Vingroup App Digitizes Mom And Pop Shops in Vietnam

Vingroup App Digitizes Mom And Pop Shops in Vietnam

Vietnam’s biggest conglomerate, Vingroup, has recently launched a mobile app for mom and pop retail stores, helping to digitize a traditional business that has been upended by modern convenience stores such as 7-Eleven.

Vingroup announced Monday that its VinShop app is used by 20,000 small shops in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Those stores, called tap hoa, are typically family run and sell sundries. Shopkeepers use the app to order hundreds of items from suppliers, eliminating the need to contact them individually. They also use it to connect to another Vingroup app, VinID, used by 10 million retail shoppers to make payments.

VinShop began building its retail network in July, aiming to connect manufacturers and shops through the app, which includes purchase and distribution functions.

Small shops face growing competition from 7-Eleven, Ministop, B’s Mart, and even Vinmart+, the chain of convenience stores launched by Vingroup now run by local consumer goods giant Masan following a merger in December. Sales at the major chains reached USD 170 million in 2019, about four times as much money as traditional shops took in, according to a July report from Deloitte, a consultancy.

The VinShop app is the latest addition to the suite of Vingroup brands, from VinFast cars to VinSmart phones, as the company founded by Vietnam’s richest man, Pham Nhat Vuong, turns its focus to technology and manufacturing.

Vingroup says its app will raise the income of small shops, which it calls grocery stores, by USD 432 a month on average by making their operations more efficient and cutting costs.

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