Online Friday 2018, which will be held on December 7, is expected to see sales of VND1.5 trillion (US$64 million) from two million orders, event organiser Viet Nam E-commerce and Digital Economy Agency (IDEA) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade said.

Speaking at a press conference held in Ha Noi on Wednesday, the agency said there would be 5,000 products with promotional prices in the fifth year of the event.

Around 3,000 businesses registered to join the programme. The event will continue to accept payments through QR code and POS systems. The technical system was prepared to handle five million visitors and 150,000 interactions at the same time.

Dang Hoang Hai, IDEA’s director, said they would organise an event to provide digital technologies and e-commerce experiences to customers on walking street around Hoan Kiem Lake from November 30 to December 9.

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

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

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

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

Moreover, 20 banks will join in cash-back programmes to help customers use card payments.

Online Friday 2018 was organised and implemented following the Government’s Decree 81/2018/ND-CP detailing the commercial law regarding trade promotion activities.

The maximum value of goods and services used for sale promotion and the maximum discount rate for promoted goods and services are extended to 100 per cent in concentration promotion. For this reason, Online Friday will have products sold at zero dong or with prices reduced by 90 per cent.

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