Digital Transformation as a Sustainable Competitive Edge
At Masan Group’s Q2/2025 investor meeting, Chief Technology Officer Yuri Misnik emphasized that the digital transformation strategy is not merely a technology project, but a fundamental platform for restructuring the group’s operations. The goal is to optimize cost management, streamline processes, and strengthen data-driven decision-making. Core technology systems-including data platforms and artificial intelligence (AI)-must be deployed quickly while maintaining flexibility and alignment with the company’s practical needs.
Within this effort, WiNARE represents a major technological step forward in modernizing Vietnam’s retail sector. The platform replaces manual processes with an AI-powered, real-time ordering system, enhancing accuracy, reducing errors, and improving the delivery of fresh products to consumers.
According to the company, Masan has successfully rolled out the WiNARE automated ordering system across several key categories, reducing store staff workload by at least 15%. By applying technology to demand forecasting and ordering, employees can dedicate more time to customer service instead of manual tasks.
Currently, WiNARE has been applied to the chilled meat and FMCG categories. By the end of 2025, nearly 70% of product categories at WinCommerce (WCM) are expected to be automated or semi-automated, with expansion into frozen and fresh products such as seafood, fruits and vegetables, and ready-to-eat foods. Early results have been positive: in Ho Chi Minh City (614 stores), spoilage rates in the meat category dropped by nearly 2% of revenue between May and August 2025, saving tens of billions of dong each month. At the same time, the DR (shelf availability) rate improved from 80% to nearly 90% by the end of August 2025, while maintaining reasonable inventory levels-supporting store revenue growth.
However, the rapid expansion of retail operations and the adoption of new technologies also present challenges. The company must continue optimizing logistics, standardizing data, and training staff to ensure WiNARE operates effectively at scale. At the same time, the trend of safe, high-quality consumption continues to coincide with consumer price sensitivity, requiring businesses to balance added value with affordability.
Health and Quality: Consumers’ Top Priorities
Vietnamese consumers are increasingly attentive to food origin and safety, particularly after past disease outbreaks and food safety incidents. A 2022 Cimigo survey found that 61% of consumers follow a healthy diet, and 72% of those aware of safety standards are willing to pay 10% more for products certified under VietGAP, Organic, or ISO. This demonstrates that safety and health have become decisive factors in food purchasing decisions.
The “clean eating - healthy living” trend, together with the rapid growth of modern retail, is creating substantial growth opportunities for branded processed meat products. With its portfolio of chilled and processed meat that meets global standards and its extensive distribution network, MML is well positioned to capture this trend. The company operates an integrated 3F value chain, controlling everything from animal feed to processing. It owns the MEAT Hà Nam and MEATDeli Saigon plants, with a combined capacity of hundreds of thousands of tons of meat per year, and a high-tech pig farm in Nghe An certified under GLOBALG.A.P. The farm applies renewable energy solutions such as biogas-powered electricity to reduce emissions and protect the environment.
In July 2025, MML’s average daily sales per WCM store reached nearly VND 2.3 million. If MML products were available across the entire WCM network of ~4,200 stores, estimated average daily sales could reach nearly VND 9.5 billion-demonstrating significant growth potential from the modern retail channel. In addition, MML contributed 69% of total meat category sales at WCM, up from 62% in Q2/2025 and considerably higher than previous years (49% in 2023 and 55% in 2024). This reflects MML’s growing importance in driving meat category sales at WCM and underscores a positive, sustainable growth trajectory.