Discount scheme in full swing

Some stores are providing customers with discounts of 5-50 percent. Ngo Thanh Dat, Marketing Director of Pico Plaza in Hanoi, says they are giving away 6 cars worth VND12 billion to lucky customers in their promotion campaign.

Nguyen Kim and many other supermarkets are giving discounts of at least 20 percent on home utensils. For purchases of more than VND1 million, customers might get VND100,000 back or receive free products, such as rice cookers or pans. Customers also have plenty of opportunity to win free merchandise through drawings.

From February 6-13, Media Mart supermarket is sponsoring a big promotion to reduce the price of electronics products by VND150,000, including LCD TVs, washing machines, telephones, cameras, refrigerators, and microwave ovens. HC supermarket has cut prices by 3-50 percent for various kinds of electronics and furniture products. Viet Long supermarket has also reduced prices of its products by 4-50 percent, while Best Caring is giving away 20 bottles of Coca Cola with any purchase over VND2 million. Customers will receive 20 bottles of Heineken beer as a bonus with any purchase over VND4 million.

The biggest sellers in Pico, Nguyen Kim and Media Mart include 26-and 32-inch LCD TVs. The prices of these products have dropped VND2-5 million since last year. The price of a 32-inch LCD TV is between VND5 million and VND10 million. Many consumers are also buying home appliances like microwave ovens and blenders.

Marketing Director of Pico Plaza Ngo Thanh Dat says: “To meet the increasing demand of customers, we’ve ensured an adequate supply to avoid any shortage of essential products. This year customers see abundant supplies of 32-inch LCD TVs, unlike last year when they found it rather difficult to buy this product.”

According to Mr Dat, people no longer have to wait until the last month before Tet to buy products. They often buy products as soon as they hear about an exciting promotion.

Pico’s sales this year doubled last year’s figure, not only from October 2009 to mid-February 2010 but for the whole year. Pico grosses more than VND10 billion/day, except Saturday and Sunday when sales triple.

Low sales at smaller stores

While consumers are lining up outside the supermarkets, few people are going to smaller stores to buy electronics products.

Some years ago, the shops and small stores in Hai Ba Trung Street were always busy before Tet. Now, it looks rather quite as if dozing in the shadow of big retailers like Nguyen Kim, Pico, Media Mart and HC.

Sellers in Hai Ba Trung Street claim that their sales before Tet have fallen back to normal levels, five or six times lower than a record level at the other times a few years ago. So there’s no big difference in sales volumes between the Tet holiday and normal days, they say.

Mr Chien, a shop owner in Hai Ba Trung Street, says he sells products mainly to his regular customers. People now prefer to go to big supermarkets where they can make a better choice and feel more confident about the quality of products.