China retail giant Meiyijia has task cut out in Vietnam’s competitive retail market

It launched three Ohmee retail outlets in Hanoi in April, while its website solicits franchisees to take its network nationwide.

Vietnam and Malaysia were chosen as the first Southeast Asian markets by Meiyijia, which is known for its speedy expansion, having surpassed the 40,000-store milestone in the middle of last year and doubling the count within less than five years.

But gaining a share in the Vietnam retail market will be challenging, given that both domestic and foreign players have spent years setting up thousands of outlets, especially in large cities, analysts said.

“Established players have already built dense store networks, strong supplier relationships, and established consumer loyalty,” Damien Yeo, a senior consumer and retail analyst at BMI, a company belonging to U.S. market research firm Fitch Solutions, said.

“Meiyijia’s success will depend less on its scale in China than on its ability to differentiate and adapt in a market where incumbents already enjoy significant operational and brand advantages,” he told Read International.

Vietnam is an attractive consumer market for both convenience store majors and mass grocery retailers. In the BMI 2026 Food & Drink Risk/Reward Index, Vietnam ranks 11th out of 20 Asian markets, or more attractive than neighbours with higher per capita incomes like Thailand and developed markets such as New Zealand and Hong Kong.

Yeo pointed out that the country has a large and youthful population that is urbanizing fast, and the active population and those aged between 15 and 65 (68.7 million in 2026 and expected to reach 72.3 million by 2040) are the core customers since they value speed, accessibility, long opening hours, and ready-to-eat or top-up purchases.

This translates to higher demand for breakfast, lunch, late-night meals, bill payment, and emergency grocery shopping based on the fact that food and non-alcoholic drinks constitute the largest spending category for Vietnamese households at 21% of the total.

Some foreign retail brands have been ramping up expansion efforts to crack the competitive market. South Korea’s E-Mart supermarkets, with three outlets in Vietnam, allow busy Vietnamese consumers to quickly grab Korean foods like kimbab and Vietnamese foods to take away or eat at dedicated areas.

Another South Korean brand, GS25, has more than 400 outlets in Vietnam after almost a decade of operations. Its strategies include highlighting its Korean brand identity, notably through an assortment of ready-to-eat meals and snacks, to capitalize on the popularity of Korean media and culture.

A GS25 store in HCMC. Photo courtesy of GS25 Vietnam

Other foreign players are similarly expected to bring something different to capture the interest of Vietnamese consumers.

“To replicate its success in China, Meiyijia will need to adapt its model rather than export it directly, given that Vietnam and much of Southeast Asia differ in retail structure, consumer income, and the pace and pattern of urbanization,” Yeo said.

Meiyijia could try offering Chinese foods on the go for its convenience store customers, he said.

Foreign retailers should prioritize an entry-level, value-led approach built around affordable everyday essentials, small pack sizes, and frequent promotions rather than premium positioning, he suggested.

But the fresh food segment should not be the focus for foreign players since local rivals benefit from stronger sourcing, supply chain familiarity, and consumer trust, he said.

Even sound strategies are no guarantors of success considering the presence of strong domestic players such as WinCommerce, the country’s biggest retailer with 4,500 WinMart+ outlets and plans to increase that to 6,100 this year.

Customers shop in a WinMart store in Da Nang City, October 2025. Photo by Read/Van Dong

“We have established a winning model,” Nguyen Thi Phuong, CEO of WinCommerce, said at the company’s recent annual general meeting. WinCommerce targets profits of over VND1 trillion (US$37.9 million) this year, she said.

In its next stage of expansion, the company eyes the rural market, where 60% of the Vietnamese population resides, she revealed.

“We identify rural areas not as a secondary market, but as a strategic growth driver in the coming years.”

Another local retailer, Bach Hoa Xanh, has more than 3,000 outlets mostly in the south, with plans to open another 1,000 stores this year and launch an initial public offering in the future.

Faced with such competition, Meiyijia should rely on the gradually growing influence of Chinese entertainment content in Vietnam and rising demand for travel to China to convince local consumers to spend at its outlets, Yeo added.