Retail giants to sell low-cost products

Mobile World Group (MWG) has joined the market of technology accessories. The retailer now sells portable smartphone charger, earphones, speakers and keyboards.

MWG is the first retail chain joining the technology accessory retail segment, which had been available only at small shops.

Analysts say that MWG made a wise move when jumping on the bandwagon. All smartphone users want to buy accessories. The typical characteristic of the market is that it mostly targets young clients, so products need to be diverse and suitable styles.

They estimate that the smartphone accessory market was valued over US$202 billion in 2020. With an annual growth rate of 4.5%, it is expected to reach US$328 billion by 2030.

Retailing technology products is MWG’s forte with thousands of shops throughout the country. However, as the market is getting saturated, it has been trying to expand into other fields. Not only smartphone accessories, it also sells fresh food and essentials with its Bach Hoa Xanh chain. 

MWG began selling drugs when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. Last November, MWG bought 1.294 million shares of An Khang for VND52.2 billion to own this drugstore chain. Earlier, An Khang sold 49% of shares to MWG in April 2021. After the deal, MWG reported an accumulative loss of VND16.9 billion from An Khang in Q3/2021.

Bach Hoa Xanh was launched by MWG in late 2015 and by Q3/2017, the number of Bach Hoa Xanh stores reached 200. By August 2021, the chain had 2,000 stores in the south, the eastern and southern parts of the central region.

FPT Digital Retail JSC (FPT Retail) has also begun selling drugs after taking over the Long Chau drug store chain, a well-known brand in HCM City. FPT Long Chau earned VND3.977 trillion in 2021, up by 3.3 times over 2020.

Nova Retail, a subsidiary of Nova Group, is running a retail chain that sells fashion products, accessories and cosmetics, and a convenience store chain, serving tourism destinations and the projects of Nova Group.