Online Friday 2018 officially kicked off today, with 5,000 products at promotional prices of zero dong or with prices reduced by 80 to 90 per cent, according to event organiser Viet Nam E-commerce and Digital Economy Agency (IDEA) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Around 3,000 businesses registered to join the programme. Around 120,000 buyers can access the website onlinefriday.vn or the Online Friday app at the same time.

Many big brands participate such as Samsung, Jetstar, Vinamilk, Lazada, Shopee, Tiki, Lotte, Adayroi, The gioi di dong, Yes24, FPTshop and ViettelStore.

Delivery businesses such as VnPost, Nijavan, Lalamove and Snailship would support firms by reducing delivery costs for the event.

Twenty banks will join in cash-back programmes to help customers use card payments.

To ensure product and service quality, the organiser told firms to provide certificates of origin.

The organiser will co-operate with price comparison apps to ensure the products offered during Online Friday are at promotional prices before uploading to the website.

Online Friday was organised for the first time in 2014 with 400,000 visitors, 160,000 orders and VND154 billion in revenue.

Last year, the programme received 2.4 million visitors, 1.3 million orders and VND1.22 trillion in revenue. — VNS