Reflections...Vietnam

'Essence of Vietnam' mediaworks competition

2011-06-30T16:25:00.000+08:00

Due to the overwhelming number of good entries for the competition, I have decided to select more than just 3 winners. I have categorised them into the Main category winners, the Secondary category winners, and the Special Mentions. The following 3 posts are their final winning works. .

Cheers and enjoy...
Mr Irfan Darian

Winners of the 'Essence of Vietnam' Challenge

2011-06-30T16:21:00.000+08:00

Here are the main winners of the 'Essence of Vietnam' challenge, not in any order of merit:

Lincoln Chu

Benz Kew

Winners of the 'Essence of Vietnam' Challenge - Secondary Winners

2011-06-30T16:01:00.001+08:00

There are the secondary winners of the 'Essence of Vietnam' challenge, not in any order of merit:

Kimberly Ong

Grance Tan

Winners of the 'Essence of Vietnam' challenge - Special Mentions

2011-06-30T15:53:00.003+08:00

These are the 3 Special Mentions winners, not in order of merit:

Lim Hao Yang

Cassandra Ong

Tay Kun Yao

Essence of Vietnam - Benz Kew

2011-06-30T11:37:00.002+08:00

Dear all,

I am unable to upload the video on to the blog. However, you can download and view it here.

Cheers and regards,
BENZ Kew

Day 6 Reflections-Jaime Pang

2011-06-12T01:24:00.001+08:00

On the 6th day,we went to Vincom Centre,An Dong Market,Lotte Mart and CO.OP Mart.
The interior of Vincom Centre seemed like any other shopping centre that could be found in Singapore.In Vincom Centre,there were many things to see,however most of the goods were branded and could not be afforded by Vietnamese with an average salary.

It was very crowded in An Dong Market as the shops were very closely arranged.We noticed that the people will place their clothes in a box and wrap it up,for unloading and loading of goods,they will then roll it down the staircase to the other person at the end of the stairs.From there,the other person will stop the rolling box and carry it to the truck for transportation.

After visiting An Dong Market,we went on to explore the difference between two supermarkets.
Firstly,we went to shop at Lotte Mart.Lotte Mart is a korean supermarket.Most of the things and food sold there are imported from other countries.Other than selling of food,they also sell things like clothes and others.Inside of Lotte Mart,there is a fastfood restaurant called Lotteria.This shows that the supermarket not only earns money from middle aged vietnamese but also teenagers.

Secondly,we went to visit CO.OP Mart.Unlike Lotte Mart,CO.OP Mart is a local supermart that sells local Vietnamese products.The price of grocery sold in CO.OP Mart is much cheaper than those sold in Lotte Mart.
Both Supermarket required customers to leave their bags in provided lockers if the bags brought were larger than a certain size.This precaution was probably taken to protect the custorners' safety.

Day 5 Reflection - Jaime Pang

2011-06-11T01:42:00.000+08:00

Sorry for late reflections;(

On the 5th day,we first went to Becamex where we saw the model of Binh Duong New City.Parts of the city are grouped into different categories,some were used for residental needs,some for further investigation in high-tech science,and many more.

Photo 1: Model of Binh Duong New City

After visiting Becamex,we went on to explore the campus of Eastern International University that was not fully completed yet.We were told that the EIU recruits their students after their campus is completed,instead of recruiting their students before the campus starts building like the other schools in Singapore.

Photo 2: Eastern International University Building

Photo 3:Model of Eastern International University

We went to visit the Vietnam-Singapore-Industrial-Park where we saw many design and layouts that were adapted from various places in Singapore.They had street signs placed by the roadside to warn drivers of road restrictions,many roads in Singapore use this design.

Photo 4: TOMBO factory in Vietnam

Photo 5: Model of Vietnam-Singapore-Industrial-Park

Photo 6:Street Sign by the roads in VSIP

Reflections for Day FOURFIVESIX- Part 1

2011-06-09T22:26:00.000+08:00

Sorry for the late reflections!

On day 4, we went to the Can Gio Bio Reserve. The boat ride to the island is so...short. I did not pay too much attention as I was busy taking photos but I'm pretty sure they just turned the boat around and then we reached. Then there was this long and bumpy journey to the reserve. Upon setting foot onto the reserve I couldn't help but think about Singapore's Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.... It was a very familiar sight, with the planks and everything. After attending a presentation, we had a long... Long walk to the place where we planted mangrove saplings. The next thing we did was to visit a local family living on the river. I was quite amazed at how the family built the house themselves. We listened to the head of the family talk about how their daily life was like, and their part in conserving the reserve. It was their duty to protect the place from illegal tree cutters. Overall, after that day, I realized how fortunate I am to be living in a nice environment to grow up in. I should be thankful for what I have and that I shouldn't scorn at people who are not as fortunate as I am.

Day 6 Reflections - Carisa Chan

2011-06-04T15:08:00.000+08:00

On the 6th day, we went retail marketing at shopping centres, supermarkets and markets. First, we went to Viacom Center, a shopping mall more on the higher end. Once we entered, we were greeted by the cool air-conditioning and the aisles were very spacious. The goods sold there are branded and much more expensive than those found elsewhere. This shopping mall is more modernized as compared to the markets we see on the streets.

Photo 1: Some shops in Viacom Center

Next we went to An Dong Market, where they sold all kinds of foods, clothes and ornaments. The goods sold here are rather inexpensive and it is acceptable to haggle here. The aisles here were not as spacious as compared to the Viacom Center and it was difficult to get through the aisles from one end to the other. We also saw some people pushing their goods down the stairs to transport it or store it somewhere else.

Photo 2: People pushing their goods down the stairs

Next we went to the Lotte Mart and the CO.OP Mart, and we found departmental stores, fast food restaurants and a huge supermarket inside. The things sold here are more expensive as compared those sold in CO.OP Mart. Also, Lotte Mart is owned by foreigners (Koreans) and CO.OP Mart is owned by the local people. Lotte Mart also has more shops and I felt that the place was more "filled" as compared to CO.OP Mart where there is only a few shops on the second floor and it was rather empty.

Photo 3: Outside of CO.OP Mart

Day 6 Reflections - Pei Shan

2011-06-04T12:43:00.007+08:00

Today we went shopping!

A apple retailer @ Vincom Centre

First we went to Vincom centre. It is a very modern shopping centre, similar to shopping centres in orchard road. Most of the goods there are branded and they are very expensive. They have shops like Converse, apple retailers and many more. It is a shopping mall more for the rich. The structure of the shopping mall is rectangular shaped with the one escalator on one end and the other one on the other end.

Picture of the person transporting the goods by rolling it down the stairs.

@ An Dong Market

Secondly, we went to An Dong market, which is a traditional market. It is similar to our wet markets, just that it does not only sell food, but clothes too! The shops there are very close to each other and its very stuffy. You have to squeeze through the aisle because firstly, it is very narrow, secondly, the stall owners are sitting around on small stools. They also have an interesting method to transport goods from a higher level to a lower level. As the main entrance of the an dong market has many steps, they would roll down the package to get it to the bottom level. The goods are most probably clothes as if they were food, it would be badly damaged.

Thirdly, we went to Lotte Mart. After that, we went to CO.OP mart. The goods in Lotte Mart are more expensive than those in CO.OP mart. They do not sell any fake goods. They had long travelators for customers to move from one level to the other. They used travelators instead of escalators so that customers can bring their trolley along with them. Lotte Mart is a korean mart. We also have one in Singapore. It is similar to our giant megastore.

CO.OP mart is a local mart. The prices of goods here is cheaper than in Lotte Mart and there are also fake goods. Both the supermarkets had this system of locking bags in lockers. This is most probably for security reasons.

Retail marketing in Vietnam and Singapore has a huge difference.
Retail marketing in Singapore is more mordernized than in Vietnam. The most common place to shop for food is supermarkets like NTUC, Giant and Sheng Siong. The most common place to shop for other stuff are shopping malls. The malls are air-conditioned, goods are of better quality, the goods there are of fixed prices and there are no bargaining. In vietnam's markets, most of the things are not of fixed prices and they can be bargained. It is not air-conditioned and they sell a lot of fake goods. Even in local supermarkets, there are fake ones.

The retail marketing in Singapore is well developed. Our most common places to shop at are our shopping malls, which is like those expensive and luxurious shopping malls in vietnam. Whereas in vietnam, the retail marketing is not as well developed.

Reflection- Day 4 Elgin Patt

2011-06-04T12:33:00.001+08:00

I learnt that by controlling certain human activities in a certain area, you can create an area in which the natural environment can thrive. Taking Can Gio Biosphere as in example, the government has been paying volunteer families that are provided housing in the area to take care of the organisms there, and giving them the authority to report any offenders that are harming the area that they are looking after. I find that due to the conservation, the mangrove swamp in the biosphere also acts as a natural sewage system for the waste coming from the factories in the city, therefore it plays an important part.

Mr Ethan's slides

2011-06-02T09:47:00.001+08:00

Here is the pdf version of Mr Ethan's presentation slides (combined into a single file) for your reference.

http://www.mediafire.com/?i59n2a22oqnp38n

DAY 06-Casandra Ong

2011-06-01T22:15:00.006+08:00

Entrance of CO.OP Mart

Outside of CO.OP Mart

After the visit to both supermarkets, Lotte Mart and Co.op Mart, I have made some observations and comparisons. Lotte Mart is a foreign company, owned by Koreans, whereas Co.op Mart is a local supermarket. The differences of the companies range from their products to the building of the supermarkets. The products sold in Lotte Mart cost more than the ones sold in Co.op Mart. I have also observed the choice of escalators and travellators used in each supermarket. In Co.op Mart, escalators are used to travel from one level to another, whereas in Lotte Mart, travellators are used instead. This shows that the locals who buy less would shop at Co.op Mart, hence they do not need travellators for the trolleys. On the other hand, the rich who buy more and need the trolley will shop at Lotte Mart, thus have travellators.

I observed that the advertising methods in Vietnam compared to in Singapore is slightly different. Advertisements are commonly on buildings and huge billboards in Vientam. Most of the advertisements in Vietnam are enlarged to attract the attention of the public. Unlike Singapore, they seldom have advertisements on buses.

The country’s development is dependent on and related to the development of retail markets, which is also one factor of the country’s economy. Hence, vice versa. As the country develops, its population would require more and there will be more demand for products. For example, as the country develops, there would be more families who because wealthier and would want to upgrade to cars instead of motorcycles. This will result in a demand for cars, which increases the the sales of automobiles. Construction of road will be necessary, creating more jobs.

DAY 05-Casandra Ong

2011-06-01T21:48:00.006+08:00

Model of City Plan

Kimberly-Clark Vietnam @ VSIP

VSIP

I have learnt that it is important to take in consideration the convenience and safety of the people that utilize the facilities. It is not only important to invest in the main facilities but to also invest in other factors that will affect the efficiency and productivity of the facilities. A good example will be the new road that Singapore invested in to enable a smooth and safe journey for the heavy vehicles that travel everyday back and forth from VSIP. The new road replaces the rocky and disoriented ‘road’ in the past, which created danger and inconvenience to the drivers. By investing in the new road, it will bring ease to transporting the products made in VSIP to other places for business. This will increase the productivity of VSIP.

It is essential to have ‘breathing-space’ in a city. This promotes living and not just business in a city. It attracts people to stay in the city for long term as it promotes suitable lifestyle for living and not just a hectic business city. Land is reserved to build breathing-spaces, such as parks and water bodies for outdoor activities. These breathing-spaces serves as a get-away for the people from their busy lives.

It is important for countries to have close relationships with other countries as it will benefit both parties. An example would be the founding of Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park. A country such as Singapore does not have sufficient land and manpower to manufacture products, as land is high-on-demand and manpower is expensive. Therefore, it is ideal to locate a local (Singapore) industrial park in another country, where land and manpower is cheaper. This is where the importance of close relationships with other countries come in. Good relationships with the country will allow Singapore to easily obtain permission to set up her business overseas. In the case of VSIP, Singapore has good relationship with Vietnam, therefore, Singapore is able to set up an industrial park in Vietnam. The setting up of the industrial park does not only benefit Singapore, but also Vietnam as the industrial park will create more jobs for the people of Vietnam.

DAY 04 - Casandra, Carisa, Jaime, PeiShan

2011-06-01T21:27:00.009+08:00

Visit to Mr Long's Place

Ferry Ride- Home of a Family

Ferry Ride - Local boat, which was home to some

Can Gio Biosphere- Plants living the desert-environment

Can Gio Biosphere- Before Planting of the Seedlings

What we have learnt about Can Gio Biosphere?
The forest occupies up to 1/3 of Ho Chi Minh, 34 000Ha, and is located at the south. The forests experiences two seasons, the dry season from December to April, and the rainy season form May to October every year. The area has an average temperature of 27 degrees celsius, highest temperature of 33 degree celsius and lowest temperature of 22 degree celsius.

The mangrove forest was used as a military base during the Vietnam war. During the war, the Americans polluted the river along the forest with more than 4 million litres of herbicides to get rid of the Vietnam soldiers there. The forest was destroyed by the war.

After the Vietnam war, the government decided to recover the destroyed forest and to conserve it. In order to recover the forest, the local people had to buy mangrove trees from other provinces. Many of the local people participated and contributed in the recovery of the forest. It took them more than 10 days to transport the mangrove that they bought from the other provinces by boat. Even though they were able to get mangrove from other provinces, they lost half of the mangrove forests that they bought, due to the pests which infested those trees. When the trees grew, the people removed the small and weak trees to prevent overcrowding, for the benefit of the bigger and stronger ones.

After 1997, the government banned trespassers from damaging the forest. People were not allowed to affect the natural growth of the forest. The government then decided to split the forest into 24 parts for easy maintenance. Some parts of the forest were out of bounds, some were used for scientific research and residential purposes. Many household and agencies volunteered to take care of a plot of land of the forest. Local authorities subsidize a sum of money for the household to maintain a certain plot of land of the forest. Household who are maintaining the forest are suppose to protect the forest. They cannot allow trespassers to damage the forest by chopping down the trees. The household will be fined if they were to allow trespassers to chop the trees. If the household allow that to happen more than 2 times, the local authorities will consider to dismiss them.

What are the living conditions and lifestyle of Mr Long, who maintains a plot of the mangrove forest?
The household who maintain the forest live a simple lifestyle. Mr Long built a simple house for his family 10 years ago, out of wood. He uses wood to make the simple furniture in the house. In addition, Mr Long has the television as an entertainment and window to the outside world. We have observed that most of the furniture in his home is old and some are not in proper working order. In order to have clothes or have items of cloth material, Mr Long has a manual-sewing machine for them to make daily necessities such as clothes. In order to save money on water, we observed that the women in the house wash their dishes in a basin of water. This method enables them to reuse the water.

We also observed that some parts of Mr Long’s was an added to the house after the house was actually built. We infer that these add-ons are to improve the house, in terms of strengthening its structure, ensure security and beautifying the place. These improvements are such as the approximately two feet tall gate at the entrance of the house to keep their children inside the house for their safety. These add-ons are mostly recycled from another product.

Mr Long’s income is not very high. Fortunately, as his income is only sufficient to support his family and only have some savings, they do not have to pay taxes. Mr Long makes a living out of his shrimp farm and by taking care of a plot of mangrove forest. He will collect his harvest of shrimps and sell them to the markets in the city. On the other hand, the local authorities pay him for taking care of the plot of land and subsidies the family with electricity by providing solar panels. The local authorities also promise to build them a better home in future. Mr Long has the telephone and mobile phone, but cannot afford to use them on a regular basis due to his low income. He only uses them in emergencies to communicate the city.

On a daily basis, Mr Long has to sent his children to the city to attend school and for business. He stays far away from the city and hence, have to spent 1,000 dong on petrol to travel from home to the city.

What have we learnt?
From our visit to Can Gio Biosphere, we are glad that Vietnam is contributing to keeping the Earth green and clean by putting in effort, time and money to recover and conserve the mangrove forest which they lost during the Vietnam war. This trip taught us that recovering a forest is difficult. It was not easy to plant the seedling of the mangrove trees.
We have also learnt that we have to appreciate the fortunate blessings that we receive in our lives, because there are children like us out there who are not as fortunate as we are.

Day 5 Reflection - Carisa Chan

2011-05-31T16:24:00.003+08:00

On the 5th day, we visited the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park, Becamex and Eastern International University. At VSIP, we can see some similarities of the VSIP and Jurong Industrial Park such as the roads and also how the location of the factories are planned. However, a difference between the two industrial parks is that in VSIP, the factories are bigger and usually consists of only 1 or 2 levels since Vietnam has a lot more land, whereas in Singapore, there is a lack of land so factories have to build upwards.

Photo 1: A model of the VSIP 1

We also visited Becamex to learn more about the Binh Duong New City. There we saw a model of the Binh Duong New City and we saw how some parts of the new city, such as the Eastern International University, residential areas, the main town area and the high tech science area (similar to our Biopolis).

Photo 2: A model of the Binh Duong New City

Photo 3: Model of Eastern Internation University in Binh Duong New City

We also visited the campus of the Eastern International University, but it was still in the process of completing and it will be opened next year. Over there, we saw some of the classroom blocks and there was also a briefing about the school. We learned that the EIU was different from SST in such a way that EIU builds its campus first before recruiting students while SST recruits its students before building its campus.

Photo 4: Eastern International University campus

Day 5 reflections - Pei Shan

2011-05-30T22:12:00.005+08:00

Eastern International University

A Picture of the trees at VSIP I

VSIP 1 and VSIP 2

VSIP stands for Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park.

At VSIP 1,
The trees, flowers, and roads really reminds me of Singapore's Changi Airport.
The roads had many many bumps, which is exactly like in Singapore.
I find it pretty good as the traffic in Vietnam is pretty dangerous so the bumps would slow the vehicles down. There were different lanes like in Singapore too. However, many of the citizens there do not really care about those lines so they would drive anyway they want. They also had a kennel.

There were many companies there. Like Yakult (only for the Vietnamese), Huggies, etc.

Why do companies set up their factories there?
-Cheap Labour
-Cheap Land

VSIP I covered a total area of 500 ha

VSIP II Covered a total area of 1000 ha. It is currently expanding as it has many empty spaces.
There is a university in the Binh Duong Province which is called the Eastern International University.

It is a new university, covering 26 hectares. It has only 3 schools so far. Nursing, Business, and engineering. It would have more schools in the future when there are more students.

Day 6 Reflections (27 May 2011) -- Jurvis Tan

2011-05-29T17:17:00.003+08:00

Today we set off for retail marts, comparing those of the urbanized and the slightly less developed ones.

This is Viacom Center, it's shops here provide premium, high-class branded goods, it's pretty obvious this shopping mall is catered for the upper-class in Vietnam. Inside the mall, we realized there was a corner for kids to play with lego upstairs, from what i see, it seems that this mall has provided places for these kids to go while their parents go shopping.

After that, we headed to An Dong Market, this is fairly similar to Ben Thanh Market but prices are reasonable there because it's not really tourists-orientated. These market have stalls set up across the whole entire place with narrow, squeezey aisles and many shops eventually selling the same kind of stuff all over the place, totally different compared to Viacom Center.

After visiting An Dong, we went on to visit two hypermarts - Lotte Mart by the Koreans, and COOP Mart by the Vietnamese, both have shown significant difference in organisation of stuff, goods they carry so and so forth. In Lotte Mart, it is seen that all the goods come from various countries and are well categorized just like carrefour in Singapore. However COOP is a local startup and it is something like the Sheng Siong in Singapore, all the prices are lower, and there are brand mock ups, like for example, there's a "Gold Cow" for a "Red Bull" mock up there.

Day 5 Reflections (26 May 2011) -- Jurvis Tan

2011-05-29T16:30:00.002+08:00

Today we visited VSIP (Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park) this industrial park is planned by Singapore and from what we noticed around the park, the Singapore style is localized into that industrial park's surroundings. From today I have also learned that building an urban city has to have provide all the following:

Providing jobs/opportunities
Living space/Housing Infrastructure
Services, such as retail & entertainment
Supporting Amenities like education & healthcare

We visited Becamex - the company which is responsible for the construction of Binh Duong New City, and there we saw the whole planning model. I was initially unaware that Singapore was so involved in Vietnam, creating Industrial Parks, assisting Vietnam in planning some of their stuff. From what I've seen, it's pretty evident that Singapore is trying to extend it's reach from this island itself to many possibilities all over the world.

After that, we visited an International University which is currently building, this university is planned by Singaporean company ascendas and it has a Singapore flavor in it.

block of the university

Next, we went on to visit VSIP 2 another Industrial Park planned by Singapore, although it's not that developed yet, but we got a chance to see the model there. The planning of the VSIP dated as back as the SM Goh years, where he was then the Prime Minister who helped kick start this project together with Vietnam.

Housing is important!

Day 4 Reflections (25 May 2011)

2011-05-29T15:41:00.001+08:00

Today we head for the Can Gio Biosphere Reserve to plant some mangrove trees but before that we had to go to a briefing in the Reserve's quarters.

Can Gio, being out of the mainland, we had to take a ferry over to the reserve. From there we have to head somewhere at the south where to reserve is located. From the trip to the reserve, it is evident that the Vietnamese are taking lots of measures to preserve their forests since post-world war 2 where the americans sprayed lots of herbicides and napalm on their forests just to cope the Vietnamese way of guerilla warfare.

The above two pictures shows the landscape of the Mangrove reserve in Can Gio. After exploring some of these plantations, we headed forth to plant some Mangrove trees!

Saplings

Boots to wear in the muddy area

After planting the mangrove plants, we went to visit a house near the rivers in Can Gio where this man explained to us some of the hardships he faced managing this farm he has and some of them include:

Deforestation and penalty from the authorities
The remote area where he stays that requires him to spend a lot of money on oil to transport his kids from his house to the schools in town.

Day 6 Reflections (May 27) - Tam Wai Hang

2011-05-28T18:44:00.000+08:00

Three things I have learnt today:

1) There is a very obvious difference between how the traditional markets and modern markets operate. Traditional markets are like wet markets found in Singapore, but not limited to selling food. The arrangements of the stalls are very tight, so the path in between each stall is very narrow. The shopkeepers also have more freedom and are more carefree when interacting with other people. Furthermore, tourists in traditional markets are able to bargain a cheaper price of an item they wish to buy, and this is very different from any modern markets. On the other hand, Modern markets have a neater arrangement and the technical aspect is also better. Most of the stalls are air conditioned and also equipped with high end technology such as computers as well as electronic directories located around the mall.

2) I have also learnt that Vietnamese people would rather purchase healthcare products from other countries such as USA even though the price is cheaper locally. This is because they think that the products being made locally does not make use of fresh ingredients and may contain other chemicals, so they choose to buy it from other countries.

3) Thirdly, I have realised that Vietnam specialises in producing traditional exports such as dried or crispy mango strips, gum, coffee as well as lotus seeds. Even though these products are sold cheaply in Vietnam due to being produced locally, many of the retailers may sell fake version of these products. However, even if the modern market sells genuine products, the variety available is very limited and can not be compared to those sold in traditional markets.

1) A stall found in a shopping mall, Vincom Centre that sells teddy bears as well as shirts bearing the Vietnam name and star.

A old shopkeeper in a traditional market named An Dong who sells traditional products found in Vietnam such as lotus seeds, dried mangos as well as other herbs and food.

A modern market located in Vietnam called Vincom Centre which sells high quality products such as converse, gucci, as well as apple retailers.

Day 6 Reflection — Grace, Guang Jun, Kimberly and Lincoln

2011-05-28T10:35:00.002+08:00

Q1 ) How is the retail development in HCMC a reflection of the country’s development?

The retail development in HCMC gives tourists and locals the impression of Vietnam’s development, whether good or bad. This is due to the fact that if the country is developed, the retail development would be very advanced and would be similar to retail development in already developed countries, so it would reflect that the country is developed even if the tourists or locals are not sure if the country is truly developed.

Q2 ) How is media use in advertisements for traditional markets and modern markets?

Firstly, there is little or no media usage of advertisements for traditional markets. The organisation of the stalls are messy and packed closely together. Therefore, advertisement may not be the best way to display what the markets are selling since every single corner of the market cannot be spotted easily. Secondly, big posters are placed in front of the market, allowing consumers to see whether they need what they want in the market. Thirdly, media usage of advertisements are widely used and is very common in modern markets. They have huge LCD screens to play and show whatever the market itself offers the consumers. It allow anyone that can see the screen to know more and have a better introduction about the market through the displays. In terms of efficiency, the media usage in advertisement for modern market is much more better as compared to the media usage in advertisements for traditional market as it can target on a larger number of audience and it also bring the message across, visually.

Q3 ) How does the different managements in traditional markets and modern markets work?

In a traditional market, such as An Dong market, goods are pack in garbage bags and tight up using duct tape. Workers will transport the goods around the centre manually. The workers will leave or pick up the goods, depending whether they are for import or export. We assumed that the workers differentiate the different shops with the serial number on their sign board as the shops look roughly the same. The shops in a traditional markets often sell product with not fixed price. The shops are small and the alley are narrow. Often, it can be seen that owners of different store sitting around, eating their meals together.

On other hand, in a modern market, the shops are relatively big and spacious. The shopping mall wide passageway and spaces which allow exhibition and customers to rest. There is rarely any communication between each stores. There is also a reception that serves all the customers.

Q4 ) How does the range of products differ between the retail development in Singapore and Vietnam ?

In Singapore, there is a huge range of products sold, as compared to the retail in Vietnam, which has limited types of products, showing the great difference between the retail development found in Singapore and Vietnam. Example, in Vietnam, products sold were mostly targeted at people going overseas or on a trip, like beautiful shoes, sunglasses, and bags. This is due to the small range of products supplied into their retail stores, thus the kind of products found. In Singapore, however, tons and tons of products are being imported into Singapore from other countries, like China. In Singapore we can see a very very wide range of products, far from what the retail development in Vietnam would be able to show us.

Q5 ) What are the difference between the retail development in Singapore and Vietnam, the comparison between a developed country and a developing country ?

In Singapore, retail outlets are well presented, mostly air-conditioned and goods have fixed prices and are of better quality. In Vietnam’s road stalls, the stalls are usually not air-conditioned, the store is usually messy and some prices can be bargained for. This is usually because some goods were stolen or imitated and given high prices to be sold to tourists and locals. In addition, stalls in Vietnam are not professionally presented even compared to Bugis in Singapore.

Q6 ) What are the environment the Vietnamese trade in?

The Vietnamese trade in a overcrowded environment whereby everything is closely packed together. At the same time, there are people who trade in a comfortable environment whereby every shop itself is organised in a way which allow to use its space to the maximum. This are the traditional and modern environments. Traditional environments are like wet market, family run stores and bazaar stores while modern environment are supermarket, convenience chain stores and online stores. There are 60.6 million consumers and 27.9% of them are people who are from 20 to 29 years old. They spend more and save less.

Overall Learning:

From a day of comparing retail outlets and visiting different types of markets, our group has learnt more about the difference between luxurious retail areas for richer people like tourists and pockets of richer locals ( Lotte Mart ), and wholesale markets with cheaper prices for poorer locals ( An Dong Market ). This allows us to empathize with the poorer locals and realise that nearly all retail outlets in Singapore are like the pockets of luxurious retail areas in Vietnam, which shows how developed Singapore is and how fortunate Singaporeans are.

Day 6 Reflections (May 28) — Si Yuan, Stacey, Davina & Niklaus

2011-05-28T03:06:00.002+08:00

Level 1 of An Dong retail market

Multistory Lotte Mart

Vietnamese modern retail outlet, Sieu Thi Co-opmart

EQ 1: Observing the changes in the 2 different retail outlets; traditional and modernized

After visiting 3 of the many malls in Vietnam, a common amenity that can be found is a game centre. All 3 old and new malls has a game centre. The older malls has a game centre at the top most level of the mall but the newer malls have a game centre at the basement of the mall. This was something I found most interesting because I didn't expect Vietnam malls to have game centres, because of the perception that Vietnam has not been developed to the point at which they can spend on recreational activities. Basically, some of the differences that can be observed easily is the width of the aisle, the number of people in the malls, and the smell of it. The newer ones are wider than the older ones because of area constraints. If the old malls are to be expanded, prices will definitely have to rise and that the consumers will decrease, and because of that, a chain reaction will take place. The weird smell in the older malls are caused by the lack of air-condition. The main issue now is the in-balance of consumers between the different shopping malls. Finally, the last difference between the older malls and the newer ones was that the prices are a bit more flexible in the older malls and that they are cheaper too. Hence, I can conclude that there are definitely a difference between the different classes of shopping centres.

EQ 2: The transitions of the retail outlets in HCMC from the traditional to the modern retail outlets

The Vietnamese government is improving the quality of life in Vietnam by providing more jobs, living spaces, schools, hospitals, services. Included in services are retail and entertainment—where the retail market comes in. The government demolishes or moves traditional retail outlets to make way for more modernized ones. The shopping malls have to meet the demand of the people’s higher quality of living and thus more modern retail outlets selling higher quality items are slowly springing up in many areas of Ho Chi Minh City. Some reasons why consumers may not go to traditional retail outlets could be the difficulty of organization. The disorganized and overcrowding of shops pose many problems such as the smaller aisles that are usually filled with bags, thus making movability around the shops harder and with the combination of flexible prices, it could create a lot of problems for the shoppers.

EQ 3: How is the retail development in HCMC a reflection of the country's development

Modern retail outlets, as compared to traditional outlets, provides comfortable, enjoyable, quality and simple shopping inside a single shopping center. The trade off is higher the command of price that is require for the purchase of products or services. As such Newer shops would be built to cater to the growing middle class locals and the tourist coming to the country. They include modern technology like lifts, touch screen navigation to shops, air-conditioned shopping environment and more contributes to make the experience more enjoyable at the retail centers. All these modern technology present in modern retail outlets are the effects of retail development. This comes at a time when Vietnam’s economy is currently growing at a very fast pace. It is one of the fastest growing country in Asia with Inflation growth per year at 8% in Vietnam, while average countries have an increase of 3% per year, Vietnam’s GDP also have a tremendous growth of 6.7% per year. At the rate at which Vietnam’s economy is developing, naturally the spending power of its citizens will increase due to the higher job opportunities available to the citizens. Higher spending power will result in higher demand of quality services and products in the country. Thus the retail development in HCMC is reflected in the country's development as higher spending power will cause citizens to want to shop in better developed retail outlets as there are better experience and quality.

EQ 4: The Comparison of singapore and vietnam modern retail outlet

During the visit of the various modern retail outlets in vietnam, we noticed many different characteristics between the modern retail outlets in both countries. The modern retail outlet can be categorized into two different category of spending power. There are higher end retail outlets that sells branded items like Channel and there are retail outlets that either have shops that sells items suited to the middle class or shops that sell items for the middle class and higher class.

Comparing the middle class retail outlets in both countries in general, the Vietnam retail outlet has up to 2 times wider aisle in department stalls as compared to singapore. Also the store space are bigger due to the cheaper per square foot rent. The reason of this could be down to the cheaper land prices which allows these modern retail markets to be built "horizontally" instead of "vertically". As building "horizontally" is considerably less expensive than building "vertically". With bigger surface area, similarities of both malls would be the concept of the interior design, which is elegant and designed to look sophisticated. There are also the mode of transport in the mall, which are escalators and lifts. These are just some of the similarities present.

27th May Reflections: TanZhiYong

2011-05-27T23:12:00.004+08:00

The touch screen panel at Vincom Center

The 71 year old women at An Dong

The street stall seller!

The shop owner(Pink) who had to juggle 2 jobs a day.

I learnt today that there are many differences in the types of shopping centers and stores in Vietnam. There are modern and traditional markets. Most of the time traditional stores are ran by families like in markets or street stalls

Firstly, there is a big difference in terms of the level of class of these shopping centers. In Vincom Center, the shops had air-condition,were very spacious had proper lighting and was very high class. But compared to the Wholesale market An Dong, the market was cramped, dim lighted, and very stuffy.Thus, because of these factors, there were not as many people at the Vincom Centre than An Dong Market.

Secondly, the other difference is the difference in the technology used. At An Dong, besides some fans, lights, there were not much technology used. But in Vincom Center, there were much better quality there, and even a touchscreen panel for customers to get knowledge about shops they might want to go to.

A observation I made today was the the people of Vietnam seem to be enjoying their life despite their daily life and work. They would rather live the lives happily than miserably and were very friendly. Firstly, we met a 71 year old lady whose parents were from China, but she grew up in Vietnam. She worked in An Dong since young and was very friendly and helpful to us. Then, we met some street stall sellers selling glasses. They were very grateful when we decided to buy some of their products. Lastly, after dinner, Kun Yao and me went to a clothes shop. A 36 year old wife and a mother of one was the store owner, and she had to juggle 2 jobs. One job in the wet market near our hotel in the morning and in the afternoon till very late at night, she had to take care of the clothes store. But despite that, she was friendly and had a cheerful smile.

Day 6 Reflections (May 27) — Lim Hao Yang

2011-05-27T23:08:00.000+08:00

What I have learnt:

1. In Vietnam, the roadside/giant advertisements are able to be bigger than those of Singapore's, as well as in more areas.

For example, even in more "rural" areas of Vietnam, huge billboard advertisements can be spotted, these being bigger than any billboard advertisement found in Singapore. Also, in many of the buildings, there are many of these advertisements found along the outside walls.

2. The country's development is related to and dependent on the retail development, vice versa.

As Vietnam gradually develops, the requirements and demands of the population, in terms of quality, increases. Hence, more modern retail outlets and specialised stores will be set-up.

3. There is a stark difference in the local and foreign markets. This means that Vietnam is improving to reaching international standards.

We can see that the difference in the choice of escalators in the local hypermart & shopping mall and the choice of travellators in the foreign one, as well as the the inexistence of electronic movement aid in the An Dong Market, is quite wide. Such details are not too greatly taken care of in local areas. For example, in Lotte Mart, we can observe that the sides of the escalators have steel frames sticking out of the sides in case of any dropping of items from the top.