OREANDA-NEWS. Ministop Co., Ltd. (HQ: Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture; President Representative Director: Naoyuki Miyashita;‘Ministop’) and Sojitz Corporation (HQ: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President & CEO: Yoji Sato; ‘Sojitz’) will partner to develop new Ministop convenience stores in Vietnam.

Ministop previously launched their stores in the country in December 2011, based on an area franchise agreement with Vietnam’s G7 Service & Trading Joint Stock Company. Ministop has now, however, dissolved their contract with this company and concluded a new area franchise agreement with Ministop Vietnam, their Vietnam operations arm which was recently established through local capital, in order to further expand and develop their business in the country.

Through partial investment in Ministop Vietnam’s parent company, Ministop and Sojitz plan to expand the franchise, providing business support including but not limited to dispatch of employees to Vietnam.

Plans for Future Expansion
Ministop and Sojitz aim to support expansion of Ministop’s specialty combo store chain (a combined convenience store and fast food restaurant) in the country, as well as strengthen development of products which will be accepted by Vietnamese consumers. The local Ministop managing company will then use this to expand Ministop’s current coverage from 17 stores to 800 in the next 10 years and broaden their convenience store and retail market share in Vietnam, a country currently experiencing remarkable economic growth.

At the same time, the project is expected to synergize with Aeon Group’s other businesses currently under development in Vietnam—Aeon Vietnam, Aeon Mall, City Mart, and Fivimart—and contribute to Ministop’s mission of “realizing a society full of beaming smiles with ‘deliciousness’ and ‘convenience.’”

The project will also strengthen the bonds between Aeon Group and Sojitz, leading to future business expansion for both companies in Vietnam.

Overview of Sojitz’s Businesses in Vietnam and their Role in the Country
Sojitz became the first Japanese company to establish a liaison office in Vietnam in 1986, and have since acquired abundant business experience in a variety of fields. They are well acquainted with Vietnam’s logistics, manufacturing, and business operations, with subsidiaries including the largest food wholesale company in Vietnam (Huong Thuy Manufacture Service Trading Corporation) and several manufacturing companies.

In addition to their investment in this project, Sojitz will provide support primarily by bolstering Ministop Vietnam’s procurement, logistics, store development, and service operations, as well as raising the quality of Ministop’s convenience store infrastructure.
Moving forward, Sojitz Group will construct a foodstuff value chain encompassing everything from raw ingredients to retail.