The move was part of a series of commitment signed in the Memorandum of Understandings (MOU) between Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and AEON on October 10. 

Following the agreement, AEON will be an official partner of the MoIT’s plan to encourage Vietnamese enterprises to take part in foreign distribution networks. 

Additionally, AEON is committed to supporting Vietnamese suppliers, especially small and medium enterprises, to enhance production capabilities and corporate governance to meet Japanese standards, as well as of major markets that AEON is currently operating, such as China, Malaysia, and Indonesia. 

The MoIT will also cooperate with AEON to organize Vietnamese goods week in the latter’s worldwide network. 

According to the MoIT’s Department of European and American Markets, the MOU reflects AEON’s optimism in Vietnam’s economic potential and the government’s commitment in improving business environment. 

Moreover, it shows that more and more Vietnamese enterprises are targeting long-term development strategy through investing in production, in turn increasing added value in their products to meet requirements of distributors and join modern distribution channels. 

Aeon entered Vietnam’s retail market through the establishment of its subsidiary AEON Vietnam in October 2011 with charter capital of US$192.38 million.

The Japanese retailer reckons Vietnam’s retail market has huge growth potential and plans to establish 20 large-scale shopping malls in the country by 2020. In addition to the existing four shopping malls, AEON will shortly launch other two in Hai Phong city and Ha Dong district (Hanoi). 

In 2017, AEON’s revenue in Vietnam increased by 32% year-on-year to VND5.13 trillion (US$219.59 million), while pre-tax profit stood at VND234 billion (US$10.01 million), significantly higher than the figure of VND54 billion (US$2.31 million) recorded one year earlier. 

The Japanese’s recent positive business performance was partly thanks to Vietnam’s consumer preference for Japanese products, for which Aeon is set to sell 30% of Japanese products, 30% of Vietnamese products and the remaining 10% from other countries in all of its malls.