With Tet approaching, the Ho Chi Minh City retail market has entered in its peak, with downtown Co.op Mart supermarkets on Cong Quynh, Dinh Tien Hoang and Nguyen Dinh Chieu streets reporting sales have doubled year on year.
Spending has risen sharply compared to last year’s Tet especially in supermarkets, while prices have remained relatively stable, a SGGP survey found.
Over the past ten days, thousands of consumers have flocked into Co.op Mart and Big C supermarkets to shop for Tet.
As of February 8, combined sales at the Co.op Mart, Co.op Food surged as much as 60 percent from a year earlier.
Meanwhile, Co.op Mart’s roving sales of goods at industrial parks and export processing zones increased 200 percent.
Shoppers at the BigC chain of stores have spent 30 percent more than during Tet last year. At Big C Thang Long, the number of shoppers has soared to about 30,000 people per day.
Sales at other retailers, like Citimart, MaxiMark and Saigonmart, also increased.
Despite the sharp rise in demand, Big C undertakes to keep prices stable, said Duong Thi Quynh Trang, director of the supermarket’s public and external relations department.
Big C will not increase prices of fresh and dry food and most other essential items in any circumstances, she confirmed.
Some commodities as Tet jam, banh chung (square glutinous rice cake), and beverages may be subject to slight changes in price, but it will not affect the sales, she said.
Saigon Co.op has reserved a large volume of goods for Tet under the city’s program for stabilization of consumer prices, said Bui Hanh Thu, deputy general director of the company.
As for commodities that are not included in the program, the system still offers best prices to customers, she confirmed.
Other food companies like Vissan, Huynh Gia Huynh De, Ba Huan, Vinh Thanh Dat have also pledged to keep prices unchanged until March 15.
At markets across the city, shoppers have been busy buying items including clothes, footwear, home utensils, and votive paper objects. Compared to one month ago, prices at most markets have increased by 15-20 percent.
People’s Committee deputy chairwoman Nguyen Thi Hong has asked thirteen businesses to be true to their commitments to the city’s price stabilizing program to ensure the goods supplies and maintain the prices of essential goods at at least 10 percent lower than market prices.
Relevant agencies must strengthen control over consumer prices, food supply, food quality, and food hygiene and safety before, during and after Tet, she added.
