HCM City (VNA) - Manysupermarkets are launching attractive promotion programmes in the days ahead ofTet (Lunar New Year) to attract customers. Tet falls on February 16 this year.

In addition to cutting prices on more than5,000 essential items from January 11 to February 14, Co.opmart and Co.opXtrahave teamed up with suppliers for another programme under which they will cutprices of many kinds of fresh food by the maximum possible rates for seven daysstarting just before Tet.

They have also applied “Super discounts”and “Buy more, get more discounts” on the weekend and incentive programmes fortheir loyal customers such as offering high reward points.

Similarly, Korean retailer Lotte Mart alsolaunched three consecutive promotion programmes: The “Tet comes to Lotte Mart”programme takes place from January 24 to February 15, with discounts between5-49 percent on more than 1,200 products; “For a full Tet” from February 7 to15 with discounts on over 80 Tet-featured products; and “Starting a desiredspring” programme from February 13 to 21 with hundreds of products discountedbetween 5-49 percent.

Supermarket chain Big C is offering adiscount of up to 40 percent on 13 types of fruit. Imported fruits likeEgyptian oranges, Korean pears, French kiwis and South African grapes arepriced at 30,000-83,000 VND (1.32-3.64 USD) for a kilo until February 15.

Moreover, for the first time, French and USgreen and red apples will be sold at the same price of 29,900 VND a kilo.

In addition to this, Big C will launch two“unprecedented price shock” programmes applicable to its food and fresh goodsuntil New Year’s Eve on February 15.

According to insiders, the closer to Tet,retailers increasing apply promotion programmes to enhance competitiveness inattracting customers.

Market movements in the peak shopping daysfor Tet usually change quickly. Therefore, retailers need to keep a close eyeon up-to-date figures to identify changes for timely responses.

Wholesale markets

Goods transported to the city’s twowholesales markets have increased strongly to meet peak shopping demand for theNew Year from February 11 to 15.

Nguyen Van Huay, director of Thu DucWholesale Market Management and Trade Company, said goods volume entering themarket can reach up to 7,500 tonnes a day, an increase of 10 percent over lastyear’s Tet.

Vegetable volume at the market fluctuatesbetween 2,700 tonnes to 3,000 tonnes a day, while fruits are between4,300-4,500 tonnes a day.

At Hoc Mon wholesale market, the amount ofgoods entering the market from February 12 (four days ahead of Tet) may go upto 5,500 tonnes per day, up 100 percent compared to normal days.

According to traders at the two wholesalesmarkets, the supply of popular fruits for Tet such as grapefruits, mangos,tangerines and dragon fruits may be not much higher due to unfavourable weatherlast year.

About 150-170 tonnes of grapefruits and100-120 tonnes of mango are expected to enter Thu Duc Market a day on days nearTet, but their prices will rise sharply if there is a surge in demand.

Thu Duc Wholesale Market’s management boardforecasted that grapefruits can be priced at 60,000-65,000 VND per kilo forgreen skin grapefruit and 28,000-30,000 VND a kilo for Nam Roi grapefruit,while it is 130,000-150,000 VND for a kilo of Hoa Loc mango, 45,000-50,000 VND perkilo of sweet tangerine and 80,000-100,000 VND per kilo of custard-apple.

Nguyen Huynh Trang, deputy director of theHCM City Department of Industry and Trade, has asked the management boards ofthe two wholesale markets to keep track of markets and update supply-demand andpricing situations, in order to quickly report to the department and relevantagencies if there is a sudden fluctuation. - VNA