How AI Is Helping Retail Companies in Viet Nam Cut Costs and Improve Efficiency

AI is quietly rewiring how Vietnamese shops and marketplaces run - boosting personalization, trimming delivery times and cutting waste - so the sector can squeeze more profit from every shelf and cart.

The Vietnam AI in Retail Market report notes market growth from US$86.62M in 2023 toward a projected US$637.32M by 2032 (CAGR 25.55%), while e‑commerce activity (about US$16B in 2024) and ~75M online shoppers create scale for AI-led wins.

Local examples - VinMart's AI across 2,500+ stores, Uniqlo's smart mirrors and platforms shaving delivery times - show practical lift in forecasting, inventory and cashierless checkout; for Vietnam's ~97% SME retail base, those are operational lifelines, not buzzwords.

Retail teams that learn prompt design and low‑code deployment can turn CCTV into smart‑shelf engines and chatbots into cost‑saving staff; see the full market analysis and growth outlook in the Vietnam AI in Retail Market report, the e‑commerce and AI roundup, or explore hands‑on training with Nucamp AI Essentials for Work bootcamp.

Core AI use cases in Viet Nam retail are practical and increasingly localised: personalization engines that turn browsing and purchase history into tailored upsell offers, AI forecasting that tightens inventory and reduces waste, and dynamic pricing models that react instantly to competitors, seasonality and demand spikes.

Vendors such as Centric Software show how unified PLM and product data make real‑time decisions possible for brands catering to Gen Z, while real‑time pipelines power the automated price moves described in Nimble's guide to dynamic pricing.

In stores, low‑code prompts can turn CCTV into a visual‑merchandising and smart‑shelf engine to flag empty stacks or spot trending SKUs in VinMart‑scale chains, and personalised recommendation engines help convert more baskets without eroding margins.

Practical caveats - data quality, system integration and customer perception - matter as much as the models themselves, so start with a single use case (forecasting or price optimisation), prove ROI, then scale.

One vivid takeaway: a camera that once only watched tills can become the tiny, tireless staffer that notices a sold‑out display and triggers an instant repricing or restock alert.

“Younger consumers are moving away from the big chain retailers. They want to have a limited edition, story-driven brand that aligns with their value and helps them express who they are,”

Vietnam's early AI wins are easiest to spot in eGrocery and omnichannel chains: Bach Hoa Xanh - MWG's strategic eGrocery arm with nearly 2,000 stores across the South, East and South Central provinces - turned online-first placement and faster order processing into big growth, reporting VND 26,300 billion in 2021 and a 38% year‑on‑year rise while ranking among the country's top visited e‑commerce sites (SECOMM overview of e‑commerce in Vietnam).

At scale, those operational gains come from smarter logistics and automation that shave delivery times and boost throughput, and from in‑store AI pilots that turn CCTV into a practical visual‑merchandising and smart‑shelf engine to spot stockouts and trigger restock or price moves (hands‑on visual‑merchandising prompt example).

For smaller retailers, the lesson is concrete: a 45% traffic lift during COVID for grocery sites shows demand, and simple AI tools - from recommendation engines that lift basket size to mobile apps that increase product visibility like the ‘Hang Viet' app - convert that demand into faster fulfilment and lower waste, not just buzz.

Vietnam's AI stack is a hybrid of global cloud power, local engineering houses and specialist PaaS tools that together move pilots into production: platform vendors and cloud providers supply scalable compute while local partners turn data into retail actions.

BytePlus's ModelArk brings enterprise LLM deployment and token‑based scaling for recommendation, search and real‑time decisioning, HBLAB offers a “data‑first” systems approach to automate forecasting and smart‑shelf alerts, and Centric Software bundles PLM, pricing and market intelligence so assortments and promotions react faster to Gen Z trends; together they sit alongside major cloud and AI vendors that dominate deployments.

That mix matters for Vietnam's 97% SME retail base because it lowers the technical bar - hardware and cameras become a 24/7 merchandiser that flags empty shelves or suspicious shrink, and managed platforms let stores pilot features without long infra projects.

For practical next steps, look to partners that combine domain workflows (PLM/retail ops), local integration experience and secure LLM hosting to prove a single use case before scaling across channels.

“It's no longer about setting the competitive price lower than your competitor. It is also about catching up with the market trend earlier so they can translate them into the product faster than ever to capture the sales momentum,”

Vietnam's national push is turning what used to be high-cost pilots into practical, low-friction tools for retailers: a Minister of Industry and Trade–approved domestic market programme (2025–2027) explicitly targets AI, digital transformation and brand-building across supply, logistics and consumer trust, while SME training in data analytics and the Hang Viet app make certified local products easier to find for shoppers; read the program overview on OpenGovAsia for details.

Backing isn't just policy - big funding and infrastructure reduce adoption costs: the National Data Development Fund (NDDF) is capitalised to accelerate data platforms and cloud compute, 5G and fibre expansion and new data centres are lowering latency and hosting costs, and upcoming laws and tax/R&D incentives (DTI and PDP drafts) create predictable, cheaper pathways to test AI in stores.

The upshot for Vietnam's 97% SME retail base is concrete: cheaper cloud AI, trained staff, traceability via QR/blockchain and a national platform that can turn CCTV, RFID and POS data into automated restock alerts and localized recommendation engines without heavy custom engineering; see the state overview and market figures for the scale driving these changes.

“This makes Vietnam the second-largest supplier of software engineers in the world – a fact that few people know about.” - Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA

Adoption in Viet Nam follows a clear, ROI‑first playbook: retailers (especially resource‑strained SMEs) pick one high‑impact pilot - chatbots or demand forecasting - prove measurable wins, then scale; that pattern mirrors regional findings where half of sellers sit in an

“aspirant” phase

and only ~25% are full

“adepts”

for broad AI integration, so quick wins matter more than grand strategies (yStats report: AI adoption in Asia's e‑commerce and payments).

Vietnam's market signals back this pragmatic approach: nearly 44% of local SMEs name AI their top tech bet, cloud and ML deployments dominate for speed-to-value, and pilots that cut delivery times or tighten inventory (AstuteAnalytica notes ~15% faster deliveries and ~15% sales uplift from ML targeting) are prioritized over speculative R&D (AstuteAnalytica report: Vietnam AI in Retail Market).

Government programmes and funds lower the cost of experimentation, so teams measure ROI in weeks - a single CCTV camera can be repurposed into a

“tiny, tireless” merchandiser

that flags stockouts and turns a restock alert into direct margin improvement - and that practical, measurable loop is what pushes hesitant retailers from trial to operational scale (InvestVietnam report: The State of AI in Vietnam (2025)).

Vietnam's retail teams face a clear set of barriers that turn promising pilots into slow, costly rollouts: a persistent shortage of AI specialists, fragmented datasets and integration headaches, uneven cloud/edge infrastructure across provinces, fast‑moving regulation and occasional data breaches that dent customer trust.

These frictions hit small chains hardest - SMEs make up ~97% of the retail base - so long project timelines and scarce in‑house talent often stall value capture. Practical fixes are pragmatic and local: pick one measurable use case (forecasting, a smart‑shelf alert or chatbot), run a time‑boxed pilot on cloud AI or an AIaaS vendor, and tie success to a single KPI (days of stockouts avoided or delivery time shaved).

Leverage public programs, talent‑attraction schemes and regulatory sandboxes to access funding and expert hires, partner with local integrators to avoid 6–12 month deployment delays, and upskill staff with role‑specific AI training so automation augments rather than replaces store know‑how.

For a compact reality check, compare the market and talent signals in the State of AI in Vietnam report and the Vietnam AI in Retail Market analysis to prioritise pilots that prove ROI in weeks, not quarters, and turn a CCTV into the tiny, tireless merchandiser that flags stockouts and saves margin.

“Critical challenges include a shortage of skilled AI talent and fragmented data infrastructure, hindering large-scale innovation.”

Small and medium retailers in Viet Nam can get started with AI without a big budget by following a clear, practical roadmap: build a digital core (cloud POS or a lightweight ERP) to centralise sales, inventory and POS data; pick one high‑impact pilot - demand forecasting, a chatbot or a smart‑shelf alert - and run a short, time‑boxed proof of concept that measures a single KPI; partner with local AI teams or vendors to lower cost and speed deployment (Vietnam's talent pool and outsourcing advantages are well documented at Vietnam AI talent and outsourcing report (HBLAB)); and upskill staff with role‑specific training so automation augments store know‑how.

Leverage the thriving local ecosystem - more “Made in Vietnam” AI tools are entering real use and government programmes make pilots cheaper - and reuse existing hardware where possible (a single CCTV camera can be repurposed into a tiny, tireless merchandiser - see a hands‑on visual merchandising prompt from Nucamp).

The mantra is already common here: think big, start small, scale when ROI is proven, tapping local partners and the growing startup network noted by Growth of Vietnam AI startups and products (VnEconomy).

“We shouldn't just be end-users of foreign technologies, we should create our own, by Vietnamese, for Vietnamese,”

The near-term picture for AI in Viet Nam's retail sector is practical and optimistic: government-led programmes will push pilots into everyday tools that shave costs and keep shelves stocked, not just showcase demos.

The Minister of Industry and Trade's 2025–2027 domestic market programme ties AI to brand-building, smart markets and cashless, traceable supply chains that aim to lift retail sales by an estimated 10.5%–12% in 2025 - a structural nudge that helps turn predictive forecasting and RFID traceability into routine operational wins (see the programme overview on OpenGovAsia report on Vietnam AI retail ecosystem).

National investments and infrastructure - from a USD 38.4B National Data Development Fund to expanding 5G and data centres - mean compute and data access will stop being the bottleneck, allowing small and medium retailers to buy AI as a service rather than build it from scratch (details in the InvestVietnam State of AI 2025 report).

Expect faster deliveries, smarter pricing and cashierless checkouts alongside a vivid new norm: a single CCTV camera repurposed into a tiny, tireless merchandiser that flags a stockout before a customer walks away, especially critical during peak periods like the Lunar New Year.

Practical takeaways for Vietnam retail teams: pick one measurable pilot (demand forecasting, a chatbot or a smart‑shelf alert), run a short time‑boxed proof‑of‑concept that tracks a single KPI, and partner with local AI teams so pilots move from demo to dollars quickly - Vietnam's fast‑growing AI market and deep talent pool make that realistic.

Use in‑country partners to capture the 30–40% development cost advantage vs. Western hires (Vietnam AI talent and cost-effectiveness - HBLAB), prioritise cloud‑first, low‑code deliveries to shave months off deployment, and measure ROI in weeks so SMEs (≈97% of the retail base) can scale what works.

Remember the vivid low‑cost win: a single CCTV can be repurposed into a “tiny, tireless” merchandiser that flags stockouts or triggers personalised offers. For context on market momentum and where to start, see the Vietnam AI in Retail Market forecast (Vietnam AI in Retail Market forecast - AstuteAnalytica) or build practical skills with Nucamp's AI Essentials for Work (Nucamp AI Essentials for Work bootcamp).

“This makes Vietnam the second-largest supplier of software engineers in the world – a fact that few people know about.” - Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA