According to the Department of Industry and Trade of Ho Chi Minh City, the city's trade and service activities are on the path of rapid recovery and growth again after the COVID-19 epidemic continued to be well controlled in the city.
At the same time, people returning to Ho Chi Minh City to work and adapting to the new epidemic situation has contributed to improving purchasing power in the market.
Retail sales of goods and services increased
Statistics show that total retail sales of goods and consumer service revenue in March 2022 in Ho Chi Minh City reached VND 92,690 billion, an increase of VND 8.41 trillion compared to the previous month and an increase of VND 31 trillion compared to the same period last year.
In addition, Ho Chi Minh City's tourism industry has seen many positive changes after reopening international tourism on March 15, with tourism revenue in the area this month increasing by 3.11% compared to the previous month and 1.41% compared to the same period in 2021.
Total retail sales of goods and consumer service revenue in the first quarter of 2022 in Ho Chi Minh City reached VND 266,942 billion, down 4.81% over the same period last year.
However, the decrease was mainly concentrated in the service industry group due to the reopening roadmap after the COVID-19 pandemic taking place in the first months of 2022 such as karaoke services, dance clubs, massage, tourism...
In addition, due to a number of reasons such as changes in income and consumption habits of the people, purchasing power has not reached expectations. Accordingly, it is forecasted that the revenue from trade and services in the next quarter of Ho Chi Minh City will achieve positive growth when business activities in the area and people's consumption tend to increase again as at present.
Assessing the city's trade and service activities, a representative of the Department of Industry and Trade of Ho Chi Minh City said that in the first quarter of 2022, the city's stimulus and price stabilization programs as well as business units are still being maintained effectively, with no shortages or shortages of goods before, during and after the Lunar New Year 2022. In particular, in March 2022, the revenue of almost all product groups increased compared to the previous month.
Among them, we can mention the product groups with strong growth rates such as automobile revenue of all kinds increased by 26.7% due to business units promoting 16 incentive policies to attract consumers.
Or the wood and construction materials industry increased by 25.1%, besides the reason due to high market demand, many projects started right after the Lunar New Year 2022 and after a temporary break due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic.
Forecasting that the COVID-19 epidemic will continue to have a major impact on the domestic and international socio-economy in the coming time, some experts believe that the Vietnamese retail market will continue to attract the penetration of many foreign retail corporations.
Furthermore, the shift in Vietnam's retail structure from traditional to modern trade is taking place profoundly, capital investment, mergers and acquisitions between domestic and foreign retailers will take place continuously, changing the structure and situation of the retail industry.
Vietnam's e-commerce market is also forecast by experts to have many breakthroughs and continue to maintain a high growth rate thanks to outstanding improvements, especially under the pressure of digital transformation from the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition, consumer psychology and trends are changing; responsibility to the community and environmental protection are becoming trends of the times, creating momentum for sustainable development and building customer trust.
Online shopping service strategy
As more and more consumers change their shopping behavior from offline to online, the express delivery industry is also one of the industries that is expected to have many positive developments entering 2022 and contribute to promoting the retail market, increasing purchasing power in the market.
Forecasting market trends in the near future, experts point out that e-commerce will continue to develop and promote the transformation of logistics models from traditional to modern, including express delivery.
The report of the Vietnam Logistics Services Association (VLA) also identified digital transformation, innovation and creativity as one of the solutions to help express delivery businesses take advantage of opportunities and continue to affirm their role in the economy. Therefore, many express delivery businesses are constantly investing in system development and improving transportation capacity.
Typically, the J&T Express brand - Express delivery not only owns an infrastructure of 1,900 post offices and pick-up points across 63 provinces and cities, but also applies modern and automated technologies to its operations. J&T Express has become a partner of many e-commerce platforms, along with thousands of online businesses in Vietnam.
Currently, J&T Express is investing in the construction of its 37th transit center, which is expected to be operational this year. This center will apply modern technologies such as smart sorting systems and automatic processing.
Thanks to that, more than 2 million large and small packages of all kinds will be processed every day with high accuracy and fast time. The delivery journey is digitized and continuously updated, easy to track on both the website and the application. This helps customers, partners and shippers to interact directly and handle orders effectively and quickly.
From the perspective of a retailer, Mr. Nguyen Anh Duc, General Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Union of Trading Cooperatives (Saigon Co.op) said that at the Conference "Summary of production and business activities in 2021 and Operational orientation in 2022," the Board of Directors of Saigon Co.op focused resources on internal innovation in all operational activities. At the same time, this is considered an important goal to create a foundation for acceleration in 2022 and the following years of Saigon Co.op.
To achieve the above goal, Saigon Co.op implements a strategy to develop a network of supermarket, hypermarket, and shopping mall models, etc. based on careful consideration of opening time and investment efficiency; at the same time, resolutely closes or converts ineffective sales points in all models.
Regarding the key tasks in production and business in 2022, Saigon Co.op focuses on digitalization and computerization; streamlining and rectifying warehouse and logistics activities; developing e-commerce...
Sharing the same view, Mr. Phan Minh Thong, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Phuc Sinh Group, said that through experience in business management and operation, investing in an information technology team to connect technology with internal human resources to serve management is the top priority of businesses today; including retail and import-export businesses.
In particular, production and business units in the food industry, essential consumer goods, etc. cannot leave the market during epidemics or wars, so businesses need to have a modern management platform and scale, meeting the requirements of flexibility in volatile market conditions.
