Under a big promotion sale launched at Big C supermarket, customers will get free a compact disc player, a hi-fi stereo or a coupon valued at between VND300,000-1,000,000 if they buy any Samsung, Panasonic, Sony and Philip TV set.

Vincom Trade Centre in Hanoi offered a 25-percent discount for many electronic products. A staff at the centre said the purchasing power of TVs is increasing dramatically among the population. Among the best-sellers are TVs of 29 inch or beyond.

Electronic showrooms also launched a massive promotion sale by offering discounts, free valuable gifts and draws for awards.

Personal belongings such as clothes, shoes, handbags and key hooks with World Cup images imported from the Republic of Korea, Thailand and China are among the best sellers these days. Although these belongings are costly, ranging from several hundreds to millions of Vietnamese dong, they are much sought after by young people.

In addition, newspapers published special columns or supplements, while other media agencies such as TVs and radios spent a considerable amount of time covering the World Cup. Notably, communications companies joined hands with TV and radio stations to launch hundreds of profitable games, including an SMS service through mobile phones. All these games offer valuable prizes such as mobile phones, motorcycles and cars, or cash prizes worth from seven hundreds of million to billions of Vietnamese Dong. With simple rules, the games have attracted a great deal of mobile phone holders.

According to the Vietnam Post and Telecommunication Corporation, more than 10 million SMS messages have been sent to operators during the past week and of course mobile phone service providers have made huge profits.    

Public places, restaurants, hotels and coffee bars also offered services to cater to football fans’ taste. In their marketing campaigns, top-notch hotels such as Melia, Hilton and Metropol said all rooms are equipped with TVs connected to cable TV or using digital terrestrial broadcasting technology, which provides better picture and sound quality. In addition, hotel services have also been renewed to serve guests during the month-long football tourney.

Meanwhile, owners of coffee bars around Ho Tay (West Lake), Ngoc Khanh and Thien Quang lakes also spent a huge amount of money refurbishing their bars and launched promotion campaigns to lure customers.