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Promo everywhere as back to school season opens
With the 2008-2009 academic year beginning earlier than usual, the market for all kinds of study material has been buzzing since last month.
Most of the companies trading in electronic products, stationery and all kinds of study material and equipment have launched varied promotion campaigns targeting students, teachers and parents.
The early bird in the market for this academic season could be the Phuong Nam Corporation. From 1/7 to 31/8, all retail shops of Phuong Nam over the country had run the “Go to school with Phuong Nam” campaign. When customers purchase anything for VND50.000 and above, they enter a lottery for many interesting prizes including: electric bicycles, Casio calculators, and scholarships for studying English at the Apollo Institute. Textbooks and reference books are being offered at discounts of 10% - 30%.
Big supermarkets like Big C and Co.op Mart are offering discounts on pens, erasers, boards, notebooks, schoolbags and other school accessories.
In Co.opMart, most school uniforms are discounted by VND 5.000 – 8.000 each; and schoolbags from 27.000 – 48.000 each. This year, backpacks are in great demand. Mr.Vui backpacks cost VND169.000 down from VND229.000. The Hami brand is priced at VND179.000 against the original tag of VND240.000 …
Tran Thi Kim Thao of Thu Duc district says: “My child is in the 2nd grade this year. Because his books are heavy, I have to buy him a backpack for comfort. If the supermarket doesn’t discount it, I would buy it anyway. But, of course, a promotion is better, I can save a little.”
At Big C, textbooks of 1st – 11th grades are discounted at 5% - 7%; Thien Long’ 20-pack pens are discounted by 30%; stationery by 39%; and 10 96-page notebooks cost VND22.900.
Most shops selling electronic stuff are also having promotion programs to attract students. They are selling PCs at VND 4 – 7 million each; and laptops from VND 7 – 12 million.
Intel Vietnam has a month-long (20 August to 20 September) campaign: customers buying PCs with CPUs of C2D E7200 or C2Q Q6600 and up to MB Intel, LCD LG 17 inches, RAM Kingmax and PS Arrow will get a nice sim card worth VND800.000 and lots of other prizes including: using ADSL free for a year, 32-inch LG TV, servers, and cell phones.
The Phong Vu Company has a “Be happy with Phong Vu this school year” program where the purchase of one laptop entitles the customer to a wireless mouse Genius for only 150.000 VND; for one translation machine, a voucher of 300.000 – 500.000 VND.
Direct marketing is top choice
Without using television or print advertisements, IT shops are attracting a large number of customers with leaflets, banners and signboards. Anh Tuan, student of the HCMC University of Natural Science, says: “Every year, around the second half of August, I begin hunting IT stuff to upgrade my PC. Since this period of time is the promotion season, I can not only buy goods at cheap prices, but also get lots of gifts”.
However, the promotion season also spawns a lot of spurious campaigns. Small, relatively unknown shops engage in the practice of increasing their tag prices and offering a discount; selling old stock, and goods of dubious quality. Market watchers say that all customers should consult people who have some expert knowledge about a particular item before buying it.
VNN
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