(Photo: BRG)

Fujimart Vietnam Retail, a joint venture between Sumitomo and Vietnam’s BRG Group, will launch its first supermarket in Hanoi by the end of this year and two more outlets in the capital city next year. In Vietnam, the middle and affluent class, categorized as those earning 714 USD a month or more, would double to 33 million, about a third of the population, by 2020, according to a study by the Boston Consulting Group. The supermarket will follow the Japanese model, where prepared foods will be made in-store. Sumitomo Corporation has been in Vietnam since 1995.

Vietnam’s retail market has already seen many names from Japan in various forms of investments, including Aeon, Takashimaya and 7-Eleven. Last year, Vietnam’s retail sector earned nearly 130 billion USD, up 11 percent from 2016, a high growth compared with other nations in Southeast Asia.