Retailers have increased stocks of fresh food and other essential goods commonly consumed during Tet to ensure sufficient supply and stable prices. (Photo courtesy of Saigon Co.op) A representative of Saigon Co.op said stocks of fresh foods have beendoubled so that its Co.opmart, Co.opXtra, Co.op Food, and Co.opSmile storescould meet any surge in demand during Tet.
Saigon Co.op has also increased by 20-50% the stock of goods it is sellingunder the city’s price stablisation programme and of essential goods, he said.
To ensure consumer price stability, it has allocated most of its budget to nineitems under the programme – rice, sugar, cooking oil, pork, poultry meat,poultry eggs, processed food, fruits and vegetables, and seafood, therepresentative said.
Saigon Co.op will also increase its supply of ready-to-eat dishes.
Nguyen Trong Tuan, operations director of WinMart supermarket system, said thenumber of customers shopping at WinMart/WinMart has increased sharply sinceearly this month.
They mainly buy essential goods and Tet giftbaskets, and the numbers are expected to go up even further between thebeginning of January and Tết, whichfalls on January 22, he said.
WinCommerce had readied stocking plans for Tet afew months ago, and they involve increasing stocks by 20-30% from last year, hesaid.
“In the fresh food category, we focus on certain items such as vegetables,fruits and meat.
“Traditional Tet items such asfruit gift hampers, banh chung (squareglutinous rice cake) and vegetable pickles are also stocked in large quantitiesand at good prices with promotions of up to 50%.”
Stocks of other commonly consumed items during Tet suchas confectionery and beverages have increased by 20%, he said.
WinCommerce has also increased the supply of dry foods and regionalspecialties, he added.
Forecasting shopping demand during Tet tobe equal to or higher than before the pandemic, Central Retail’s GO!, Big C andTops Market supermarket chains have also stocked up abundantly.
They have increased stocks of pork, beef, seafood, vegetables, and fruits andare selling a range of fruit hampers with imported items and specialties fromaround Vietnam.
Retailers have also launched big promotions on the occasion.
Saigon Co.op said its supermarkets would have promotion programmes from nowuntil the Lunar New Year, including discounts on thousands of products of up to50% and even higher during a 10-day period before the holiday, gifts,higher reward points than normal and gift vouchers.
There is a 15% discount on some three million Tet gifthampers.
Saigon Co.op is also implementing a programme called ‘Ganket tinh than - Tet xa them gan’ under which customers can order giftbaskets at any Co.opmart and Co.opXtra supermarket or online at https: //cooponline.vn, and get themdelivered almost for free to more than 40 provinces and cities.
Go!, Big C and Tops Market are offering discounts of up to 50% on hundreds ofproducts and discounts on gift hampers.
From December 22 to January 4, shoppers at GO! and Big C with bills of 500,000 VND(21.2 USD) or more will get a lucky draw coupon with prizes worth more than 1.5 billion VND (63,615 USD).
In addition to offering discounts on up to 50% on many products, WinMart/Winmart stores nationwide will gift customers with a 750g bag of Ngọc Nươngrice when they buy a half MEATDeli ‘Gà ngon LaChanh’ (chicken with fresh lemonleaves) and two bags for buying a whole until January 21.
According to market research company Kantar Worldpanel Vietnam, followingtwo years of low sales during Tet, thingsare expected to look up for the fast moving consumer goods industry this timearound since the Vietnamese economy has recovered and consumers have a positiveoutlook on economic prospects.
The occurrence of two major holidays in a single month (New Year and Lunar NewYear) is expected to provide a boost to spending.
Tet is the busiest season of the year in Vietnam, usuallygenerating massive demand for shopping, gifting and travel./.
VNA
