Along with the supermarket system, Da Nang has, over recent times, seen a boom in safe food and convenience stores, thus helping consumers easily choose quality food sources for family meals.

More and more customers have the tendency to buy organic food at supermarkets and convenience stores. Photo: T.Y

Da Nang currently has 8 trade centres, 71 general supermarkets, specialised supermarkets and more than 400 convenience and organic food stores.

Feeling more secure about the product origin

Most of the goods on shelved for sale here are of clear origin, meeting the strict requirements of food safety and hygiene.

With peace of mind about the origin and origin Ms. Tran Thi Mai Hoa, a resident in Hai Chau 1 Ward, Hai Chau District said that she often shopped at clean agricultural stores because she believed that the food here was really organic and of better quality.

According to Ms. Mai Hoa, the prices of organic products are slightly higher than those at wet market, but "you get what you pay for", especially fruit and vegetables.

Vegetables bought at a store of organic agricultural products are sourced and carefully selected. “I don't care much about the price because it's actually not too expensive if I know how to balance the meal in the direction of less quantity yet more quality. I usually visit agricultural product stores twice a week to ensure that the food I buy is always fresh and nutritious,” said Mai Hoa.

Similarly, the consumption trend of Ms. Nguyen Thi Quynh dwelling in My An Ward, Ngu Hanh Son District has changed over the past few years.

On average, each month, she spends about VND3 million buying fruit at convenience and safe food stores. Quynh said, “The price of fruit in these stores ranges from VND100,000 to VND 300,000/kg, much more expensive than in wet markets but certified for organic production or Viet Nam Good Agricultural Practices (VietGap) and Global GAP (Global Good Agricultural Practice) standards. Consuming safe food will make you feel secure because many fruits are delicious and nutritious eating such fruits unpeeled such as apples, grapes, plums and guava can truly increase your nutrient intake”.

In addition to quality products, clear origin, one of the advantages of organic agricultural stores is the aesthetics of preservation and decoration. Besides, food are well processed and accompanied by ingredients and spices is another advantageous point of this type of business. The target group of pre-processed foods is mostly young customers who are usually busy with work but still want to eat-in at home.

Ms. Tran Minh Huong, a resident from Phuoc My Ward, Son Tra District said that, due to her tense and busy work schedules, she doesn't have enough time to shop at wet market and cook meals for her family.

To ensure a good family meal, she chooses a supermarket or a clean agricultural store because the food on sale here is processed, and even more delicious because the spices are absorbed through the marinating time.

“This type of product is 10 - 20% more expensive than unprocessed but it saves me a lot of time. There are many dishes that just need to be steamed or cooked according to the recipe instructions”, said Huong.

Competitiveness among stores, consumers benefit more

In a competitive business environment, the biggest challenge of grocery and clean agricultural product stores is to diversify designs and create consumers’ trust in product quality. Meanwhile, clean food produced by organic methods is sold at high prices as compared to the current income level of people.

Ms. Le Nguyen Thi Nhu Nguyen, Director of Nong Bao Ngoc One Member Company Limited (NongPro), said that the quality of NongPro goods comes first, and organic products account for more than 80% of the total put on shelves for sale.

According to her, during the production process of organic products, gardeners absolutely do not use inorganic fertilizers and pesticides, and only organic fertilizers are used. This farming method is labour-consuming and takes a long time with 45 days on average, while other methods only last 15-30 days.

With the goal of trading in clean agricultural food for the sake of consumers' health, Nongpro strictly controls the supplier's origin and production process. In addition to products imported or sourced from organic farms in Lam Dong Province, Nongpro facilitates the sale of organic products hailing from Thanh Dong organic vegetables in Hoi An City, Pig Eco breeding farm, and some purebred foods from Quang Nam Province such as backyard chickens and ducks raised in countryside areas.

By maintaining the advantage of clean and quality goods, Nongpro receives 150 - 200 orders each day, each from a few hundred to several million VND.

“We regularly interact with customers to grasp consumer needs, and at the same time launch online sales, promotions, gift presentation, livestreams for everyone to easily access their favourite products”, said Nguyen.

Representatives of some convenience stores said that the increase in petrol prices has pushed the operating costs to go up by 5 - 10%. However, with the current competitive trend, Nongpro is striving to keep the current prices unchanged or slightly increase them.

According to Mr. Duong Hien Tu, Director of the An Phu Farm organic food chain, the core principle of An Phu Farm is the assurance of quality. Therefore, in order to make the goal of ‘organic food from farm to fork" come true, he has actively established a number of farms or cooperated with farmers to produce food.

According to data from the Da Nang Food Safety Management Board, the city has 213 general business establishments which sell agricultural products and general food and 7 specialised ones exclusively trading in agricultural products. Most shop owners get their products from farms in Lam Dong, Binh Duong, and Dong Nai provinces, all of which have VietGAP and Global GAP certifications.

Mr. Nguyen Tan Hai, Head of the Da Nang Food Safety Management Board, affirmed that most of the agricultural and seafood products sold here are certified by GlobalGap, VietGap, GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice), HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point System).

Mr. Hai recommended that consumers, in addition to paying attention to the above-mentioned certifications, need to download software to scan products’ QR codes to trace down the origin of the products and look up manufacturing processes.

In addition, in the role of accompanying consumers, the Management Board will continue regularly checking the labels, product origin and takes post-inspection sampling to prevent the trade of unsafe food.

Reporting by HUYNH LE – Translating by A.THU