HCM CITY — Co.opXtra Sư Vạn Hạnh in HCM City’s District 10 are in a list of 17 stores you must not fail to visit this year, according to IGD Asia, Asia’s leading retail research organisation.

IGD’s list of “The top 17 stores you must visit across Asia in 2019” also includes Carrefour Le Marché in Shanghai, Giant Expres in Jakarta, AEON in Kuala Lumpur, Habitat by Honestbee in Singapore, CHICOR in Seoul, FamilyMart in Taipei City, and EVEANDBOY in Bangkok.

In selecting the list, IGD considered three key attributes of each format: relevance for shoppers, driving efficiencies to reduce costs and creating points of difference.

According to IGD, Co.opXtra Sư Vạn Hạnh incorporates the leading retailer’s new hypermarket concept targeting busy shoppers in a more compact store.

At the store, more space allocated to ready-to-eat foods, fresh products and foodservice shows the new direction for attracting footfall.

“Large displays and attractive promotions draw traffic to key categories around the store. Cooking service is unique to the store.”

In addition, to cater to busy families, ingredients that are prepared and ready-to-cook packs are widely available.

Increased variety, warmer lighting and more space is allocated to the fresh items section to attract footfall.

Snacks, sushi and hot food sold at reasonable prices keep shoppers coming at various times of the day.

Co.opXtra Sư Vạn Hạnh belongs to the joint venture between the country’s leading retailer Saigon Co.op, owners of Co.opmart supermarket chain, and Singapore’s NTUC FairPrice.

The 6,500sq.m store sells more than 50,000 products of which more than 10,000 are imported from Singapore, South Korea, Japan, the US, the EU, Australia and New Zealand.

There are four Co.opXtra hypermarkets in HCM City now and there are plans to open one or two stores every year. — VNS