CJ zeroes in on younger Vietnamese

CJ Group, Korea’s leading food and entertainment conglomerate, said yesterday it will divert its attention to expanding in Vietnam after recently shoring up its presence in China.

The plan was disclosed last week at the “2010 CJ Global Conference,” a meeting of the chief executives of its subsidiaries held in Ho Chi Minh City, the group said.

“We will build the third CJ plant in Vietnam,” said Group President Lee Jay-hyun, who presided over the conference. “We need to focus on becoming pioneers in overseas markets as the future of CJ will depend on going global.”

Lee added that the Vietnamese market is the most attractive after China due to the fact that it has a rapidly growing young population. Half of the population is under 40 and this demographic has been enlarging by 7 percent each year recently.

As the group specializes in producing entertainment and cultural content it believes it has a particular appeal to young people, making Vietnam a prize target.

CJ said it wants to integrate Korean culture with Vietnamese culture to develop new products for the local market in areas such as food and home shopping.

The group said it will first focus on producing and distributing new cultural content including movies and TV series. It said it will cooperate with VTV, Vietnam’s national TV network, to produce TV dramas.

Last year the group purchased MegaStar Cineplex, the largest multiplex theater in Vietnam, and Lee had lunch with the VTV president during his recent trip there.

CJ’s move to expand into Vietnam comes as it attempts to make inroads into other Southeast Asian countries including Cambodia and Laos.

CJ has already entered a variety of industries in Vietnam including bakeries, animal feed and logistics. It opened a local office there in 1996, set up a complete animal feed production factory in 2001, and introduced the bakery brand Tous Les Jours in 2007. At present, 14 Tous Les Jours shops are operating in Ho Chi Minh City alone.

CJ O Shopping, the group’s home shopping subsidiary, started a joint venture last year with a local network to offer a 24-hour televised shopping service in the southern capital and three other cities across the country.

CJ GLS, the group’s logistics arm, launched a delivery service there last year after establishing a delivery network in nine major cities.

By Lee Sun-min [summerlee@joongang.co.kr]