The unique traditional features of rural markets and theirspecialities are being showcased at many modern distribution channels inan effort to promote Vietnamese products as well as earn higher revenuein difficult economic times.
Several weeks ago,wholesaler Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam announced a new pilot model atits Metro Thang Long store in Hanoi with the hopes of bringingtraditional features of the Vietnamese people to their customers.
With this plan, floor space has been set aside and designed to looklike a rural market. The area in the store in Hanoi sells food and otherproducts, and offers promotions.
Khuat Quang Hung,head of the Metro's general affairs and corporate communications, toldViet Nam News that with food hygiene and safety being the highestconcern of consumers, such trading methods had made their customers feelmore secure.
He explained that the products wereprovided by suppliers and farmers from areas that grow clean vegetablesand fruits in Dong Anh district of Hanoi and northern Hai Duongprovince.
"We have signed contracts with farmers andsuppliers so that we can ensure the quality of our products as well asfood hygiene and safety. Moreover, thanks to the co-operation, the priceof many products such as carrots, corn, watermelons and manyvegetables, is about 10-15 percent lower compared with wholesalemarkets," he said.
Although they have not set upspecific areas for rural specialities, other big supermarkets such asBig C and Co-op Mart, for a long time, have begun to sell these kinds offoods.
At Co-op Mart, customers can find many ruralspecialities but they are all packaged. Meanwhile, at Big C, there aremany choices.
A representative from Big C said thatfor many years their supermarkets in Ho Chi Minh City sold Pia cake, aspeciality from Soc Trang province in the Mekong Delta, bean cakes andmany kinds of noodles, which are specialities of southern provinces.
"The supermarket decided to sell these specialities to meet the demandof customers and to advertise rural specialities," she said.
The new business method has brought good results to the model distribution channel.
Hung of Metro said that thanks to the new model, their revenue hadincreased. "The revenue rose, especially on initial days. We alsoreceived many supportive ideas from customers," he said.
According to Hung, the pilot will be run until Tet (Lunar New Year).If the pilot goes smoothly, it will be expanded and applied to theirsystems in the entire region.
Meanwhile, Big C saidthat sales had been good and in the coming time it would expand themodel. It plans to co-operate with small- and medium-sized enterprisesto bring more rural specialities to its system.
Individual customers have also traded these products in social networks.
Just with one click on a link about rural specialities, customers canfind favourite foods on many pages, such as Facebook, online forums orother sites like dacsanvungmien.com.
However,experts warned that customers must carefully consider choices beforepurchasing because online markets, unlike brick-and-mortar supermarkets,do not ensure the quality of the products that are sold online.-VNA
Several weeks ago,wholesaler Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam announced a new pilot model atits Metro Thang Long store in Hanoi with the hopes of bringingtraditional features of the Vietnamese people to their customers.
With this plan, floor space has been set aside and designed to looklike a rural market. The area in the store in Hanoi sells food and otherproducts, and offers promotions.
Khuat Quang Hung,head of the Metro's general affairs and corporate communications, toldViet Nam News that with food hygiene and safety being the highestconcern of consumers, such trading methods had made their customers feelmore secure.
He explained that the products wereprovided by suppliers and farmers from areas that grow clean vegetablesand fruits in Dong Anh district of Hanoi and northern Hai Duongprovince.
"We have signed contracts with farmers andsuppliers so that we can ensure the quality of our products as well asfood hygiene and safety. Moreover, thanks to the co-operation, the priceof many products such as carrots, corn, watermelons and manyvegetables, is about 10-15 percent lower compared with wholesalemarkets," he said.
Although they have not set upspecific areas for rural specialities, other big supermarkets such asBig C and Co-op Mart, for a long time, have begun to sell these kinds offoods.
At Co-op Mart, customers can find many ruralspecialities but they are all packaged. Meanwhile, at Big C, there aremany choices.
A representative from Big C said thatfor many years their supermarkets in Ho Chi Minh City sold Pia cake, aspeciality from Soc Trang province in the Mekong Delta, bean cakes andmany kinds of noodles, which are specialities of southern provinces.
"The supermarket decided to sell these specialities to meet the demandof customers and to advertise rural specialities," she said.
The new business method has brought good results to the model distribution channel.
Hung of Metro said that thanks to the new model, their revenue hadincreased. "The revenue rose, especially on initial days. We alsoreceived many supportive ideas from customers," he said.
According to Hung, the pilot will be run until Tet (Lunar New Year).If the pilot goes smoothly, it will be expanded and applied to theirsystems in the entire region.
Meanwhile, Big C saidthat sales had been good and in the coming time it would expand themodel. It plans to co-operate with small- and medium-sized enterprisesto bring more rural specialities to its system.
Individual customers have also traded these products in social networks.
Just with one click on a link about rural specialities, customers canfind favourite foods on many pages, such as Facebook, online forums orother sites like dacsanvungmien.com.
However,experts warned that customers must carefully consider choices beforepurchasing because online markets, unlike brick-and-mortar supermarkets,do not ensure the quality of the products that are sold online.-VNA
