40 years of selling paper and pens, never as slow as this year

Purchasing power decreased by 50%

At 2 p.m., Mr. Ly Vi Hoa (50 years old), a merchant at Phung Hung Stationery Street (District 5), was still taking a lunch break because his store was empty. Mr. Hoa said that at this time in previous years, customers would have crowded his store. But this year, he could only rely on "regular customers" and occasional retail customers.

Phung Hung Stationery Street (HCMC) was established just over a month ago (Photo: Nguyen Vy).

His products are mainly for students' study or for sale to offices. But even during the months when students start school, revenue is still not as good as the same period in previous years.

Mr. Hoa’s family has been doing business on this street for over 40 years, since his parents’ generation. But this is the first time he has seen business so difficult.

Because this is the main source of income, when revenue decreases, Mr. Hoa and his family have to live very frugally, spending only on necessities.

However, because his family has been doing business here for a long time and does not have to pay rent, they are not struggling like some other businesses.

"Revenue has dropped by more than half. I don't understand why customers are ordering less. For example, they only order 5 grams of paper instead of 10 grams like before," said Mr. Hoa.

With revenue down, Mr. Hoa said his family's economy has also been affected a lot (Photo: Nguyen Vy).

According to Mr. Hoa, some big relationships such as companies that used to place orders have also "disappeared" due to bankruptcy or business model changes.

According to the General Statistics Office, in the first 11 months of 2023, the number of enterprises withdrawing from the market was 158,800, an increase of 20% over the same period last year.

Not far away, the owner of the Ngoi Sao Viet store on Phung Hung Street also confided that her store's profits this year have decreased by 20-30% compared to last year. Although she has retained her regular customers, her profits are still not as good as previous years.

The owner said the reason could be due to other costs such as increased transportation and maintenance. In addition, customers are also tightening their spending, so they limit buying large quantities at her store.

The stationery store owner said she looks forward to next year, when the economy will be more stable (Photo: Nguyen Vy).

Employees at Thanh Cong stationery store said that declining revenue is a common difficulty for most small businesses on Stationery Street.

"This has been happening since the beginning of 2023, when more and more people became unemployed, so they also limited their spending. Customers are mainly transient customers, regular wholesale customers also buy in small quantities. Luckily, we still keep our customers in the province," said the female employee.

Hope next year

Along Phung Hung Street, there are dozens of stationery stores located close together. Whenever anyone passes by, the vendors try their best to invite them to buy, with the promise of "discounted" prices to attract customers.

However, reporters noted that only a few stores were busy preparing goods for delivery to customers. The rest of the vendors were just sitting around "waiting" sadly.

A few stores have a large number of customers, while many stores only have a few people stopping by (Photo: Nguyen Vy).

Previously, on November 11, the People's Committee of Ward 14 (District 5) held a ceremony to launch Phung Hung Stationery Street. Since the establishment of the street, the owner of Hoang Trieu store said that the store has become more known.

"Although the number is not significant, there are still some new customers. Now we just hope that next year, people will have jobs again, companies will recover so that our business will be better," the owner shared.

Currently, Ho Chi Minh City has more than 2,780 enterprises operating in this field.

According to Vietdata 's 2023 Vietnam stationery market report, the size of the Vietnam stationery market is estimated to reach 195.35 million USD by 2022.

It is expected that the stationery sector will "bounce back" in the coming years (Photo: Nguyen Vy).

During the period from 2023 to 2029, the size of the Vietnam stationery and supplies market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.37%, reaching a value of USD 316.41 million by 2029. This growth is supported by the increase in the number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) along with the development of infrastructure in Vietnam.

According to actual data, Vinh Tien brand recorded an 11% increase in revenue in 2022 compared to 2021. However, compared to 2020 and 2021, after-tax profit in 2022 decreased by 150% to negative profit, a loss of nearly 400 million VND.

Campus brand also recorded a 7.5% decrease in revenue in 2022; profit after tax decreased sharply by 52% in 2022 compared to 2021. Besides, some other brands such as Deli and Hong Ha also recorded a decrease in revenue and profit.

With the Thien Long brand, revenue tends to change continuously in the period 2020 - 2022. In 2021, revenue decreased by 16 billion VND compared to 2020. This figure increased by 32% in 2022. In terms of profit after tax, in 2022 it increased by 45% compared to 2021.

In addition, brands such as Plus, Hai Tien, and Tan Thuan Tien also recorded a slight increase in revenue compared to 2020 and 2021.

Source link: https://dantri.com.vn/lao-dong-viec-lam/40-nam-ban-giay-but-chua-khi-nao-e-nhu-nam-nay-20231214100623822.htm