The Vietnamese High-Quality Goods Award will be given to 524 firms this year.

They were selected from a list of 689 based on interviews with 13,648 customers in 60 provinces and cities and 1,981 sellers in Ha Noi, Da Nang, HCM City, and Can Tho by the Business Association of High Quality Vietnamese Products.

The nominees were then screened by authorised local agencies and relevant industries and checked for transparency of information and compliance with laws before being chosen for the association’s prestigious award.

Vu Kim Hanh, chairwoman of the association, said the 524 firms include some with one commune-one product certification.

So far 177 companies have received the Vietnamese High-quality Goods-Integration Standard certificates.

Hanh said the Vietnamese High-quality Goods-Integration Standard programme has developed LocalG.A.P, a transition standard from VietGAP to GLOBALG.A.P., to take more Vietnamese agricultural products into the world market.

The LocalG.A.P programme, done in collaboration by the association and GlobalG.A.P, seeks to walk farmers and co-operatives gradually through international good agricultural practices accepted by the most fastidious markets in the world, she said.

LocalG.A.P certified products will be assigned a GLN code (LocalGAP Number) by GLOBALG.A.P, she said.

She encouraged businesses to invest in and achieve local and international quality management systems and standards, saying the programme would help them sell their products globally.

Since the beginning of 2022, when the COVID-19 pandemic subsided temporarily, the association has been carrying out a series of activities to provide information to and support businesses after the economic hits taken from the pandemic and Russia-Ukraine conflict.

It plans to work with relevant ministries to foster agricultural processing and help agricultural co-operatives adopt LocalG.A.P standards, she said.

The awards ceremony will be held at the Rex Saigon Hotel on March 29.

Nguyen Van Phuong, the association’s consumer survey expert, said the survey found consumers increasingly interested in healthy products and convenience of access.

Modern retail channels play an increasingly important role and traditional channels no longer dominate the market, especially in big cities, with the latter only accounting for around a 40 per cent market share, he said.

The rapid development of e-commerce is an inevitable trend, and offers golden opportunities for both sellers and buyers, he said.

Online shopping has been changing the psychology and shopping habits of consumers, while for young consumers online and offline shopping are seamless, he added.

The survey shows that consumers' spending is limited, the frequency of purchases is reduced, so the market is still too difficult and the seller sluggish.

At the same time, the company's goods are still in inventory at a high rate and are constantly trying to increase "resistance" in the market.

Specifically, the disruption of the supply chain has resulted in a much lower number of retail stores compared to before the COVID-19 outbreak, and many stores are still closed under "new normal" conditions.

Some businesses in the group of best-selling products are affected by fluctuations in labour, input prices for production and business, therefore, they operate in moderation.

The distribution of the products of the business and the frequency of purchase by consumers both decrease with planned purchases such as the consumer's shopping cart sometimes increases in volume but drops in the number of items purchased.

Consumers mainly focus on products that meet essential needs and often only choose products of certain reputable businesses and brands.

For activities from businesses, up to one-third of businesses rated by retailers still maintain customer care activities, or conduct promotions and discounts in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is a valuable effort of the Vietnamese business community to stay in the market and maintain market share.

Van Thi Thuy Tien, marketing director of Qui Phuc Trading - Service - Production Company Limited, said that in recent years, the pandemic situation has shown a change in trends and behaviours of consumers.

They were more active on the internet, prefer contactless online purchases, and cashless payments, she said.

In this context, the company had both strived to maintain production and business activities, while actively contributing to social-community work, joining hands to fight the pandemic, she added.

However, businesses still needed the support of associations and state management agencies in promoting communication activities and products on the internet; organising online fairs and exhibitions connecting businesses and consumers to shop on the internet. — VNS