Thailand’s retail giants are making plans for further expansion intothe Vietnamese retail market to seize opportunities ahead of the adventof the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).

CentralGroup and Berli Jucker retailers have given high priority to Vietnam andare projected to see a high growth rate in the coming years, evidencedby their recent acquisitions and buyouts.

In itsrecently-released development strategy, the Central Group, known forits high-end shopping centres, plans to open two more large-scaleshopping centres with a total investment of 400 million THB (12.3million USD) in Hanoi and HCM City this year.

The company previously opened two shopping centres in both cities andmerged the Ho Chi Minh city-based chain of electronics shopping centresNguyen Kim with its branch Power Buy.

The groupis also planning to open shopping centres at borders with neighbouringcountries such as Laos and Myanmar to take advantage of customers fromVietnam and China.

These initiatives areintended to tap the purchasing power of 300 million people in Laos,Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam to compensate for the shopping decline inThailand caused by economic difficulties.

Meanwhile, Berli Juncker is channelling their resources into small-scaleretail with the introduction of a chain of convenience stores in HCMCity. The chain had 95 stores by the end of 2014.-VNA