Domestic consumer purchasing power increased slowly, mainly food.

On the afternoon of August 13, in Ho Chi Minh City, the Domestic Market Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) held a working session with a number of industry associations and businesses in the Southern region to discuss the project "Stimulating domestic consumption and promoting domestic trade".

At the meeting, representatives of many retail businesses and industry associations shared the same opinion that the purchasing power in the domestic market has tended to slow down in 2023 and has continued to this point. Production and business activities of enterprises as well as people's incomes have been affected, leading to a decrease in social consumption demand.

A representative of Central Retail Group in Vietnam said: People's consumption habits have changed. Previously, people went to supermarkets regularly, but now they do not. People's shopping baskets also have more value, focusing on food and food products. To stimulate consumption, the group has launched promotional programs such as 10% discount on fresh food in the early morning for customers. Soft prices attract more customers.

Mr. Ha Ngoc Son, Deputy General Director of Saigon Trading Group (SATRA) said: Purchasing power in the first 6 months of the year decreased, the purchasing group mainly concentrated on food and foodstuffs. Fashion and other industries also decreased.

To promote domestic trade, Mr. Son suggested some solutions such as: Implementing the city's centralized promotion program needs to shorten the time, instead, it needs to be done synchronously, effectively, creating a wider promotional campaign. Provinces need to support small-scale manufacturers, OCOP product manufacturers, cooperatives... so that they can closely link together, forming a supply hub for goods so that distribution and retail units can easily access and introduce quality products to consumers.

Similarly, a representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Union of Trading Cooperatives (Saigon Co.op) also said: Saigon Co.op has implemented many promotional programs, focusing on essential goods and fresh food. Currently, businesses in the No-food industry are cautiously producing because they are afraid that their products will not be popular, and they are afraid that there will be no output due to reduced purchasing power.

According to the draft project "Stimulating domestic consumption, promoting domestic trade" (drafted by the Ministry of Industry and Trade), in the first 6 months of 2024, total retail sales and services reached VND 3,098,692 billion, up 8.6% over the same period last year. In the structure of total retail sales, the groups of goods that contributed greatly to the overall increase were food, foodstuffs, cultural products, education, etc. However, this growth rate is lower than the target set by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in 2024 and much lower than the target in the domestic trade strategy.

Faced with the above situation, a number of industry associations and businesses in the Southern region have sought adaptive solutions such as: promotions by time frame, by customer segment; increasing the amount of organic food products, increasing health products; reducing prices to clear inventory; price stabilization sales programs; Tet product programs...

Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Phan Van Chinh, Director of the Domestic Market Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade), said: This is a meeting for the Ministry to grasp the general situation, industry associations and businesses to have the opportunity to analyze trends, as well as share difficulties and problems and propose solutions to promote domestic consumption, promote domestic trade, and support economic growth in the coming time.