Workers at a flower farm in Da Lat city (Photo: VNA) Traditionally, city dwellers shop for flowers and botanicals at flower marketsto fill their home with the most cheerful blooms to celebrate the new year.
But many flower growers said that flower markets were not busy this year,leaving them with an oversupply.
Nguyen Duy, a flower farm owner in Da Lat city, said that COVID-19 outbreaks inmany localities would likely affect people's purchasing power for flowers aheadof Tet festival.
Thuy Vu, Director of the The Gioi Hoa Tuoi JSC, a wholesale supplier offlowers, said it would not focus on retail sales for the Tet festival this yeardue to market uncertainty.
Nguyent Thi Ngoc Lan, a flower vendor at Ho Thi Ky flower market in HCM City,said flowers stockpiled for the Tet market this year were not as numerous aslast year due to concerns over weak purchasing power.
Purchasing orders with flower farms are expected to change in the next few daysdepending on the control of COVID-19, Lan said.
Flower farms in Da Lat city have seen a 55 percent drop in orders fromwholesale markets in other cities and provinces, according to a survey of the DaLat City People’s Committee.
The committee, however, has reported a boom in online sales of agriculturalproduce, flowers and botanicals ahead of Tet.
It advised farms to use bank transfer payments for retail orders and to signcontracts with merchants for wholesale orders to ensure the success of onlinedeals.
Livestreams
Shoppers can find various types of flowers from flower farms and merchants ononline shopping platforms.
Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy from Biofresh Company in Da Lat city has hostedlivestreams via Facebook to guide viewers through different types of flowersand plants available on the farm.
Amid the pandemic, live commerce has helped promote and sell products, and engagedpotential shoppers, Thuy said.
Tran Van Tam, a flower grower in Da Lat city, said that flower farms in thecity adopted online sales to reach new buyers as wholesale buyers werereluctant to close deals due to worries about weak demand.
This year, flower farm owners are concerned that they will be left with anoversupply of flowers, so they expect to quickly sell stocked products atreasonable prices, Tam said.
Dalat Hasfarm is offering Tet collections of flower vases and combo deals forcut flowers and pot plants with discounts on online orders.
Online flower markets are also featuring extensive selections of importedflower products such as forsythia, ilex, and Japanese peach flowers. A vase ofimported flowers costs 3-9 million VND (130-390 USD)./.
VNA
