With a week to go, the gift market for Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday in the capital is strong with supermarkets, markets and grocery stores offering a range of items for both businesses and individuals.
Grocery shops in Ha Noi's Hai Ba Trung, Hoan Kiem and Cau Giay districts are showcasing many types of Tet gift hampers with a variety of prices.
Shop owners said due to the impact of the COVID-19, customers had been forced to tighten purse strings, prioritising essential items.
Meanwhile, the volume of goods imported to Viet Nam last year was less than that seen in previous years because of transport difficulties. Therefore, the Tet gift hamper market this year saw changes in the structure of goods and prices.
Nguyen Thi Nam, owner of Minh Tam grocery store on Nghia Tan Street, said she was selling gift baskets ranging from VND300,000 to several million dong per basket.
Nam told vietnamplus that with a basket prized at VND300,000, her store would offer customers locally-made goods with a clear origin. She added her store was ready to pack gift baskets with higher prices to customers.
Another shopkeeper Le Thanh Son said from January 10, customers had flocked to his shop on To Hieu Street of Cau Giay District to buy Tet gift baskets and other goods for the holiday. Son said gift baskets worth several million dong were also available at his store, but most customers preferred affordable gift baskets with an average price of VND400,000-750,000.
According to many small retailers, this year customers have prioritised buying Tet gift hampers of regional specialities with mid-range prices instead of expensive gift hampers having imported products and beautiful designs.
Do Manh Hung who is living in Ha Noi agreed. He said in the past years he often bought foreign wine to give as Tet gift baskets. This cost him about VND2-3 million per bottle but this year, he switched to fresh fruits and regional specialities such as Dien pomelo, smoked buffalo meat, Nui Den dry vermicelli and mushrooms from the Northwestern region.
Hung said that compared to foreign wine, fresh fruits and regional specialities were essentials that each family would need and use during the Tet holiday.
Besides grocery stores, supermarkets and shops are also offering gift baskets designed and decorated according to the tastes of customers. A large volume of gift baskets is being bought by business owners to award their employees.
Co.opmart supermarket chain said the number of orders for Tet gift baskets from VND200,000 to around VND500,000 had risen about 25 per cent compared to last year.
The supermarket reported businesses wanting to order Tet gift baskets for their workers to encourage morale.
Saigon Co.op is selling more than 10,000 Tet gift baskets every day. More than half of which was packaged under specific orders for businesses.
A salesperson at Aeon Mall Ha Dong Supermarket said that this year, due to the impact of the pandemic, they had promoted the sale of affordable Tet gift baskets comprising a variety of "made in Viet Nam" products.
Currently, the supermarket has a variety of gift baskets ranging from VND99,000 to VND3 million each. From 40 per cent to 80 per cent of their products were Vietnamese ones such as cakes, jams, prepared foods, packaged foods, tea and wine.
At the same time, other chains such as Walmart and WinMart+ have also launched Tet gift baskets with affordable prices from VND299,000 -699,000 per basket.
Experts said that Tet gift baskets had prospered in recent days and were expected to remain strong during the lead-up to the country's largest traditional holiday. — VNS