Aiming to become one of the leading brands in Vietnam’s local market and have strong competitive capacity against other economic groups in the trade and service sector, the Hanoi Trade Corporation (Hapro) has tried its best to improve the quality of its products and services in order to satisfy increasing customer demands. Concerning the issue, Vietnam Business Forum interviewed Ms Mai Khue Anh, Managing Director of the Hanoi Trade Corporation.
Could you please talk about the key to the success of the company in supermarkets and trade centres?
With support and guidance from the municipal party committee, the municipal People’s Committee and departments as well as agencies, Hapro has mapped out proper development strategies for different periods. Hapro has pioneered in fulfilling the city’s social security tasks by joining in programs to stockpile goods for price stabilization purposes as well as flood prevention programmes. It has also actively taken part in programs that encourage the Vietnamese to use Vietnamese products and services launched by the Politburo, and stimulus programs in outlying districts of the city. By joining in such activities, Hapro has won the trust of local customers. In addition, Hapro has worked with local authorities, doing research and surveys to find prime locations for infrastructure upgrade and development of trade centres investments in northern cities and provinces. Hapro has built and operated many shopping malls and the Hapromart chain.
Local people tend to go to supermarkets and trade centres instead of going to tradition markets as they used to. Local customers now also pay more attention to product quality and origin. In this context, Vietnam’s retail market has great potential. With strong and sustainable growth and high consumption demand, Vietnam has been emerging as an attractive retail market in Asia.
However, businesses in the sector also meet difficulties and challenges: cooperation between investors and distributors remains ineffective. Infrastructure of trade centres, especially in rural areas where consumption makes up over 70 per cent of the country’s total local consumption, has not been well developed. Land funds and investment procedures for trade centre and supermarket projects remain cumbersome.
With an aim to turn Hapro into a multi-sector corporation with strong financial and human resources, what has the corporation done to develop its manpower as well as improve its management?
To have a professional workforce and modern management process, the Hanoi Trade Corporation (Hapro) has applied APMG model since 2006 and has gained significant achievements. In particular:
Firstly, working out and perfecting detailed working schedules for each unit.
Secondly, building criteria to assess staff and the leadership; assessment is launched periodically so that employees would try their best to fulfil their assigned tasks. Based on such assessments, the company will have proper payments for its staff, as well as rotate and promote proper people.
Thirdly, carrying out quarterly and annually programs to assess training and labour demands with the aim to improve skills for its staff and managers, as well as offer training for newly-recruited employees. Hapro has also sent officials abroad to learn from experiences in operations and management of foreign partners.
Also, the corporation has gradually built standards for its retail sales chain to make sure that all supermarkets are managed and operated under unified standards.
Local distributors and retail sales enterprises need to closely join hands to stand firm in the local market in the context of fierce competition. Do you think closer cooperation between enterprises in the sector would help them overcome difficulties?
In the context of fierce competition due to the penetration of foreign retail sales companies into the local market, local enterprises will meet with more difficulties to stand firm in the local market. For distributors, brands, management skills, quality of services, and diversification of products are main factors to help them survive and better compete with foreign rivals. Producers and distributors in the sector should more closely cooperate in building strong trademarks and prestige.
A good sign for local retail sales distributors: the Ministry of Industry and Trade will announce a guidance document on planning and development of retail sales distribution for cities and provinces in the upcoming time. Under this, large-scaled trade centres will be built in outlying districts to facilitate small and medium-sized retail sales enterprises; the Ministry of Industry and Trade would work with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to map out measures to help local businesses in the sector deal with difficulties in accessing land funds. In addition, on May 26, at the regular meeting of the Hanoi municipal People’s Committee, participants discussed a master plan on feasible development of trade centres with the aim to turn Hanoi into a major trade centre for the country, as well as the Southeast Asian region by 2020. Under the plan, the number, the scale and location of different kinds of supermarkets, trade centres, shopping malls, retail markets, and whole-sale agro, and foodstuff markets will be named, designated and clarified.
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