy them to prepare their meals.

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Question 3: Does your store have any promotional program aiming at

customers loyalty? Does your store have kind of reward card (to earn

shopping points) for regular customers?

Store No.1: There are only promotion programs in special occasions like

Tet . There is no reward card.

Store No.2: Its up to each type of product and is quite seasoning. For

instance, more promotional programs when it comes to some big holiday

(Tet Holiday, National Independent Holiday, International Womens day,

etc.))

Store No.3: At this time, we have not had that program aiming at

customers loyalty. However, we often have promoting programs on special

occasions such as International Womens Day, Independence Day, Tet

Holiday, Mid-Autumn Festival On each occasion, we focus on specific

goods to make discounts.

Question 4: Do you intend to enlarge store scale in the future time? (If no,

why? If yes, then what the biggest challenges are?)

Store No.1 : It depends on the profit we earn. However, it is not our

business . The manager and director of the cooperation will decide.

Store No.2 : The store owner reject to give answer for this question

Store No.3 : About this, I have not had further plan. Now we want to pay

attention to making this store better.

Question 5:Can you tell me several best-seller goods in your store? Or whichones are easy to be inventory in one-month business circle?

Store No.1: Milk, instant noodle, yogurt , shampoo and so on.

Store No.2: Some essential goods, like shampoo, cooking oil, washing

power,etc.

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Store No.3: We sell many sorts of goods: food, canned products,

electronics I see that food is the best-seller goods in our store. Most

customers come here to buy ingredients for meals. So canned products,

fresh food are consumed a lot.

Question 6: Do customers often buy retail (E.g.: A shampoo bottle or a

chocolate bar only) or a large amount of stuff in one time?

Store No.1: retail

Store No.2: Usually they buy in a fairly big amount of goods ( to save time

and money as we have promotional programs applied when customers buy

products in a large amount.

Store No.3: It depends on each customer, time as well as purpose. We

have many customers, including housewives, foreigners, students

Therefore, they usually buy retail. They sometimes buy a large amount of

stuff.

Extra questions:

1. Which points of time in a day are the busiest?

Store No.1: It depends, but mostly in the afternoon, when working time is

over.

2. Compared with supermarkets and groceries, is the number of customers your

store big?

Store No.1: I have no idea

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Survey results

Total started survey: 100

Total completed survey: 100 (100%)

1. According to you, what type of business do such stores like Hapro, G7,

Family Mart belong to?

Skipped question: 1

2. Where do you usually buy essential goods?

Grocery6%

Supermarket35%

Market1%

ConvenienceStore58%

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Skipped question: 0

3. Do you know about convenience store chains, such as: G7, Hapro or

Family Mart?

Skipped question: 1

Grocery, 12%

Supermarket,

34.50%

Market,

39.30%

Convenience

Store, 14.30%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

1

Yes, 66.3%

No, 33.70%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

1

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4. How do you define a convenience store?

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

1

It is similar to stalls in market (2.4%)

It is similar to supermarket (6.1%)

It focuses on selling essential goods. Goods are arranged on the buffet shelves like in the

supermarket but with smaller scale (91.5%)

Skipped questions: 2

5. As for you, how important are these criteria in choosing a product in a

place? Please judge them according to each criterions importance.

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Skipped question: 1

6. Mark criterion which you feel satisfied or unsatisfied when you purchase

goods in convenience stores.

33.70%

53%

9.60%

3.70%

67.50%

31.30%

1.20%

25.30%

47%

27.70%

29.30%

43.90%

25.60%

1.20%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Price Quality of goods A wide variety of

goods

Convenience in

transportation

Very important Important Not so important Not important at all

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69.70%

30.30%

70.30%

29.70%

52.70%

47.30%

63.60%

36.40%

57.50%

42.50%

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

100.00%

Price Convenient

location of

store

A wide

variety of

goods



Other answers:

-I have never bought anything at convenience store before, so I have not pay

attention.

-I do not know.

-The attitude of the seller was so bad, I felt unsatisfied with payment system.

- Do not like the staffs attitude

7. Do you believe in the development of convenience stores in Vietnam

market?

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54.90%

1.20%

36.60%

7.30%

Yes, why not?

No way!

Maybe, I'm not sure

God knows!


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Good Convenience Stores

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