GS Retail expects its annual earnings to reach tens of billions of won from loyalties and also dividends, mainly from the joint venture it forged with Vietnam’s SonKim Group earlier this year.

In July, the Korean firm signed a deal with SonKim Group to set up the joint venture and purchased a 30 percent stake in it. GS Retail later also signed a master franchise agreement to receive royalties on trademark rights and operation.

The Korean retail giant said it plans to open more than 2,500 convenience store branches over the next 10 years in Vietnam, where the industry is showing high growth potential.

The Vietnamese convenience store industry has been posting annual growth of some 70 percent. Those in their 20s and 30s, who make up a large proportion of convenient store customers, account for 34.6 percent of Vietnam’s population.

To seek new business opportunities, Korean convenience store operators have been looking beyond Korea, where competition among local convenience store chains is fierce.

In July this year, BGF Retail, the operator of Korea’s largest convenience store chain CU, signed a franchise deal with an Iranian company, which marked the first overseas expansion of a domestic convenience store chain.

By Shim Woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)