Supermarkets increase sales waiting for customers to shop, customers wait for... Tet bonuses

From small stores to large supermarket chains, many typical Tet products have appeared, businesses have also increased food production and sold at good prices. However, due to economic difficulties, many people are indifferent to Tet, and sellers are also hesitant.

Many businesses and traders in Ho Chi Minh City markets have increased the amount of goods produced and imported to stock up for Tet sales. However, they are still worried about purchasing power so the increase is not significant.

Many people are "tired of Tet"

According to records at supermarkets, at this time, products have diverse designs and prices, many brands in the food and beverage industry... have launched many products and Tet gift baskets with new, unique packaging, and more affordable prices.

At the supermarket system of Saigon Co.op such as Co.op Mart Rach Mieu (Phu Nhuan district), Co.opXtra (Van Hanh mall, district 10)..., the Tet atmosphere is more vibrant with the addition of yellow and red colors of Tet gift boxes, ao dai, candies, jams... filling the entire store.

Pushing a large cart around Co.op Mart Rach Mieu, Ms. Nguyen Thi Trang (Binh Thanh District) stopped at the counter selling candies and Tet gifts. After nearly 15 minutes of examining each product and price, Ms. Trang... pushed the cart on.

Ms. Trang said that if last year around this time she often went to the supermarket to look at clothes and Tet items, buying early to avoid the rush at the end of the year, but this year she only dared to check the prices in advance to balance and calculate.

"This year the economy is difficult, spending even if we are frugal and save is just enough to live on. We have to wait for information about the Tet bonus before daring to spend big on shopping, hoping that this year the Tet bonus will not decrease," she said.

Ms. Mai Linh (a real estate broker at a real estate company, living in Thu Duc City) lamented when talking about Tet: "I almost couldn't sell any houses all year, and I've never had a year as difficult as this year. A year of struggling to stay in the profession and living mainly on savings. I feel more tired of Tet than happy."

She said that in previous years she was always excited about Tet, eagerly buying new clothes, cosmetics, hairstyling, nails, and beauty treatments. One year she even came home early to buy missing household items, Tet sweets and jams... However, this year will not be like that.

Fashion stores and supermarkets increase sales to wait for customers to shop for Tet

On Nguyen Trai Street (District 1) - where dozens of fashion brands are concentrated, although it has entered the Tet shopping season, these stores are still deserted. Many stores have started displaying ao dai, yếm, and Tet dresses with signs of 30-50% discount, even 70% discount, but still do not attract customers, many stores even have to return their premises in the middle of Tet.

Mr. Pham Tien - manager of the Sea Collection brand - said that it is rare to see a busy street as deserted as this year. Normally after Christmas, according to Mr. Tien, this store has to increase recruitment of staff, unable to sell enough, but this year it had to cut half of its staff because of the lack of business.

"In previous years, the store always had 12 employees and usually added 4 more employees during Tet. But this year, the store has reduced to only 6 employees, and is not recruiting any more this Tet season," said Mr. Tien, adding that the number of customers coming to the store is only "dribbling", down more than 50% compared to the same time last year.

Meanwhile, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thang - marketing director of Saigon Co.op - said that during the Tet season last year, the gift baskets priced from 199,000 to 499,000 VND were the best sellers at this system. However, this year, this system has for the first time launched Tet gift baskets priced from only 99,000 VND to suit the psychology of tightening consumer spending in difficult circumstances.

"On this occasion, the supermarket launched about 40 models of Tet gift baskets, applying a discount of up to 8% compared to the original price when customers order in large quantities. The products in the Tet gift baskets are mostly nuts of all kinds, jams, tea, candies, coffee, wine... with prices ranging from 99,000 to 1,399,000 VND," he said.

Businesses and traders are still cautious

A representative of Duy Anh Foods Company (Ho Chi Minh City) said that despite trying to keep the selling price of vermicelli, dried pho, and rice paper at around 36,000 - 55,000 VND/kg depending on the type, the purchasing power of the market up to this point has still decreased by 20 - 30% compared to previous years, and Tet orders are not as high as expected.

Therefore, the company will produce as soon as orders arrive, instead of stockpiling raw materials and products like every year. "Customers have already purchased Tet goods but are still testing their purchasing power, so they choose to purchase in batches. We will maintain the selling price throughout Tet to stimulate the market," he informed.

A representative of Vissan Company said that despite continuously applying promotional programs with discounts of 20-40%, purchasing power is still 20-30% lower than previous years, especially for fresh products. Purchasing power for processed products has decreased less, but customers are still importing goods sparingly.

"We are watching the market while producing, we produce as orders come in, not as aggressively as in previous years. With a proactive production plan and available labor, we are still committed to providing enough supply in large quantities," said Mr. Nguyen Ngoc An, General Director of Vissan.

According to large food manufacturers such as CP Vietnam, Saigon Foods... a large amount of Tet goods have been released to the market with stable prices like last year, some items even have lower prices and more promotions than last year.

The amount of goods coming to wholesale markets has decreased.

According to Thu Duc agricultural wholesale market, due to slow purchasing power, the total amount of agricultural products imported to the market at the end of the year remains low, fluctuating between 2,400 - 2,600 tons/night (of which vegetables account for about 1,500 tons, fruits about 1,000 tons, the rest are flowers), down about 15% compared to stable times in previous years.

Mr. Nguyen Nhu, Director of Thu Duc Agricultural Products Wholesale Market, said that many types of fruits that can be stored for a long time such as apples, grapes, cherries... or spices such as onions, garlic... have been imported by many traders to sell during Tet. However, the amount imported is not as much as in previous years.

"Every year, when purchasing power is good, traders proactively import goods to store many weeks before Tet with large output. But this year, because the forecast for Tet demand is not as good as expected, many sellers have reduced the amount of goods stored to avoid risks," said Mr. Nhu.

According to the representative of Binh Dien wholesale market management board, traders have imported seafood to freeze for sale during Tet but in moderate quantities and do not dare to spend heavily like previous years.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Bich Dong, a trader at Binh Dien market, said she had just imported about 700 - 800kg of dried squid and fish to store for Tet but was also very nervous. "The traders from the provinces have imported quite a lot of goods to store. If the sales volume does not increase sharply, the traders holding the goods in storage will risk heavy losses," Ms. Dong said cautiously.