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Home appliance retailers offering attractive discounts to clear inventory
Home appliance and computer supermarts are now trying to sell off inventory items to get back capital to import new consignments of products.
Though experts earlier this year forecast that purchasing power would be lower than last year, enterprises have tried to import a lot of products, hoping that purchasing power will improve in the high season. Moreover, they believed that the dollar price would keep increasing in value, and they tried to import as many products as possible before the dollar became overly expensive.
Nguyen Canh Hien, Head of Bach Khoa Computer Showroom, said that at the end of June, when the dollar price nearly hit the VND20,000/US$1 level, sources forecast that the dollar price would reach VND25,000/US$. The forecast prompted a lot of retailers to speculate products in the hope of selling them later when prices increased as a result of the dollar’s revaluation.
“We could not imagine that the dollar price would decrease one day. And we have been suffering big losses as we imported too many products,” the director of a home appliance centre complained.
Home appliance centres are now like cats on hot bricks as they still have several hundred billions of VND worth of products left unsold. As sales are going slowly, the profit cannot offset bank interest rates and the losses caused by the exchange rate fluctuations.
“We still do not have a plan on new imports. The most important task now is to sell the inventory products,” the head of a big computer shop in HCM City said.
Mobile phone retailers are now awaiting the policies on slashing sale prices from distributors and producers. “When the dollar price decreases, sales can go quickly only when the prices are slashed,” said Dinh Anh Huan, Deputy General Director of The Gioi Di Dong, one of the biggest mobile phone retailers in Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Nguyen Bach Diep of FPT Mobile said that in the current conditions, the company only strives to cover expenses, while it does not hope to get profit.
In order to sell inventory products, retail systems are offering attractive discounts. iDeas and Bach Khoa Computer have announced they are selling products at import prices. Thien Hoa, Nguyen Kim and Cho Lon have launched promotion programmes “purchase 1 and get 1 free” or “but two and get three”. Vien Thong A and The gioi di dong have announced ‘shocking discounts’ on several products.
Phan Linh Phuong, Deputy Marketing Director of Nguyen Kim Shopping Chain, said that it is now the low season of the year. However, sales have been going much more slowly than during last year’s low season. He said that retailers hope the situation will improve in August.
VNN
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