The seminar was attended by hundreds of delegates - Photo: QUANG DINH
Under the direction of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, on the afternoon of July 11, in Vung Tau ward, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade and Tuoi Tre newspaper organized a discussion "Ho Chi Minh City development space - driving force from building supply and retail chains".
The seminar was co-sponsored by Informa Markets Vietnam, Mobile Online Services Joint Stock Company (M-Service) and WTC Binh Duong Company Limited.
Opening the discussion, Mr. Bui Ta Hoang Vu - Director of the Department of Industry and Trade of Ho Chi Minh City happily said that great opportunities are opening up for the city's trade sector when merging 3 provinces and cities.
Ho Chi Minh City is being compared to Shanghai, and will be the new emerging shopping and consumption center of East Asia.
The above comment was made by Expert Do Thien Anh Tuan, Fulbright School of Public Policy and Management, at the discussion. After merging with Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau, the development space of Ho Chi Minh City has been expanded like never before. The new Ho Chi Minh City has a complete foundation to aim for the leading shopping - consumer center model in East Asia.
According to Mr. Tuan, Ho Chi Minh City has now become a multi-polar metropolis, combining a traditional administrative - financial - consumer center with a dynamic industrial - logistics - seaport area.
In terms of scale, the total geographical area of the new city is about 6,772 km², more than 3.2 times the area of the old Ho Chi Minh City, about 25 times that of Kuala Lumpur or Taipei, about 10 times that of Singapore, Jakarta, Seoul; 4.3 times that of Bangkok and equivalent to Shanghai, putting Ho Chi Minh City in the group of largest urban areas in East Asia.
The official population has reached 14 million people, accounting for about 13.5% of the country's population, equivalent to Tokyo, surpassing Jakarta, creating a huge domestic consumer market. In terms of economic scale, Ho Chi Minh City has only reached about 120 billion USD GRDP, equivalent to 23.5% of the country's GDP, affirming its role as a locomotive and leading economic concentration center in Vietnam.
The sharp increase in population, income and living standards after the merger significantly increased the city's purchasing power and consumption capacity.
Ho Chi Minh City is the leading locality in the country in terms of total retail sales, with more than 1.2 million billion VND, now supplemented by Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau .
The population structure of the new Ho Chi Minh City also has the characteristics of high urbanization, with the middle and near-middle class accounting for a large proportion.
According to Mr. Tuan, from a market perspective, after the merger, Ho Chi Minh City has all the conditions to become the most diverse consumer and service center in Vietnam, playing both the role of a distribution hub and a place to lead national consumer tastes.
Dr. Do Thien Anh Tuan - Fulbright School of Public Policy and Management presented a paper on Positioning the commercial role of Ho Chi Minh City after the merger - Analyzing the scale of production, consumption and the ability to participate in the national value chain - Photo: QUANG DINH
At the regional level, Ho Chi Minh City has begun to enter the group of megacities with the role of regional trade and logistics centers, comparable in role to important cities such as Singapore, Bangkok or Shanghai.
Ho Chi Minh City currently owns a dense network of shopping malls, supermarkets, wholesale markets and a modern retail distribution system. The integration with Binh Duong adds the role of an industrial base with warehouses and logistics clusters in Song Than, VSIP, Bau Bang...
Meanwhile, Ba Ria - Vung Tau offers the Cai Mep - Thi Vai deep-water seaport system, capable of connecting directly with international shipping routes.
Mr. Tuan believes that the connection of these three localities allows Ho Chi Minh City to develop a closed trade, logistics and production ecosystem, flexibly meeting both domestic and export markets.
Ho Chi Minh City has long been the largest e-commerce center in the country, and the new Ho Chi Minh City has the foundation to become an emerging shopping and consumption center model in Southeast Asia, even East Asia.
Import and export goods at Cat Lai port, Ho Chi Minh City - Photo: QUANG DINH
Subsequent discussions by digital transformation experts, business people, and market researchers have pointed out the great advantages of the megacity of Ho Chi Minh City in the consumption of goods. Mr. Le Hoang Long - representative of NielsenIQ Vietnam Co., Ltd. - said that the purchasing power of Ho Chi Minh City (old) is much larger than that of Hanoi. And now with the addition of two merged provinces, it will be much larger.
Mr. Long proposed that in order to exploit the purchasing power of the new megacity of Ho Chi Minh City, it is necessary to pay attention to "local consumption characteristics", "supply chain saturation" and "consumption differentiation". And there is a difference in consumption of goods between the old Ho Chi Minh City and the two remaining provinces.
Mr. Le Hoang Long - Director of Retail, NielsenIQ Vietnam Co., Ltd. presented a paper on Consumer data and retail trends in Ho Chi Minh City - Opportunities to shape the supply chain - Photo: QUANG DINH
Ms. Tran Mong Tuyen, Senior Project Manager, Informa Markets Vietnam, also gave some interesting information at the seminar. That is to develop the exhibition industry because this industry plays an important role in consumption and shopping because of its spreading effect.
This industry in Ho Chi Minh City and Vietnam still lacks international standard venues and is moving towards small scale, without any connections. Therefore, the support of the state is needed for exhibitions to become a key economic sector.
"HCMC has a lot of potential to become a major exhibition center in the region and needs a synchronous plan to connect metro, airport with exhibitions," said Ms. Tuyen.
Ms. Tran Mong Tuyen - Senior Project Manager, Informa Markets Vietnam, presented a paper on the Exhibition in the new urban space: From industrial capital to shopping center and connecting international markets - Photo: QUANG DINH
Meanwhile, Mr. Phan Huy Chi - Senior Advisor of Vietnam Commodity Exchange - raised the very topical situation of Vietnamese goods today. That is "many inspections and tests but the quality of goods is not guaranteed". And the Commodity Exchange plays an important role in connecting supply and demand, preventing price risks.
"The space after the merger of Ho Chi Minh City is very large with seaports, logistics systems... Therefore, it is necessary to redesign the commercial development space" - Mr. Chi proposed.
Mr. Phan Huy Chi - Senior Advisor of Vietnam Commodity Exchange - presented a paper on Modern Trade and the central role of Commodity Exchanges - Photo: QUANG DINH
Need to exploit waterway logistics well
Mr. Truong Tan Loc - Vice President of Ho Chi Minh City Logistics Association (HLA) proposed to create a mechanism through technology, so that the new Ho Chi Minh City must be equivalent to Singapore, Hong Kong, and a free trade zone.
Cai Mep Thi Vai Port in the old Ba Ria - Vung Tau, the port in Binh Duong and the ports in Ho Chi Minh City must be one, never thought of before but must be thought of now, to create common resources.
Certainly, Ho Chi Minh City must be an international transit port cluster, connecting Cai Mep Thi Vai, Can Gio further, and connecting other ports. In addition, inland waterway ports along the rivers must be invested in and built more.
The connections between Vung Tau and the old Ho Chi Minh City are many but still have many problems. If we promote waterway connections between the three previous localities, it will be a great strength that no other country has.
Accordingly, it is necessary to invest in the outer river system, large barges, inland waterway ports... only then can Ho Chi Minh City take off, reducing pressure on congested roads.
Barges and inland waterways cannot keep up with transportation. In the near future, consumption will increase sharply. If inland waterways are well exploited, and more research is done to connect with roads, it will be a great advantage.
Mr. Truong Tan Loc - Vice President of Ho Chi Minh City Logistics Association (HLA) - Photo: QUANG DINH
Positioning the commercial role of the new Ho Chi Minh City
The program was attended by hundreds of delegates representing central and local ministries and branches; leading experts in the field of trade, relevant associations; representatives of corporations, general companies, and enterprises operating in the fields of production, distribution, logistics, e-commerce, retail, investment in trade infrastructure, logistics, etc.
The seminar has important and practical significance for the trade, supply chain, and retail sectors of the megacity of Ho Chi Minh City in the new era.
In-depth, technical, and practical discussions will be presented by economic and trade experts and market research businesses. The seminar will focus on the following topics:
- Positioning the commercial role of Ho Chi Minh City after the merger;
- Consumer data and retail trends in Ho Chi Minh City;
- Restructuring from traditional retail channels;
- Exhibition fair in new urban space;
- Modern commodity and trade exchange.
With such practical and strategic topics, the detailed content of the discussion session will provide practical proposals, solutions and suggestions to build a modern, synchronous and effective commercial space for the megacity of Ho Chi Minh City in the new development stage.
Thereby improving the quality of commercial space planning, developing smart retail infrastructure, perfecting integrated supply chains and promoting regional linkage models.
The main issues discussed at the seminar include:
Orientation of planning distribution system according to multi-center urban model; Solutions to modernize and digitize traditional markets; Reorganize the network of warehouses - regional distribution centers; Develop e-commerce; Strengthen links with seaport systems, industrial parks and perfect retail development policies suitable for new consumer needs.
Tuoi Tre Online continues to update the content of the discussion.
Scene of the discussion on the afternoon of July 11.
Mr. Nguyen Van Dung, Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee (left cover) talks with delegates - Photo: Q. DINH
The seminar took place in Vung Tau ward and attracted many businesses to participate and contribute opinions.
Representatives of many departments, branches and businesses met at the seminar - Photo: Q. DINH
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/ban-huong-phat-trien-thuong-mai-cho-sieu-do-thi-tp-hcm-2025071113515465.htm
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