The Sales Promotion Month launched by the Department of Industry and Trade and the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism in HCM City received the strongest response from businesses yet.

Approximately 600 businesses, mostly involved in garments and textiles, food and drink, home utensils and tourism services, joined the event with 2,000 sales promotion sites, 35 percent more than last year.

Many types of promotions have been offered such as five to fifty percent discounts, lotteries and free services.

Importantly, 97 percent of products on sales during the promotion month are made locally.

Saigon Co.op supermarket launched a promotion called “Proud of Vietnamese Goods” at a total cost of VND 45 billion and attracted 400 domestic producers.

The number of businesses taking part in the programme rose by 150 percent compared to last year, and 1,500 products have been discounted 10-50 percent, 90 percent of which are high-quality Vietnamese goods.

Big C supermarkets’ six nine-month long promotions called “Vietnamese people use Vietnamese goods” have discounted nearly 100 essential domestic goods up to 50 percent, including clothes, home utensils, dried food and cosmetics.

Meanwhile, Vinatexmart supermarkets run by the Vietnam National Garment and Textile Group (Vinatex) have put more than 1,000 garments on sale with a discount of 10-50 percent plus gifts

Distributors for HCM City businesses such as Vissan, Phu An Sinh, Ba Huan, Huynh Gia Huynh De also joined this promotion month.

The Vissan Company spent VND6 billion on discount programmes and bringing goods to remote and mountainous areas during the Sales Promotion Month.

According to HCM City’s Department of Industry and Trade, sales of businesses taking part in the Sales Promotion Month have increased 10-15 percent compared to the same period last year, including CoopMart (up 30%), Vissan (up 23%), Thien Hoa (50%) and Fahasa (20%). The number of consumers also rose sharply.

As well as serving consumers in urban centres, businesses joining in the Sales Promotion Month also brought goods to people in suburban and rural areas. 150 mobile markets were set up in remote areas such as Hoc Mon, Cu Chi and Binh Chanh and many industrial parks and processing zones.

In particular, Saigon Co.op organised 30 trips to sell goods in 7 coastal districts and 4 industrial parks and processing zones at a cost of approximately VND5 billion.

Tran Vinh Nhung, deputy director of HCM City’s Department of Industry and Trade, said such mobile markets allow people in remote areas access to good quality, reasonably priced goods. However, in the long-term, fixed distribution channels should be established in those areas for practical benefits, he noted.

The Sales Promotion Month 2010 in HCM City produced good results, creating opportunities for the city’s people to buy high-quality goods at reasonable prices and a chance for distributors and businesses to advertise quality Vietnamese goods by putting them at the forefront.