Hanoi (VNA) - Against global recession and financial crisis, Vietnam’s retail industry hascemented its position in the economy as an effective bridge between producersand consumers, actively orienting buyers towards domestic products.

Remarksfrom the Vietnam Retail Forum (VRF) on December 12 showed that the country’smodern retail industry had come a long way since the Association of VietnamRetailers (AVR)’s establishment a decade ago.

In10 years as a World Trade Organisation member, Vietnam’s retail sector bravedmany challenges on the domestic market that the AVR considered insurmountablewithout enterprises’ determination to implement the Government’s action plan,said AVR President Dinh Thi My Loan.

PhamDinh Doan, CEO of the Phu Thai Group, spoke on the national retail anddistribution system at the forum, including challenges and solutions under theinfluence of global economic integration and foreign competition.

Doansaid Vietnam certainly had a potential retail market, but local enterprises hadnot utilised all the possibilities, especially in finding common ground betweenproducers and distributors.

Thesector had much to do, from improving human resources to expanding retailactivities on the international market.

Developmentand planning strategies for domestic supermarket chains and smaller scaledconvenience stores had been largely spontaneous, said Doan, as he urgedcorresponding State agencies to formulate specific policies and financialincentives in helping Vietnamese enterprises construct an organised nationalretail network.

Onanother note, Nguyen Ky Minh, Deputy Director of the E-commerceDevelopment Centre under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, presented arather optimistic overview of e-commerce and online retailing in a digitaleconomy.

Hesaid that by 2020, the national E-commerce sector would strive to reach 10billion USD in sales and account for 5 percent of the country’s total retailsales. This followed Decision 1563 by the Prime Minister.

Thisshowed the Government’s major goal for developing e-commerce potential anddrawing firms’ investment and active participation to this field, he added.

Regardingconsumer trends, Dang Thuy Ha, Director of Consumer Behaviour Research atNielsen Vietnam Company, said that the future of Vietnam’s retail industry layin coping with technological trends, such as electronic payments, in the wakeof the 4.0 industrial revolution and make use of them.

MelinaLee, South-East Asia’s Head of Growth at Workplace by Facebook,suggested the use of social media platforms to optimise business capacity forretail distributors.

Sherecommended Vietnamese sellers to take notice of the 2016 collaborativeplatform Workplace by Facebook, which allowed enterprises to connect,communicate and collaborate with ease and professionalism on the basis ofsocial network.

Statisticsfrom the General Statistics Office of Vietnamshowed that the country’s retail market had grown rapidly from 70 billion USDin 2010 to 158 billion USD in 2017, accounting for about 25 percent of thetotal consumption market. It was expected to reach 180 billion USD by 2020.

Theforum attracted more than 200 participants, including representatives from bignames in the country’s retail distribution sector, such as Kangaroo Group Jsc,Big C, Mega Market, state management agencies, industry associations, andeconomic experts.-VNA