(VOVworld) – The UK-based Financial Times has run an article about Vietnam’s retail market potential, which is said to face increasing competition and challenges.

Canifa's clothing store at the Aeon Mall in Hanoi.  (Photo: Financial Times)

The article said the rise in retail firms is attributed to Vietnam’s business procedures being loosened.

According to estimates by a foreign group, Vietnam’s retail market earned 110 billion USD last year, 2.4 times higher than revenue 5 years ago, and is expected to reach 179 billion USD by 2020. Foreign companies are entering Vietnam to get more shares from the 93-million-people market.

The article said that Vietnam has signed two major trade agreements, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the EU-Vietnam FTA (EVFTA), which have offered more opportunities for foreign businesses to approach the Vietnamese market.

The paper quoted a study in June by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry as saying that Vietnamese retailers will face severe competition from TPP and EU investors. But commitments set out in the TPP and EU-Vietnam FTA will open the commodities markets while e-commerce will promise new, attractive supplies for the Vietnamese retail market.