One more Japanese retail brand comes to Vietnam

Miniso, a Japanese lifestyle and fast fashion brand that sells merchandise such as homeware, bags and electronics at low prices, will be in Vietnam through a franchise deal inked with Vietnamese group Le Bao Minh.

Le Thi Ngoc Hai – Chairwoman of Le Bao Minh Group – said the two sides signed the franchise deal in April 2016. “In August, we will open the first three stores in Hanoi and the number will double after a month. At the end of this year we will have 13 stores in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Vinh, Can Tho and Hai Phong,” she said.

Le Bao Minh is the exclusive distributor of Canon brand in Vietnam.

Explaining the group’s expansion into the retail sector, Hai said this plan has been implemented for three years.

“We set up a team of experts to find opportunities for cooperation from world-renowned brands. When learning about Miniso, we find its appropriate to Vietnamese people. This Japanese brand has been very successful in Korea, Malaysia, China, the Philippines, and Thailand,” Hai said.

Hai said with its own characteristics, Miniso will not directly compete with other retail brands in Vietnam. The targeted customers of Miniso are young people. This will be a new retail model in Vietnam.

This group aims to open 200 shops in almost all provinces in Vietnam, creating stable jobs for about 5,000 workers in the next 5 years.

Miniso was founded in Japan in September 2013 by Miyake Jyunya and his Chinese partner and president of the company, Ye Guo Fu. They opened Miniso’s China office in Guangzhou the following month.

Mr Jyunya leads a design team of about 30 in Japan, while the brand and business development team is based with Mr Ye in Guangzhou.

The company’s first priority is to globalize the brand as they see greater business potential in other countries.

To date, there are more than 1,110 stores in China, 25 in Hong Kong and four each in Macau and Japan. The Dubai store is currently under construction and the company will be expanding to countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia, South Korea, the United States and Italy.

The company has increased its revenue five-fold in the past three years and reported a revenue of US$1 billion last year.