Fahasa continuously opens more bookstores
Fahasa has just announced its business plan for 2024, as well as addressing the issue of certain personal accounts on social media posting incorrect or misleading information and images about the company.
In 2024, Fahasa predicts that the market will still be challenging, but the company will continue to invest in opening more new bookstores. In the first quarter of 2023, Fahasa opened 2 large bookstores, including Fahasa Tran Duy Hung (opened in February 2024 at Vincom Center Tran Duy Hung – Hanoi) with an area of 800m2; Fahasa Kien Giang (opened on March 6, 2024) at a new location with nearly 800m2 and an investment capital of 10 billion VND. This is considered the largest bookstore in the southwestern region and has been well received by customers.
Currently, Fahasa is also implementing many large projects such as Fahasa Dong Sai Gon with an area of 800m2 scheduled to open on April 30, 2024 at Vincom Mega Mall Grand Park – Ho Chi Minh City), and Fahasa Hue with an area of nearly 900m2 expected to open in August 2024 at Aeon Mall Hue.
The company also plans to open new bookstores in smaller markets such as Bac Lieu, Ninh Thuan, Quang Ngai, Ha Giang, Dien Bien… Opening bookstores in these towns is Fahasa’s strategy to nurture a new generation of customers. When customers go to Fahasa in their towns and then grow up and move to Ho Chi Minh City, they will still go to Fahasa.
With the above strategy, Fahasa expects to achieve a revenue of 4,000 billion VND in 2024.
In 2023, Fahasa recorded a revenue of 3,902 billion VND, a record profit of 70 billion VND – an increase of 53% compared to 2022. Fahasa also opened 5 new bookstores this year.
According to Fahasa, the good profit growth last year was thanks to the company’s focus on investing in technology. In particular, Fahasa’s portfolio management technology can now accurately measure customer demand for each product type up to 10 days in advance (currently Fahasa has a product portfolio of 400,000 SKUs). Based on that, the company can balance increasing the quantity of goods if they are popular or proactively reduce inventory of items that customers no longer buy a lot, making operations more efficient.
“Running a bookstore without catching the trend is difficult”
The Fahasa leadership said: “It can be said that none of us here catch up with trends as fast as children. Sometimes I even have to ask my grandchildren what they like to stay ahead of new trends. Not to mention, there is a fact that in the context of strong internet development, children in remote provinces now have the same interests as children in Ho Chi Minh City. And that is the challenge for Fahasa to grasp to launch campaigns to meet customer preferences, because it’s hard for a bookstore to survive without catching the trend.”
Fahasa is currently the leading book business and bookstore in Vietnam in terms of scale and sales. While Phuong Nam or ADC Book had sales of less than 1,000 billion in 2023, Fahasa significantly surpassed that number with nearly 4,000 billion VND. The key factor that helps the company survive and thrive, according to Fahasa, is the company’s focus on specialization.
“As a company that has listed shares on the UpCOM stock exchange, but Fahasa uses annual profits to invest only in its core business, only focusing on one industry. We are strong in book publishing and book business, so we only concentrate on this strength. Fahasa is not like many other companies that invest in real estate or stocks,” said Pham Minh Thuan, Chairman of Fahasa’s Board of Directors.
When asked why Fahasa still opens traditional bookstores while the trend of online sales is on the rise, Mr. Thuan also emphasized that the Online segment in the bookstore market is only strong with the 18-25 age group, and only strong in certain product categories.
In reality, Fahasa’s customer base is wider, and the company is currently working with shopping malls. With shopping mall developers, when they explore, they analyze all aspects very carefully, and they are also very careful in choosing which brands to work with, including the bookstore segment where they choose Fahasa.
Up to now, Fahasa has a system of 120 bookstores in 47 provinces and cities nationwide, with a total investment in developing the Fahasa network in 2023 of 50 billion VND. The company is also promoting the e-commerce sector and is ready to produce audiobooks if there is customer demand, because the company’s business philosophy is “listening to customers”.
Recently, there have been some personal accounts on social media posting incorrect or misleading information about Fahasa, such as job postings, buying and selling, closing down…
According to Fahasa, this is a fraudulent practice with the aim of attracting viewers to the page and advertising other activities of the individual owners of these social media accounts. This incident is a violation of the law and seriously affects the company’s reputation. Fahasa has taken strong measures to protect its rights, including reporting to state management agencies and the police.
“Currently, Fahasa is still operating normally, and the business situation in the early months of 2024 has been good, with revenue growth. The system of 120 Fahasa bookstores nationwide and the fahasa.com e-commerce website continue to serve a large number of customers,” said a representative of the company.
