Big phone retailers pile pressure on small businesses
Ambitious plans of big mobile phone retailers including The Gioi Di Dong (Mobile World), FPT Shop and Vienthong A to open thousands of outlets have made life difficult for smaller businesses in the sector.
Mobile World Joint Stock Company (Mobile World) has unveiled a plan to have up to 1,000 stores. Other retailers like FPT Shop, VienthongA and Viettel Store are pushing for plans to open many shops though they now operate more than 250, over 200 and 300 facilities respectively.
VienthongA and FPT Shop aim at opening 50-100 new stores this year. Even VinPro, a new player on the phone retail market, looks to have about 100 new stores this year to sell VinPro and VinPro Plus technology products after having 100 shops.
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Most small phone retail businesses now have to focus on selling top-up cards for mobile phones, accessories and old phones. Some of them sell products such as portable speakers, Wi-Fi transmitters and sports cameras for survival.
Nguyen Bach Diep, general director of FPT Retail Digital Joint Stock Company, said small mobile phone shops now hold 30-35% of the market and that their share would shrink.
