Vietnamese businesses seek “tricks” to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic

According to a quick report from the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, as of February 12, due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, out of a total of over 180,000 enterprises in 30 provinces and cities, 322 enterprises have temporarily suspended operations, 553 enterprises have reduced their scale or narrowed their production and business.

Along with that, out of a total of over 5,000 cooperatives, 25 cooperatives have temporarily suspended operations, 5 cooperatives have reduced their scale or narrowed their production and business.

Businesses and industries that are operating are always facing difficulties in output or lack of production materials, especially for manufacturing industries that depend on raw material supply from China such as textiles, rubber, plastics, etc.

Many businesses have sought solutions to promptly respond to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Illustration photo: KT

Mr. Pham Ngoc Thanh - representative of a fish sauce distributor shared that since the Covid-19 pandemic appeared and broke out, the market's purchasing power has decreased, seriously affecting the company's product consumption. Moreover, due to fear of the epidemic, businesses have temporarily laid off workers, leading to production delays and a lack of goods to deliver to agents and supermarkets.

To overcome the situation of slow product consumption, the Company has conducted online sales, delivering directly to consumers nationwide through e-commerce channels such as Lazada, Shopee or on the company's fanpage. With such sales strategy, it has partly helped the company overcome internal difficulties.

In addition, this company also increased sales at product introduction points. Mr. Thanh added that these days, instead of buying just 1-2 bottles of fish sauce, housewives tend to buy orders in larger quantities than usual, possibly for storage. In order to increase revenue, in addition to fish sauce products, the company also focuses on selling a variety of food items such as vermicelli, instant noodles, necessities, etc.

One of the sectors most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic is agricultural products. For many days now, the situation of agricultural products reaching the harvest season but not being able to be exported, being congested at the border gate has occurred, causing traders and businesses to be devastated.

Deputy Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Le Van Thanh inspected disease prevention work at a garment company in Ha Nam.

Ms. Tran Thi Thu Hang, General Director of an agricultural and food import-export enterprise, said that for many years, the company's agricultural products have not only been exported to China but also supplied to schools in Hanoi. However, in the first months of this year, the Covid-19 epidemic broke out strongly and is at its peak, exports to China are being delayed, the company has shifted to exploiting the domestic market. In addition, this is also the time when schools let students off to avoid the epidemic, instead of providing food to schools, the company has contacted and delivered food to the collective kitchens of a number of companies and offices.

Understanding the psychology of housewives who are reluctant to go to the market or supermarket to shop, the company has mobilized employees to introduce and sell products to each family in apartment buildings to help the company sell products and provide fresh goods to customers during this pandemic outbreak.

Accordingly, the company has an initiative to sell orders in combos, each combo of vegetables, tubers, fruits, eggs, pho noodles... costs from 100,000 - 150,000 VND. The goods are taken from the farm by the company, reducing the intermediary step to keep the price reasonable...

According to Ms. Hang, although the number of products sold is not much, the current difficulties have opened a different direction for the company, "one door closes, another door opens", hoping to bring better opportunities for the business.

Covid-19 is a global pandemic, with increasingly complex and dangerous developments, and it is unknown when it will end. In this context, economic experts recommend that, in parallel with efforts to prevent and fight the epidemic to protect human health, businesses need to closely follow information from authorities to proactively plan production and business, maintaining growth momentum. At the same time, it is necessary to have plans and strategies to expand and find partners and customers, avoiding over-reliance on one market.../.