Although Tet, the biggest festival in Viet Nam, is still 2 weeks away, the peak shopping season is getting started and all preparations made by supermarkets and retailers to meet consumer needs are almost done one month ahead of the festival.

Shoppers are seen at the Lotte Mart. Photo: QUYNH TRANG

Economical Tet shopping

According to retailers in Da Nang, the COVID-19 has drastically changed consumer spending habits.

In these days, a large number of customers have been seen shopping at the Vinmart supermarket located on the second floor of Vincom Plaza, especially in the evenings. Stalls selling ​​fresh, dried and processed food such as dried vermicelli, jams, and confectionery have been crowded with shoppers. In particular, discounted or product bundles are preferred by many people.

Mrs. Le Thi Anh, residing in An Hai Bac Ward, Son Tra District, said that the supermarket is offering many attractive promotional programmes on a lot of food and household appliances, so she decided to buy what she needed for Tet in advance for peace of mind and to reduce the burden of spending in these days leading up to Tet.

Similarly, the Lotte Mart is quite crowded with shoppers on weekends as compared to normal days. Many people choose to buy jams, dried food, household appliances, and home decorations early.

At the confectionery stall in the supermarket, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Le from Hai Chau District’s Hoa Cuong Bac Ward said that she took advantage of necessary products for Tet, such as jams, melon seeds, and spices, that are on promotion, so she decided to buy.

This year's Tet products are diverse and rich with different types of tea, coffee, bean, nutritious seeds, and fruit jams, and many items are up to 50% off. Specially, many food items that were previously packaged in large quantities are now divided into small packages for people to buy easily, such as spices, agricultural products, processed seafood, etc.

Mr. Nguyen Van Loi, Director of the Vinmart supermarket, informed that the purchasing power for Tet is expected to keep rising ahead of the Festival, so many supermarkets and businesses are making every effort to keep prices stable.

According to Mr. Phan Thong, Director of Co.opmart Da Nang, unlike last year, his supermarket, this year, does not offer Tet gift baskets, worth millions of VND each, and only focuses on Tet goods in the popular segment, especially packages of spices and broths with the price of only a few tens of thousands of VND/product, which are quite attractive to customers.

Shopping at supermarkets and wet markets for Tet has increased significantly in Da Nang in recent days, and is expected to keep rising ahead of the festival, which begins on February 1. Photo: QUYNH TRANG

Tet online shopping becomes more popular

Realizing the high demand for online shopping in the context of the complicated and unpredictable developments of COVID-19, supermarkets and retail shops have promoted their own online sale channels in a bid to serve people's Tet shopping needs.

Currently, online sales channels have been flooded with attractive advertising and promotions. Products on e-commerce platforms are clearly updated from images, sizes as well as clear descriptions of uses so that buyers can visualize in the most detail and completeness.

Mrs Quynh Mai, residing in Son Tra District’s An Hai Dong Ward, said that the COVID-19 pandemic is increasingly becoming more and more complicated, making her afraid to go to supermarkets or wet markets to buy food for Tet. Therefore, she has decided to buy some essential items from e-commerce platforms in order to save time and avoids crowds at traditional markets and large retailers.

As noted, at the moment, popular items for Tet have been seen dominating e-commerce platforms. In addition to the commonly available food and confectionery products, regional specialties imbued with bold flavors of the old Tet are preferred by many consumers when spring comes.

Meanwhile, hundreds of OCOP, typical commercial and rural industrial products, produced by 90 manufacturing enterprises in Da Nang and other provinces and cities such as Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Kon Tum, Dak Lak, Binh Duong and Thua Thien Hue, are on sale at website www.ketnoihangviet.com.vn which is developed by the Da Nang Center for Industry Promotion and Trade Promotion in collaboration with VietNamTrade Joint Stock Company.

In addition, fresh flowers and ornamental plants are also being offered for sale online.

Reporting by QUYNH TRANG - Translating by M.DUNG