Businesses respond to pandemic with new opportunities

Hanoi (VNA) - In the face of the increase of the COVID-19 pandemic, several businesses have turned proactive in epidemic prevention while flexible in management in order to find opportunities to overcome this difficult time.

Vegetable of the Viet Nhat Smile Company are harvested amid the pandemic (Photo: Vietnam+)

Since the first cases of COVID-19 in Vietnam were reported on January 23, the epidemic has become increasingly serious. The pandemic has posed a range of challenges and difficulties to businesses in general, and small and micro enterprises in particular.

However, a number of businesses with proactive epidemic prevention measures and flexible management system are trying to find new opportunities to overcome this difficult period.

Plants run at full capacity

In the face of an economic downturn, the Viet Xanh Agricultural Products Processing Joint Stock Company (Ninh Binh) has maintained a production line that runs at full capacity. In order to do this, Mr. Nguyen Truong Nghia, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company, said the company had mapped out response plans early on, strengthening marketing activities to expand the export markets.

“Before Tet (Lunar New Year), orders came in very slowly, but now we receive many orders, mainly from the Russia market. The amount of goods exported was very stable, so the factory had to increase production. Employees work in shifts from 5AM to 9PM every day. In addition, this is the fruit harvest season, the pineapple output in the market is very high but we cannot export fresh fruits to China due to the pandemic. Therefore, the company must step up production to handle this abundant supply,” Nghia said.

A similar situation is also happening to Viet Nhat Smile Company (Ho Chi Minh City). Director Pham Thi Bich Lan said the company is working hard, with 100 percent of workers and employees working to meet the needs of consumers as hoarding activity increases.

The transport of fruits and vegetables from Buon Me Thuot city to Ho Chi Minh City, however, continues to face difficulties as there is only one trip per day. Therefore, Ms. Lan must find ways to coordinate with other agricultural businesses to share a truck to ship their products.

Similarly, Hanhsilk Company (Thai Binh province) still maintains domestic customers and ensures jobs for all the employees, thanks to the organisation of a production chain from cocoon purchasing to producing, then commercialising and bringing products to consumers.

Luong Thanh Hanh, Director of Hanhsilk said: “The company's products have been trusted by consumers for a long time, so the domestic demand is still very high with products such as towels and massage products,... Besides, we also promote sales through e-commerce channels to attract more customers."

In addition, Hanh said that from April 1, all office workers worked online, sewing and textile workshops work separately, products are delivered away from home and shippers communicate with customers through phone or paper. At the product introduction shop, only the accountant is present and does all packing works for the customers.

Products ready for export (Photo: Vietnam+)

"Every cloud has a silver lining”

The widespread of the pandemic has forced importers to postpone their orders, while sales at supermarkets has gone slow. In this context, Le Thi Thuong, Vice Director of Viet Pepper Co. Ltd (Ho Chi Minh City) said the company is seeking new sales channels, while innovating their products to suit the new market context. At the moment, the company has mostly shifted its sales channels to Amazon online platform.

"Every cloud has a silver lining! Business on Amazon is very effective, the number orders has been constantly increasing since the beginning of the epidemic. Currently, the company's employees are working overtime days and nights. Now, the most important thing for us is to protect the health of workers, limit community contact which leads to quarantine or even infected people must stop production,” Thuong said.

For handicrafts which are not essential goods, if at the beginning of the season, the exports to the European and American markets are still relatively stable, now, the enterprises doing business in the industry has started to "infiltrate."

Mai Thi Anh Dao, Business Development Manager of Viet Trang Export-Import Private Enterprise (Thanh Hoa province), said that the two main markets of the company: Europe and the US, have stopped all new orders, even old orders cannot be exported. However, Dao's company has developed a new product line related to pets, which is favored by the Japanese market, thus the workers’ income is still maintained.

“The office division of the company is operating normally, but it is likely that in the next 3-6 months consumers will tighten their spending, so we are developing an online sales system with multimedia marketing,” Dao said.

Although small and micro enterprises have gradually adapted to the market, analysts have stated that the pandemic is still evolving in complicated ways, with an uncertain ending. In addition, the economy could feel the negative impact of the pandemic. Therefore, the road ahead will remain challenging for businesses, especially those on the small and micro scale./.

Viet Trang Craft employees work hard to meet deadlines (Photo: Vietnam+)