– Changes in priority product categories: Previously, Japanese chains were mainly famous for household goods and food, but recently, the cosmetics and health care group has grown strongly. Matsumoto Kiyoshi (Japan’s leading pharmaceutical and cosmetic chain) has continuously expanded in Vietnam, showing that Vietnamese people increasingly prefer Japanese cosmetics and functional foods[8].

– O2O trends and the role of e-commerce: The period 2023–2025 will see Japanese retailers actively deploying the online-to-offline (O2O) model. Many Japanese businesses have put their products on e-commerce platforms or opened their own sales websites. For example, AEON Vietnam has developed multi-channel services such as shopping via phone, AEON Eshop website, and home delivery, integrated with membership programs[9].

Matsumoto Kiyoshi Vietnam Store

Source: Báo Dân Trí

Main Japanese retailers in Viet Nam

The Vietnamese retail market currently has the presence of several typical businesses, ranging from shopping malls and supermarkets to convenience stores, fashion and lifestyle, household appliance, and pharmaceutical retail chains. The presence forms are diverse, from subsidiaries to joint ventures. Geographically, the focus is still on Hanoi-HCMC, but suitable models help brands to be ready to expand to industrial clusters.

Source: B&Company compilation

Japanese retail chains are accelerating expansion in Vietnam along two tracks: (1) speeding up format roll-outs and network density in major cities, and (2) adding new niches—drugstores, home-furnishing, and home centers—to meet modern shopping habits. In fashion/lifestyle, after building coverage in Hanoi and HCMC, UNIQLO announced a move into the Central region with its first Hue store in 2025, signaling a region-by-region scaling strategy rather than scattered single points. In hypermarkets/malls, AEON plans to triple scale by 2030 (from 8 to 16 malls while aggressively growing supermarkets and small-medium size supermarket formats), reinforcing its role as “retail infrastructure” for Japanese goods and allied partners such as Sumitomo’s FujiMart (which reached 19 stores in Hanoi as of June 2025). In home-furnishing, Nitori opened its first store at SORA gardens SC (Binh Duong) in December 2023 and is scouting further sites—evidence that the “Japanese interiors & homeware” wave is entering a new cycle following Kohnan’s home-center market entry in 2016. In health & beauty, after Matsumoto Kiyoshi (2020), Tsuruha launched its first store in HCMC in August 2025, suggesting a two-horse race in Japanese drugstores that could scale quickly on service standards and private-label assortments.

Implications for the Japanese retailer for market entry

From a market-entry perspective, Vietnam is sustaining strong domestic demand, providing a stable foundation for chain formats and network expansion. A young, rapidly urbanizing consumer base tends to prioritize “quality–safety–reliability,” while the “Made in Japan” image is widely associated with high quality and worth paying for. Consumer surveys such as Q&Me repeatedly find that Japan maps to “High quality/Trust/Worth paying,” and accelerating digital adoption is widening the space for O2O models, enabling Japanese brands to connect online and offline seamlessly.

Opportunities, however, come with challenges. Competition between foreign and domestic players is intensifying, demanding sharper category differentiation and operational discipline. In beauty, pressure from Korea and local rivals is especially visible on e-commerce platforms: K-beauty has accelerated quickly (Shopee Korea reported that orders shipped to Vietnam rose more than fivefold during 2021–2023) and commands a sizable import share. If Japanese assortments refresh slowly or lack an “entry price” tier, they risk falling behind shifting trends.

Strategically, Japanese retailers can prioritize in:

– For product and brand, preserve the core of Japanese quality while localizing taste, sizing, and packaging; add an opening price point and limited editions to capture momentum. Increase the innovation cadence (quarterly/monthly) and use rapid online test-and-learn before scaling offline to curb inventory risk and optimize product lifecycles.

– On channels, combine mall locations with small/compact stores to improve coverage and cost efficiency, and deploy Click & Collect, ship-from-store, and marketplace presence to broaden digital touchpoints.

– For location strategy, beyond Hanoi and HCMC, a sensible trajectory includes the Central region (Hue/Da Nang), the Southern industrial belt (Binh Duong/Dong Nai), and Northern provinces near ports/industrial parks (Hai Phong/Bac Ninh/Thai Nguyen).

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[1] FocusEconomics+1.

[2] NSO Vietnam+2NSO Vietnam+2.

[3] Mordor Intelligence

[4] B-Company

[5] The Investor

[6] tuoitre.vnmarkettimes.vn

[7] cafebiz.vn

[8] dantri.com.vndantri.com.vn

[9] markettimes.vn