Vietnam has today 724 modern supermarkets, 132 commercial centers, more than 400 convenience stores, but also still one million small traditional stores. European Retail Academy also let us know recently (following a visit by Prof. Dr. Bernd Hallier) that 28 percent of the Vietnamese consumers are already shopping online. At the moment according to the annual turnover in US $ the ranking of the organized Vietnam retail is headed by the Saigon Union of Trading Cooperatives 1.375 million$ (323 outlets), followed by Mobile World 721 (229), Nguyen Kim Trading 603 (18), Casino Guichard Perrachon 546 (25), Saigon Jewelry 421 (158), Phu Nhuan Jewelry 267 (145), Vien Thong 164 (92), Lion Group 161 (8), Pico 127 (5) and FPT Corp. 121 million $ ( 60 stores). The commercial centers and supermarkets expect a growth-rate of 50 percent till the year 2020.
It is well-known that the European Retail Academy (ERA) was founded in February 2005 at the World’s No. 1 Retail Trade Fair EuroShop (Düsseldorf, Germany) by Prof. Dr. Bernd Hallier and some of his academic friends to support the Bologna-process and the interaction between theory and application in the field. Today www.european-retail-academy.org has links to more than 225 research-institutes for trade/marketing/ tourism all over the world.
The ERA Hall of Fame selects each year one professor who stands out in terms of outstanding contributions within the international interaction of research and applied sciences. Léon F. Wegnez, Romano Prodi, Klaus Toepfer, Robert Aumann were the distinguished personalities who have been honored by ERA in the last four years.
Prof. Dr. Bernd Hallier, Honorary Member of the Romanian Distribution Committee, continues to have fruitful exchanges of ideas – about promoting a better relationship between education and practice within the increasingly international context – with two other distinguished Honorary Members of the Romanian Distribution Committee, Professors Ovidiu Folcut (Rector of the Romanian-American University) and Dumitru Miron (President of the Romanian-American Foundation for the Promotion of Education and Culture, and a Member of the ERA Board of Trustees).