Retail market expected to accelerate at year-end

Retail sales of many businesses increased. Businesses and localities are focusing on the year-end consumption season to reach the 2025 targets.

Market growth strengthens confidence for year-end race

Looking at the reports of large corporations, it can be seen that the resilience of the domestic market continues to be maintained. The financial report for the third quarter of 2025 recently announced by Central Retail Group - a retailer from Thailand - recorded revenue of nearly VND 29,000 billion in Vietnam in the first 9 months of the year. In terms of VND, sales increased by 7%, showing that purchasing power remained stable despite exchange rate fluctuations. During the same period, Masan 's WinCommerce system reached VND 28,400 billion, while accelerating the restructuring of the retail model: adding 50 new WinMart supermarkets and 464 new WinMart+ stores.

WinMart/WinMart+ has become the largest modern retail chain in Vietnam with nearly 4,500 points of sale.

According to information from Masan Group, after 11 years of development, WinMart/WinMart+ has become the largest modern retail chain in Vietnam with nearly 4,500 points of sale, serving 32 million customers per month and more than 11 million member customers - a number that shows that the market still has strong absorption capacity.

Not only FDI enterprises or large chain systems, domestic manufacturing enterprises also take advantage of e-commerce to expand the market. According to information from the Vietnam Chemical Group, enterprises use the Vinachemmart platform to bring products directly to consumers, both transparent in origin and preventing counterfeit goods, thereby increasing trust in Vietnamese goods - a key factor in the context of increasingly fierce competition.

Meanwhile, e-commerce continues to play the role of "growth engine". According to Metric's forecast, in the fourth quarter of 2025, the e-commerce market will reach 105,000 billion VND, an increase of 15% compared to the same period in 2024. The fashion , beauty, household appliances, grocery - food industries are forecast to continue to lead. E-commerce platforms are expected to promote livestream sales, offer shipping incentives and enhance logistics capacity - a measure that determines customer experience during peak season.

This growth rate is also consistent with the long-term goal stated in Decision No. 2326/QD-TTg dated October 21, 2025 of the Prime Minister approving the Strategy for developing the Vietnamese retail market to 2030, with a vision to 2050. The strategy sets a target for total retail sales and consumer service revenue to increase by 11 - 11.5% per year, while e-commerce sales increase by 15 - 20% per year, accounting for 15 - 20% of total retail sales nationwide.

The picture of Vietnam's retail market in 2025 recorded many positive signals when the total retail sales of goods and consumer service revenue in the first 10 months of the year reached VND 5,772.9 trillion, up 9.3% over the same period last year, a higher increase than the period 2024. This is an important foundation for the retail industry to enter the peak quarter at the end of the year with a more stable mindset, especially when the shopping season from November to Lunar New Year often contributes up to 30-40% of the annual revenue for businesses.

Businesses and localities together stimulate demand: A "push" to complete the 2025 target

To keep up with the growing consumer demand, retail businesses are simultaneously implementing discount programs, gift giving, and promotions according to the multi-channel model. Many systems are taking advantage of technology to enhance the shopping experience, from optimizing displays, adjusting product categories by region, to personalizing incentives for member customer groups.

In addition to the supermarket and shopping mall system, the traditional retail network continues to play an important role. The country currently has more than 1,300 supermarkets, 250 shopping malls and tens of thousands of traditional markets and mini supermarkets. Each channel contributes a part to the total market demand, creating wide coverage, connecting goods from businesses to every Vietnamese family.

In Hanoi, according to Mr. Nguyen The Hiep - Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Trade, the city has implemented promotional programs with more than 1,000 points of sale until the end of the year to support businesses to increase sales and stimulate consumption. The city is aiming to increase GRDP by over 8% and increase total retail sales and consumer service revenue by 14% in 2025.

Ho Chi Minh City also has a similar approach by promoting large-scale price stabilization and promotion programs, ensuring the supply of essential goods and maintaining stable prices for the remaining months of the year. This is considered a dual strategy: both supporting people to shop and creating consumption motivation for businesses.

From an expert perspective, Dr. Nguyen Minh Phong assessed that from now until the end of the year, the strongest increase in demand will be in essential goods, food, beverages, clothing, children's products and Tet items. At the same time, technology products and home decoration products will also increase in appeal due to the consumption trend during the festive season. This requires businesses to digitally transform faster, expand online sales in parallel with traditional stores, improve after-sales capacity and ensure the quality of Vietnamese goods.

Reality shows that digital transformation is not only a trend but also a requirement. The fact that businesses like Vinachem effectively exploit specialized e-commerce platforms is the clearest proof: consumers can access accurate goods, while businesses can control quality and market trust well. This is also the key to helping domestic businesses compete with the increasingly strong wave of foreign goods.

The 2025 target is quite challenging: GDP growth of over 8%, total retail sales of goods and consumer service revenue increasing by 12%. However, with a 10-month growth foundation and a forecast of strong purchasing power in the fourth quarter, the retail industry is likely to achieve the target if consumption momentum is maintained. However, consumer promotion events such as the 2025 Autumn Fair taking place from October 25 to November 3; National E-commerce Week (Online Friday 2025) organized by the Ministry of Industry and Trade from November 13 to November 17; National Concentrated Promotion Program 2025 Phase 2 from December 1, 2025 to January 18, 2026... have created an extremely strong wave of consumption. This is an opportunity for total retail sales to increase sharply in the coming time.

The domestic market has great growth opportunities thanks to its population of nearly 100 million, rapid urbanization, rising incomes, and increasingly popular modern shopping habits. However, this comes with great pressure on service quality, logistics, prices, and customer experience. These are factors that force businesses to move faster.

Along with business efforts, the role of State policies is also particularly important, from tax and fee support, logistics infrastructure development, distribution system expansion, to promoting digital transformation in retail. When these factors are combined harmoniously, the Vietnamese retail industry can completely maintain its position as the growth engine of the economy in 2025 and the following stages.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/thi-truong-ban-le-ky-vong-but-toc-cuoi-nam-431975.html