Representatives of billion- dollar Vietnamese companies at the ‘Việt Nam 50 Best-performing Companies in 2021’ (TOP50) awards ceremony in HCM City on January 17. — Photo courtesy of Masan

HCM CITY — Masan Group Corporation was named among ‘Việt Nam’s 50 Best-performing Companies in 2021’ (TOP50) and ‘Billion- dollar Vietnamese Companies’ by Nhịp Cầu Đầu Tư magazine.

The TOP50 list was compiled based on business results related to three indicators for three straight years: revenue, return on equity and earnings per share.

There are 22 firms with a market capitalization of US$1 billion or more in the list this year, nearly 70 per cent of which consists of private firms. This underscores the increasingly important position of the private sector in the economy.

Several names in the list have reached beyond the country’s borders and find a place among major companies in Asia and the world.

A representative of Nhịp Cầu Đầu Tư magazine, which has successfully done the rankings for 10 years now, said: “In the past 10 years we have witnessed awe-inspiring growth by Vietnamese companies along with an economic boom. Therefore, the TOP50 2021 will specially honour companies bigger in size, larger in capitalisation and with robust growth rates worthy of being the pride of our country.”

In the first 11 months of 2021 retail sales of consumer goods and services were worth VNĐ 4.128 quadrillion ($181.47 billion). Experts believe that if the growth rate of the past years continues, Việt Nam's retail market will reach $200 billion in the next two years.

The growth of GDP per capita to $3,000 is bringing around one million people into the middle class each year, and they drive demand in the consumer retail sector.

Besides, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the transformation to a modern consumer-retail trend.

Masan Group, with its ‘Point of Life’ consumer ecosystem, undertook many activities in 2021.

Since the beginning of the year it has been involved in M&A deals to add strategic pieces to its integrated consumer ecosystem, invest in new initiatives and cooperate with leading global companies to accelerate digitisation.

In May a consortium led by Alibaba Group and Baring Private Equity Asia bought 5.5 per cent worth of newly issued shares in The CrownX (TCX), a subsidiary of Masan, for $400 million.

TCX is Masan’s integrated consumer-retail platform that consolidates WinCommerce (formerly known as VinCommerce) and Masan Consumer Holdings.

It has partnered with Lazada to build a digital presence and capabilities and accelerate the offline to online market in Việt Nam.

Masan targets The CrownX’s online gross merchandise accounting for at least 5 per cent of its total sales in the near future.

Last November SK Group invested $340 million to buy a 4.9 per cent stake in The Crown X. The transaction not only proved the attractiveness of Việt Nam's consumer-retail market, but was also a validation of its Point of Life strategy as a winning model and affirmed Masan's execution capacity.

Not stopping there, in December the company attracted another $350 million from a consortium of investors comprising TPG, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, and SeaTown Master Fund.

A unique tech-enabled consumer-retail ecosystem in Việt Nam

Ninety eight per cent of Vietnamese households use at least one Masan product. — Photo courtesy of Masan

With nearly 2,500 WinCommerce stores and its close relationship with 300,000 traditional grocery stores across the country, Masan has advantages to accelerate the volume of goods sold through the online channel.

With wide coverage across the country and residential areas, each of its offline stores can be a place to serve online orders. When receiving orders online, shippers can go to the stores to pick up the goods and deliver them quickly to customers.

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers increasingly use online platforms to shop for essential products.

To serve nearly 15 million digital-savvy  consumers, Masan has expanded into telecom by acquiring a 70 per cent stake in Mobicast Joint Stock Company.

This is the first step for Masan to digitise its Point of Life consumer ecosystem and bring unified off-to-online products and services solutions.

By unifying its consumer base via Reddi, it has the capability to create a sticky loyalty platform and deliver more value to its consumers.

Masan’s next five-year plan is to develop a winning model to serve 30-50 million consumers and help consumers save 5 – 10 per cent on essential goods.

With fintech solutions such as ‘buy-now-pay-later’ having not become popular yet, Masan believes that the next game changer will be developing fintech solutions by leveraging loyalty platforms, for which the Reddi mobile network will be the core platform.

At many WinMart+ stores under the new model, customers can quickly perform banking transactions such as money transfer, cash deposit / withdrawal, opening accounts with their favourite account number, applying for cards, and registering for online banking services.

It is veritably a ‘one-stop shop’ platform that meets consumers’ essential needs in terms of finance, education, society, entertainment, and healthcare. VNS