Vietnamese businesses look forward to 'Black Friday'

A shopping festival with shocking discounts from many good brands held in Vietnam, following the American "Black Friday" model, is what many businesses are looking forward to.

Vietnamese businesses are looking forward to having a "Black Friday" to carry out super discounts to attract customers.

On December 5, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the E-commerce Association organized an online shopping day with the participation of more than 1,000 businesses registering to sell promotional products on more than 3,200 items. Major electronics supermarket chains also launched "huge" promotional programs during this time. Starting from the morning of December 5, Nguyen Kim organized the "Big Bang" program. By 4 p.m. on the same day, Mr. Le Pham Anh Thy, Marketing Director of Nguyen Kim, announced that the number of customers placing orders increased 4 times and the number of orders increased 6 times compared to normal days. Ms. Chu Phuong Doan, representative of the e-commerce site Zalora, said that by 2 p.m. on December 5, the number of orders had broken Zalora's record for the day with the largest number of orders this year.

Businesses ready to participate

Talking to Thanh Nien, many Vietnamese businesses wish to have a “Black Friday” style sales festival (taking place on the last Friday of November in the US). Although it is called “Black Friday”, many businesses consider it a “golden day” for shopping, organized on a large scale, professionally and with real shock, not the “average” promotion style as before.

Ms. Ha Thi Tuyet Dieu, representative of Duc Thanh Wood Joint Stock Company, commented: "If the Ministry of Industry and Trade or the Department of Industry and Trade of Ho Chi Minh City professionally organizes a sales day, with a commitment to shocking discounts on all products, both branded and unbranded, we will definitely participate."

Mr. Le Pham Anh Thy also said that the promotion has long been organized by enterprises regularly and operated by themselves according to each separate program. "If there is a reputable unit that can organize a "golden day" of shopping nationwide, we will definitely participate," said Mr. Thy. A representative of Mobile World Joint Stock Company also said that it would be great if large distribution enterprises and manufacturers joined together to participate in Vietnam's "golden day" of shopping. "If we can do that, we will not only succeed in stimulating demand but also let tourists know that Vietnam also has such an attractive shopping day," said a representative of Mobile World.

There is currently a similar program to the "golden day" shopping style called "Promotional Sales Month" organized annually by the Department of Industry and Trade of Ho Chi Minh City. However, the effectiveness of the program is quite limited.

Must be shocking, different and neat

Commenting on the current way of doing things in Vietnam, consultant Robert Tran said that the festival programs and promotional sales months organized by provinces and cities every year are not special and lack novelty, if not outdated, so it is difficult to attract middle-class and above consumers, who are the ones who dare to spend and spend a lot. "Goods displayed at the fairs of the promotional sales month are often shabby, without clear brands or too many fakes. Our promotional and demand-stimulating thinking only stops at serving the poor and those with little money, not thinking about those with money who want to buy genuine goods, goods with clear brands," said Mr. Robert Tran.

Ms. Dieu also reflected: “For a long time, we have not participated in fairs that are organized by unprofessional fair organizers. Because there, the goods are displayed in a very shabby manner, with real and fake goods mixed together, and up to now, most of them are fake goods from China, called promotions but the selling price is higher than in the market. Participating in that way only damages our reputation.”

Responding to Thanh Nien, Mr. Nguyen Phuong Dong, Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Trade of Ho Chi Minh City, said that the fairs selling promotional goods at special discounts during the holidays and New Year's Eve can also be considered shopping festivals. However, Mr. Dong also admitted that the method is still a "trend" to create opportunities for people to buy and sell at the end of the year, so there is nothing groundbreaking. Meanwhile, economic expert Bui Kien Thanh said that if we keep the mindset of poor people to sell goods following the trend, when will we be able to "raise our heads". "Businesses have a lot of inventory, organizing promotional sales is good. But to stimulate demand, all the best and the worst must be "stimulated", and branded goods businesses must also join in to sell new goods to have more abundant financial resources. I support having a "golden day" to serve the shopping needs of all people", Mr. Thanh said.

According to thanhnien