The race to turn stores and supermarkets into 'cash machines', how effective is it?

From The Gioi Di Dong, FPT, Masan, retail chains with thousands of stores have become points of service for depositing and withdrawing money, which previously belonged to banks.

Supermarkets and electronics stores become "ATMs"

In early July, CEO Doan Van Hieu Em of Mobile World (TGDĐ) shared that after 6 months of implementing the payment agent model, more than 3,000 stores in the phone and electronics chain of this retailer recorded nearly 600,000 deposit and withdrawal transactions with the function of an ATM. The total transaction value reached nearly 4,000 billion VND.

Mr. Hieu Em said this service helps people access cash easily, contributing to increasing and improving customer experience.

There are about 7,000 retail stores nationwide that have become "ATMs".

The figure of 4,000 billion VND was made through about 3,000 stores of this chain in 6 months, on average each store only transacted nearly 7.5 million VND/day. Many people believe that there is still a lot of room for development of this payment agent model.

TGDĐ is the first retail chain to turn thousands of stores into "ATMs" when it cooperated with VPBank in early December 2024. In the first month of launch, more than 3,000 of these "ATMs" performed about 150,000 transactions of transferring, withdrawing, and depositing money, with more than 1,000 billion VND.

The payment agent model that retail chains are competing to join is implemented according to Circular 07/2024 of the State Bank. In which, the bank plays the role of the principal, providing financial services within the scope of payment agent activities to customers. The retail chain takes on the role of agent connecting the system with the bank.

At the 2025 annual general meeting of shareholders held at the end of April, General Director Hoang Trung Kien of FPT Digital Retail Joint Stock Company (FPT Retail) said that this retail chain will not stay out of the payment agent service. FPT Shop is the first chain to participate in this service. This is the general direction and if the results are good, the Long Chau pharmacy chain will also participate.

FPT Retail considers this a value-added service, moving towards turning the system's stores into One stop shop services for customers.

Currently, more than 620 FPT Shop stores have been transformed into cash withdrawal/transfer points like ATMs when cooperating with Vietcombank.

Users visiting any store can make cash deposits and withdrawals just like they would at a bank. However, the difference from bank transactions that excites customers is the flexibility in time. They can proactively make transactions at any time during the operating hours of these electronics stores, including after-hours and weekends.

Bank ATMs have the advantage of cheaper withdrawal fees than stores, but their coverage is limited. (Illustration photo)

The transaction conditions are not complicated, just bring your ID card and a mobile phone with a banking application installed. Each person is allowed to transact up to 20 million VND/day, a suitable limit for normal personal transactions.

Mr. Hoang Trung Kien said that the retail chain's cooperation with banks to implement the payment agent model is a breakthrough in expanding financial utilities for customers nationwide.

Masan is not far behind when turning a series of Winmart+ stores into “Techcombank ATMs”. This is a business with the advantage of owning a chain of 4,000 WinMart+ stores as of June 30.

Like other chains, at many WinMart+ stores, customers can make financial transactions within the prescribed limits. This approach can help expand the banking transaction network without opening more branches.

Previously, from the end of 2022, customers could open bank accounts right at each Winmart+ retail point. In just 6 months of implementation, 100,000 new Techcombank accounts were opened.

Since the end of last year, F88 has also turned more than 850 of its financial stores into MB bank transaction offices. Or recently, more than 100 Hoang Ha Mobile stores have also joined the deposit, withdrawal, and money transfer service when cooperating with VPB.

Not a small amount of income

As of mid-May 2025, the payment agent model was implemented at more than 7,000 retail stores nationwide, of which about 3,000 TGDĐ stores cooperated with VPBank; 850 F88 stores cooperated with MBBank; about 2,400 Viettel Store & Viettel Post stores cooperated with MB; 628 FPT Shop stores cooperated with Vietcombank...

FPT Retail believes that not only FPT Shop but also Long Chau will participate in the "ATM" in the future.

Many banks have joined hands with retailers and supermarket chains to act as payment agents, helping to bring more convenient financial services to people. Banking transactions are no longer limited to bank headquarters, but are integrated into daily consumer life thanks to the coverage of the store system in remote areas where banks have not yet reached.

In particular, both banks and retailers have recognized certain advantages through this form. In particular, retail chains also have new sources of revenue from commissions and transaction fees, while banks save on costs of opening new locations.

According to Mr. Doan Van Hieu Em, the good point of the “ATM” model is the mutually beneficial cooperation. In the retail chain, people not only come to deposit and withdraw money, but can also become potential customers. The bank solves the problem of overload during peak times, because at any time, people can make transactions.

He believes that in the future, there will be more financial services deployed. Because many banks are starting to cut and streamline their apparatus, perhaps the streamlined tasks will be transferred to partners.

However, compared to banks, transaction fees at the chains are currently quite high. For example, at TGDĐ, deposit and transfer transactions have fees ranging from 11,000 - 22,000 VND; for a withdrawal limit of 20 million VND, customers have to pay 13,200 VND; transactions outside of business hours (after 5:00 p.m.) have an additional fee of 5,500 VND/transaction.

Banking transactions are done even at convenience stores, no longer limited to banks.

Meanwhile, at bank ATMs, withdrawals within the same system are free or only apply about 1,000 VND/transaction (excluding VAT). Many banks from the beginning of 2025 have also increased the withdrawal limit each time to 10 - 25 million VND...

However, for customers living and working in places without branches, transaction offices, or ATMs, this is very convenient.

According to a financial expert in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam currently has nearly 20,000 ATMs nationwide. On average, each ATM must serve about 5,000 people.

However, a large number of young customers from urban to rural areas are now accustomed to paying mainly without cash, so withdrawing money through ATMs during peak holidays is no longer a burden for the past few years.

Source: https://baolangson.vn/cuoc-dua-bien-cua-hang-sieu-thi-thanh-may-rut-tien-hieu-qua-ra-sao-5052218.html