The study assesses conditions for an increased involvement of the poor in the food value chains driven by supermarkets and other value-adding outlets. The trends of the different distribution chains were analysed through the gathering of secondary data. Surveys on poor consumers' access to different retailing points were made in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Moc Chau, as well as comparison of prices between the different points of sale in these cities. Four case studies investigated poor farmers' and traders' participation in distribution value chains: (i) vegetables for Hanoi from Soc Son district and Moc Chau district, (ii) vegetables for Ho Chi Minh City from the peri-urban area of Cu Chi district, HCMC and from Duc Trong and Don Duong districts in Lam Dong Province; (iii) litchi from Yen the district in Bac Giang province; (iii) flavoured rice from Hai hau district in Nam Dinh province. In-depth interviews of stakeholders along the chains, as well as census of traders, investigated the patterns of horizontal and vertical coordination that link the poor to the markets; the distribution of costs and benefits between the farmers and the traders along the chains; the respective advantages and drawbacks involved in supplying different types of outlets; the employment impact of the different chains. Markets and street vendors are still the major players in food distribution, when considering quantities sold, areas of sale, as well as employment. Yet supermarkets are growing fast all the more since the government has a positive attitude towards them, in particular for reasons of food safety and modernisation, in opposition to a negative attitude towards street vending and informal markets. Yet street vending and markets generate more employment by volume of business than supermarkets, especially for the poor. They are also the main points of sale for the poor consumers, who rarely purchase in supermarkets, because of price and distance constraints. This situation may cha