Domestic enterprises in the retail industry should strengthen their connections to take better advantages of resources and increase their competitiveness over foreign investors, Chairman of the Hanoi Supermarket Association Pham Vinh Phu said.

A small supermarket in Hanoi

According to him, Vietnamese retailers are vulnerable to integration because of their lack of business strategies and weak management. Some 90 percent of Vietnamese supermarket executives haven't been trained in retail skills.

He called for Government incentives in terms of finance, land and policy to help enhance domestic retail enterprises' competitiveness.

Phu also said the production industry played a significant role in the development of the retail sector, adding that Vietnamese products would be no match for their foreign rivals with an inefficient, poor quality and slow production process.

Sharing Phu's view on the need for Government assistance, Le Thi Thanh Tam, Deputy General Director of the Saigon Food Joint Stock Company, pointed to the fact that the majority of domestic retailers were small-and medium-sized enterprises, even super-small ones with weak financial capability and poor experience in production, marketing and distribution.

The Government should provide more support for domestic enterprises to develop new products and invest more in product designs in order to compete with foreign enterprises, she said.

Meanwhile, Yukio Konishi, General Director of AEON Mall Vietnam, highlighted the potential of Vietnam's restaurant and recreation market thanks to its young population.

He expressed his belief that his company could compete with other first-come foreign investors and domestic enterprises thanks to its rich experience, good management ability and high quality and reasonably priced products.

Vietnam and Japan will both join the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), which will present huge opportunities for the two nations to boost trade cooperation, Yukio Konishi said.