Abstract: I’m Vu Duc Thinh, a 2nd-year student in the Master of Business Administration program at Vietnam Japan University. I was so grateful for the chance to do a one-month internship at AEON Vietnam – Hanoi office in the marketing department. Thanks to this internship, I have gained a lot of insight, knowledge, and experience in the retail industry that will aid me in my future career path.
As a person who is passionate about business and marketing, in the third semester of the MBA program, I joined an internship, which I believe can help me apply the knowledge gained from the master’s program to real work in order to develop working skills. Thanks to the cooperation between Vietnam Japan University and AEON Vietnam. I was accepted to be an intern at the Hanoi office of AEON Vietnam. Before joining the company, I was interviewed by Mr. Nishikawa Satoshi – General Manager of North Area, and Ms. Minh Anh – Officer of the HR department. The interview was like a confidential conversation that allowed me to express my job aspirations and learn more about the benefits of a one-month internship at AEON and the department I was assigned to support.
My internship at AEON Vietnam started on 12th December 2022 and ended on 19th January 2023 with the position of Marketing intern for the Digital and Communication Team of the Marketing Department – Hanoi office. On my first day of onboarding for the internship at AEON Hanoi Office, I had a chance to receive a lot of information about AEON through the company’s e-learning system used to help new employees to have a better understanding of the company. The lesson included AEON’s history of development, organizational structure, retail product lines, and its arrangement structure in AEON Vietnam, as well as with employee benefits. After the learning session with the HR department, I met with the marketing team. My first impression was that everyone on the team was friendly and enthusiastic.
My main task for a one-month internship at AEON Vietnam was following the digital communication plan, creating content, briefing visuals for the in-house designer, and communicating with outsourcing agencies to control visual quality for social media posts. Since my internship period at AEON Vietnam coincided with the new year and Tet holiday, which are considered the most important period of the year for the retail industry, there are a lot of tasks and preparations to do to increase sales and profit. Thanks to the enthusiastic support of Ms. Ha Vu, Digital Marketing Executive, as well as everyone on the Hanoi marketing team, I caught up with the work quickly. Not only marketing tasks, but I also received an assignment from Mr. Nishikawa to research the seasonal calendar, which is a necessity for forecasting needs, weather trends, and inventory for clothes products (Softline). This was a very interesting assignment as I can have more discussions with the General Manager of the north area. Also, I could apply my research knowledge, and skills learned from my master’s program to this assignment.
Thanks to this internship, I also have an excellent opportunity to observe the arrangement of the office, and products in the warehouse and the front store, as well as to see Mr. Nishikawa do Gemba walk in the front store of AEON GMS (General Merchandise Store). Additionally, I also had the chance to join the morning briefing at 10.30 am every day, where line managers and store managers share about the sales situation, sales target, and what needs to improve. This gave me a better understanding of lean management and the Kaizen philosophy of Japanese management way, which I learned from the master’s program.
The internship at AEON gave me the feeling of belonging and being a part of AEON because of the professional environment where everyone contributes their best to achieve the general goal of the organization and also has a friendly aura with their co-workers. By working at AEON for one month, I can understand why the company is awarded for being one of the best companies to work for in Asia.
Conclusion: I am grateful to have this one-month internship at AEON Vietnam – Hanoi office. My deep appreciation to the professional sharing and support of Mr. Nishikawa and the enthusiastic guidance of Ms. Ha Vu, as well as the great support from other staff in the Hanoi marketing team for helping me to complete my internship. I learned a lot of knowledge, skill, and experience from the practical point of view of business and the retail industry, which would help me a lot in my future career path. In addition, I hope my result from this internship can strengthen the relationship between AEON Vietnam and Vietnam Japan University.