Central Retail (CRC), a Thai conglomerate, is committing 49 billion baht to expand its Vietnam retail footprint to 300+ branches across 26 provinces by 2027, driven by Vietnam's strong 8%+ GDP growth and 12.9% retail sales growth. The strategy focuses on GO! Hypermarkets and mini go! supermarkets targeting secondary cities, with 90% of stock sourced locally from 2,000+ Vietnamese suppliers—creating meaningful backward linkage integration while positioning CRC as a leading foreign retailer in Southeast Asia.