Masan’s WinCommerce growth mirrors Indian giant Reliance Retail

Data from the World Bank shows that Vietnam’s per capita income growth in the 2017-2022 period reached 8.5%, the highest in Southeast Asia and nearly double the world’s average growth rate.

Vietnam’s retail market was ranked 9th out of 35 countries in the Global Retail Development Index (GRDI) in 2021 by ATKearney.

With the expanding urbanization rate and new consumption trends, the domestic retail industry is shifting strongly from grocery stores and traditional markets to modern retail models such as supermarkets, shopping malls, and convenience stores.

Online retail channels and e-commerce are very common and occupy a larger market share.

Statistics from the Domestic Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade show that Vietnam’s retail market still has a lot of room for development because modern retail channels only account for 25% of the market share, while this rate in Thailand is 48%, the Philippines 75%, and Singapore and many other developed countries 80%.

Euromonitor predicts Vietnam’s retail market will reach $20 billion in the next decade, offering numerous opportunities for businesses to expand and boost revenue.

With the dynamism of giants such as Masan, Mobile World, PNJ, and FPT Retail… Vietnam’s new retail market is expected to accelerate further.

In particular, many retailers apply the multi-channel sales model to integrate and optimize sales capabilities from traditional channels with stores and online channels.

The leading company in the modern retail market in terms of the scale of points of sale is WinCommerce, a member company of Masan Group, with nearly 3,700 stores and supermarkets nationwide.

In 2023, WinCommerce completed finalizing winning models and returned to the strategy of expanding points of sale, focusing on separate models for each region and customer segment.

Specifically, its WiN store chain with an orientation focusing on urban consumers achieved a sales growth of 7.3%; WinMart+ stores in rural areas focus on providing a variety of quality low-cost products, achieving 11.2% sales growth.

WinMart employees assist customers with shopping. Photo courtesy of WinCommerce

By the end of 2024, the company has proposed an expansion plan with the goal of having about 4,000 stores, meaning that every day a new point of sale will appear.

Realizing the goal of becoming the number one offline to online retailer in Vietnam, in 2021, Masan joined hands with Alibaba in a $400 million investment deal to buy 5.5% of shares in The CrownX, a retail consumer platform that consolidates Masan’s interests in Masan Consumer Holdings and WinCommerce.

In addition to shopping at WinMart supermarket system and WinMart+/WiN stores, customers can also shop online at the website and the WinMart Official Store on Lazada.

With advantages in retail chain scale and ecosystem of consumer goods production, telecommunications, financial services, healthcare, and F&B, Masan has the potential elements to modernize the Vietnamese retail industry.

A Vietnamese Reliance Retail

Masan’s model has many similarities with Reliance Retail, India’s largest retailer in terms of revenue.

Similar to Masan, essential retail is the field that Reliance chose to participate in the modern retail industry with the first Reliance Fresh store in Hyderabad.

From essential retail, Reliance Retail expanded to other areas such as telecommunications, fashion, and technology.

With modern retail, Reliance Retail started testing online shopping in 2020 with the JioMart system to compete with Amazon.com and Walmart in the e-commerce market that is forecast to be worth US$200 billion in India by 2027.

In addition to JioMart, India’s largest retailer also owns dozens of other retail brands in different fields with nearly 19,000 stores and supermarkets. In the most recent fiscal year (2023-2024), Relaince Retail achieved US$37 billion in revenue and US$1.3 billion in profit.

At the end of last year, Reliance Retail was valued at US$100 billion through investments from government funds such as Qatar Investment and Abu Dhabi SWF.

In the Vietnamese market, in the “retail modernization” campaign, Masan currently possesses many advantages thanks to the diversity of its consumer goods production ecosystem (Masan Consumer), retail platform (WinCommerce), and Masan-owned logistic company Supra.

Accordingly, in less than 2 years of launching, Wincommerce’s WIN membership program has reached 10 million members.

The value of members’ shopping baskets has doubled compared to that of non-members.

On average, members shop 4 times per month.

The WiN Membership Program also helps the company assess customers’ consumption habits, order value, familiar items, and shopping frequency.

Customers shopping at a WinMart supermarket on the weekend. Photo courtesy of WinCommerce

WinCommerce, like Masan, aims to reach 30 million members in the next 5 years.

On average, each family has 3-4 members, which means that this retail system will reach 100 million Vietnamese people.

According to Masan, WinCommerce modern grocery stores account for 50% of the nationwide network, completing the formation of profitable store models, and the modern retail trend that is accelerating rapidly in the Vietnamese market.

The retail chain is facing the opportunity to catch the wave of sustainable revenue and profit growth in the long term.