 |
Buyers are choosing goods on the ‘Black Frinday’ occasion (Photo: SGGP) |
At weekends, many department stores like SC Vivo City in District 7, Van Hanh Mall in District 10, AEon Mall Tan Phu in Tan Phu District welcome a stable quantity of visitors even when the ‘Black Friday’ event is launched, with various lucrative discount schemes of 20-70 percent.
Analyses from businesses reveal that consumers are now being offered more shopping options, both online and offline. Adding to that are different discount programs running all year round. Therefore, instead of saving money to go shopping at one specific time, many consumers monitor the market and quickly make a transaction when they believe the prices of certain products are profitable to them.
People are also more careful with their purchases to focus more on essential commodities as their income is negatively affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The director of a high-end cosmetic importer shared that even with massive discounts, his company could not reach its expected sales. The purchasing power for its goods did rise by 50 percent in the ‘Black Friday’ promotion, yet the transaction value only increased nearly 10 percent.
In contrast, the sales of essential food products are absolutely positive. Certain supermarkets like MM Mega Market, Emart (in Go Vap District) GO!, BigC (in District 10 and Binh Tan District) saw a remarkable growth as to processed food, vegetables, and fresh food thanks to their discounts from 40-60 percent.
To further boost the purchasing power of consumers in the city, the HCMC Department of Industry and Trade has cooperated with all localities and major retail systems in the country for high-quality, stable supply sources to maintain steady prices of essential commodities for customers.
This year, the volume of price-stabilized merchandise continues to comprise 25-43 percent of the market’s demands to serve the community during the upcoming Tet holiday. In particular, each month, the city can offer 70 million eggs, 2,000 tonnes of sugar, 8,000 tonnes of poultry, 200 tonnes of seafood, and 2,000 tonnes of cooking oil.
Deputy General Director Pham Thi Van of Saigon Trading Group (SATRA) informed that her organization has worked with its suppliers for a commitment not to increasing prices while ensuring the quality of provided merchandise during Tet holiday. It is expected that the total goods value of this company for the two months before and after Tet holiday is over VND550 billion (US$22.7 million), a rise of 10 percent compared to this time last year.
 |
Chinese tourists are buying goods in An Dong Market in HCMC on November 25, 2023 |
Retail businesses admitted that the current consumption trend has changed a great deal, so it is necessary to both offer buyers reasonably priced goods and attractive incentives.
Marketing Director of Marketing MM Mega Market Vietnam Dinh Quang Khoi commented that the purchasing power at year end is unpredictable, but his company hopes to have a sales increase of 20-30 percent compared to this time last year. To achieve this, MM Mega Market is launching its price stabilization scheme and affordable Tet gift sets aiming at both retail customers and businesses.
Communications Director of Central Retail Vietnam Nguyen Thi Bich Van stated that consumers in Vietnam pay more attention to essential commodities with acceptable prices. Therefore, her organization is running the scheme ‘1,000 products with cheaper prices’ following the principle of ‘Buy more get more’.
Economists comment that during such economic downturns right now, consumers are tightening their spending, directly affecting their purchasing power. In the long term, retail businesses and manufacturers must collaborate to offer more incentive programs and increase product quality. The HCMC market with 10 million people and the national one in general should be the focus of enterprises so that more practical strategies can be developed to sustainably and effectively exploit it.
The HCMC Departments of Industry & Trade and Tourism are working together to launch several large-scale promotional campaigns for consumption at year end, taking advantage of upcoming major holidays and events. They want to attract more potential domestic and foreign customers to HCMC.
Statistics from the HCMC Industry and Trade Department show that the total retail revenues in 11 months this year have reached over VND634.6 trillion ($26.15 billion), a rise of more than 11 percent compared to this time last year.
