Increase online sales

While the number of Covid-19 infections has increased rapidly in recent days, to limit the risk of spreading the disease, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ho Chi Minh City government have both called on people to limit their presence in crowded places and prioritize online shopping.

Customers reduce spending, increase online shopping

Since Tet, when the Covid-19 epidemic broke out, consumers have significantly reduced their spending on non-essential activities. Mr. Ho Duc Lam, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rang Dong Plastic Joint Stock Company, confirmed that business is very difficult because consumers only spend on healthcare, essential goods, and food. As for the company's plastic products, up to 30% have not been sold, both in wholesale and retail channels. "We have sold some final products on e-commerce platforms, but it is not very optimistic. In this situation, the company has to urge the sales department to proactively seek more customers and find export directions, just hoping to survive is good enough" - Mr. Lam is less optimistic.

Some fashion and coffee enterprises are also sad when their sales revenue in the domestic market has decreased by 70% - 80%. The general director of a jeans manufacturing company lamented that from an average revenue of 20 billion VND/month, in February, the total number of the company's stores in the country only earned about 4 billion VND. "Customers going to supermarkets and shopping malls have decreased significantly. People going to supermarkets only buy food, drinks, and necessary items, not fashion clothes" - this general director stated the reality and said that he and many other garment enterprises are worried that if the epidemic situation becomes more complicated, the difficulties will increase many times over.

“If the situation worsens, we will not only lack raw materials for production but also not be able to sell our products. Not to mention the trend of customers shopping online more, forcing us to expand our distribution channels and invest in online business if we do not want to be forgotten by customers,” the general director added. In fact, some garment and footwear companies have stepped up their online sales activities.

Meanwhile, Dien Quang Lamp Joint Stock Company is quite responsive in adapting to the changing trend of consumer shopping habits. All information on the website and online sales are described in great detail, including video instructions for customers to operate the products and a 24/7 customer care department. According to Ms. Mai Thi Huong, Head of Communications Department of Dien Quang Company, these changes have helped increase online sales revenue sharply, the company had to sign contracts to hire 2 more delivery units to deliver goods to customers on time. "Knowing that customers are reluctant to go to stores and shopping centers to see samples, we try to provide information and introduce products on e-shopping channels as much as possible. Thanks to that, the business segment is relatively stable, the production process is also smooth because we can proactively control input materials" - Ms. Huong revealed.

Marketing and selling on the internet

Recently, the Handicraft and Wood Association of Ho Chi Minh City (HAWA), the Binh Duong Wood Processing Association (BIFA) and the Dong Nai Wood and Handicraft Association (DOWA) signed a cooperation agreement with domestic and foreign technology enterprises to digitally transform and promote sales through e-commerce channels. In this agreement, the Vietnam E-commerce Association (VECOM) will support the cooperation of HAWA members with e-commerce platforms (such as Amazon, Wayfair, Shopify, etc.) or intermediaries selling on e-commerce platforms. Silversea Media Group (Singapore) will introduce technology solutions and promote the potential of the Vietnamese wood processing industry, boost exports to the world market and improve the domestic market with advanced technology solutions.

HAWA expects that the offline-to-online (O2O) business platform model that is about to be deployed will be a solid foundation to help businesses maintain and grow sustainably. According to HAWA, the demand for wooden furniture products in the market is still there, while the supply from China is being interrupted due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, major customers from the US, Europe, Australia, Japan... are looking for production markets outside of China, Vietnamese wooden furniture businesses need to quickly seize this opportunity. Recently, Nha Xinh Furniture and some other businesses under HAWA have tested the e-commerce model, combined with virtual reality to introduce products to customers. This application allows buyers to sit at the computer to see all the product models that the business displays, even visit the factory in 3D space and can directly interact with the products they are interested in. The product model will rotate 360 degrees so that customers can see every angle and parameter of the item they are interested in. "The good thing about this e-commerce platform is that customers can know information about designs, prices, and production capacity of Vietnamese enterprises" - HAWA representative said.

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Dung, Vice President of VECOM, said that VECOM will open a joint account on Amazon, everyone will post their products; technology companies will support image building, virtual reality... "We will study data on similar products being sold on Amazon to advise businesses which products are selling well, which products are likely to bring in large revenue so that on that basis, wood and handicraft businesses can have production orientations that suit market tastes. "Many wood fairs in the world have been canceled or postponed while Vietnamese wood businesses cannot offer and introduce new products/designs to international buyers. This is a challenge but also an opportunity to develop online marketing and sales internationally" - Mr. Dung said.

VECOM representative said that to reach this cooperation agreement, for the past 2 years, HAWA has been very active in coordinating with VECOMs to apply technology to production and business. If HAWA is unanimous and the cooperation brings good results, it will inspire Vietnamese enterprises in many other fields to boldly enter the online business market because enterprises in leather shoes, garments, handicrafts, food, etc. can all sell on the global online market.