According to Inside Retail Asia, retailers across Indochina—Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam—are poorly serving the growing foreign customer base, despite these visitors being a crucial consumer market beyond just tourist souvenirs.
Common complaints include language barriers, limited payment options that accept international cards or digital wallets, and a lack of product information in English or Chinese. These issues create friction that discourages repeat visits and word-of-mouth recommendations.
To capture this valuable segment, retailers in the region need to invest in multilingual signage, train staff in basic foreign language skills, and upgrade point-of-sale systems to handle diverse payment methods. Without these changes, they risk losing a significant revenue stream.