Techinasia: Food delivery model in Vietnam will never be profitable

Techinasia news site recently reported that a food delivery company in Vietnam had to cut staff amid difficult operations. The unit mentioned by Techinasia is Baemin Vietnam, a joint venture between Delivery Hero and Woowa Brothers.

Techinasia also quoted Ms. Cao Thi Ngoc Loan, interim CEO of Baemin Vietnam, writing in an email to her employees according to a private source obtained by Techinasia, "The decision to withdraw operations from Vietnam was not an easy decision."

Baemin has to cut operations in Vietnam. The CEO of Delivery Hero, the unit that manages Baemin, believes that the food delivery model in Vietnam will never be profitable (Photo TL)

"Unfortunately, this decision was accelerated by the challenging food delivery market in Vietnam with fierce competition and high user expectations," said Ms. Cao Thi Ngoc Loan.

On this issue, Techinasia contacted Beamin Vietnam to learn more.

It is unclear how many employees in Vietnam will be affected by Baemin's cuts, but the company has already stopped operations in some areas such as Thai Nguyen, Hoi An and Bac Ninh .

The news of Baemin cutting its operations in Vietnam was announced just one day after Foodpanda, another brand of Delivery Hero, also announced staff cuts in the Asia- Pacific market.

Delivery Hero has confirmed that it is in negotiations to sell Foodpanda in several Southeast Asian markets. The reduction of Baemin Vietnam's operations is believed to be a move in preparation for its withdrawal from this market.

Niklas Östberg, founder and CEO of Delivery Hero, told Reuters in August that the company sees a positive outlook for the Asian market, except for Vietnam, where it believes the business model will never be profitable.

One of the reasons is the competition with other platforms such as Grab, ShopeeFood in the food delivery field. While Baemin itself does not provide technology-based ride-hailing services like its competitors.

However, Baemin also has incentives for local stores and at the same time created both the Baemin Studio brand and a beauty brand.

According to statistics, Baemin is holding 12% of the food delivery market share in 2022. This figure is much lower than Grab's 45% and ShopeeFood's 41% according to a report by Momentum Works.

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/techinasia-mo-hinh-giao-do-an-tai-viet-nam-khong-bao-gio-co-lai-post266061.html