Tet goods: Businesses 'afraid' to increase prices

Confectionery companies are excited to recruit hundreds of workers with the goal of double-digit sales growth during this year's Tet holiday. Meanwhile, many retailers are worried about low purchasing power and are considering increasing promotions.

Many supermarkets choose to support capital for suppliers to keep vegetable prices stable during Tet. In the photo: a vegetable farm in Da Lat - Photo: NGUYEN TRI

"Consumption is good this year, sales could increase by double digits compared to 2023," Christian Leitzinger, deputy general director of Pham Nguyen confectionery, told Tuoi Tre.

Exciting from the confectionery sector

With three factories in three provinces and more than 1,300 full-time employees, Pham Nguyen sees positive market signals, with retail outlets boldly placing orders, Christian said. The company will hire about 250 seasonal workers for peak production and sales periods.

The confectionery market is very competitive, with a variety of imported products. However, Mr. Christian said that consumer Domestic customers will prioritize choosing branded products as gifts and for home use.

There are only about two and a half months left until Lunar New Year 2025. More than a month ago, Bibica Company launched confectionery products for the Tet season.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hoang, general director of Bibica, said that the total output of Bibica confectionery products brought to the market this year is more than 5,000 tons of all kinds, of which gift products alone are about 6 million boxes.

"This year, we plan to have 15-20% higher sales than last year. The current situation is relatively better than last year. Points of sale are boldly importing goods. The market is growing evenly in all three regions," said Mr. Hoang, sharing his plan to recruit 300-400 seasonal workers.

Many other confectionery businesses are also focusing their resources on three phases. The first is from now until mid-November 2024, when they will focus on bringing goods to points of sale, ensuring that products are placed in convenient locations.

Phase two will take place from November 16 to Christmas. At this time, it is mainly companies and organizations that buy gifts for partners and employees. The peak period will take place after Christmas until Tet.

Take advantage of regional agricultural products

Not only expecting the purchasing power in the domestic consumption market to improve, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hoang also said that this year Bibica recorded positive export sales to Korea, Japan, and even the "confectionery kingdom" of Thailand.

"Bibica has achieved export efficiency by linking confectionery products with typical Vietnamese agricultural products such as coconut, durian, coffee...", said Mr. Hoang.

This person assessed that in developed countries, confectionery production is not an industry with attractive profit margins for new investment. This is an opportunity for agricultural countries and deep processing capabilities with some product lines like Vietnam.

Sharing the same view, Mr. Pham Ngoc Anh Tung, CEO of FoodMap, said that consumer demand for domestic agricultural specialties has increased in the past two years.

The reason comes from the increasingly better product quality and convenient transportation. Therefore, FoodMap's sales target this year will be 30 - 40% higher than last year.

FoodMap representatives also said they will include about 100 types of products in this year's Tet gift list (especially tea - nuts - fruit jams), with about 98% of the items being domestic products.

Increase price and buyers will turn away

Representatives of many retailers such as Bach Hoa Xanh, MM Mega Market, Co.opmart, Lotte Mart... affirmed that with the commitment from suppliers, the source of goods for the year-end and Tet peak season will not be lacking, including calculating long-term promotions for meat, eggs, vegetables...

"The purchasing power during Tet this year may not be too strong, even decreasing compared to previous years. Therefore, the calculation "Price stabilization and increased promotions for essential products are necessary to stimulate purchasing power," said a representative of Bach Hoa Xanh.

On November 16, Mr. Vo Tran Ngoc, sales director of Saigon Co.op, said that according to plan, the amount of goods served during the end of this year could increase by about 30-40% compared to normal, an increase of nearly 10% compared to last year's Tet.

According to Mr. Ngoc, regarding selling prices, the unit aims to maintain stable prices and even increase promotions. "The peak period in the 59 days before Tet will sharply increase the amount of imported and stored goods.

We have worked with suppliers and most of them support maintaining stable prices. For vegetables alone, the unit has signed contracts and provided capital support to seven major suppliers, so key items such as carrots, tomatoes, cabbage, bitter melon, cucumbers... are expected to have prices 10-15% better than the market price," Mr. Ngoc affirmed.

A representative of another business said that there may still be items that increase in price at the end of the year due to the impact of input prices such as cooking oil; sugar; rice products such as vermicelli, noodles, dried pho...

"However, if there is a price increase, it needs to be calculated harmoniously. If there is a sharp increase, it will easily lead to consumers turning away," he said.

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