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Special sales pitch falls flat
Ho Chi Minh City has failed in emulating cities in neighboring countries with bargain offers to attract tourists on shopping expeditions.
A month-long sales promotion campaign launched by the city to attract more tourists during a dull season ended this Tuesday with nothing to show for it, said both organizers and participants.
Tran Vinh Nhung, deputy director of the HCMC Department of Industry and Trade, had said before the event started that one of the main goals was to draw more tourists in, but information about the campaign was only released in Vietnamese domestically.
The annual event, organized by the city administration and Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, was held through September.
This year’s promotion offered an estimated US$733,600 in savings with around 200 business locations offering different sales promotions ranging from free gifts and lottery draws to discounts of five to 50 percent off regular prices.
Nguyen Thi Anh Hong, director of the Maximark supermarket chain, said advertisements on the promotion were not interesting enough and the event had not helped increase sales remarkably, especially from foreigners.
Instead, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia are pulling in Vietnamese consumers every year, she added.
The supermarket’s sales jumped by around 30 percent last month, an increase that accrues when the chain launches promotions on its own, Hong said.
Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai, media executive of Fiditourist Company, said the promotion month was not effective in reaching foreign customers.
Mai said her company didn’t dare to organize tours to the sale hotspots because it wasn’t sure whether the goods on promotion were of good quality and of interest to foreigners.
Food and consumer products, which recorded the biggest sales in the season, could only attract locals. On the other hand, clothes stores on Le Thanh Ton and Dong Khoi streets, or at the Ben Thanh night market which targets foreigners, launched no special offer.
September is a low season for tourism in Vietnam, with the number of tourists dropping sharply compared to previous months. This year for example, the country received about 315,000 tourists in September, down 8 percent from August.
Nguyen Van Lang, deputy director of the Exotissimo travel agency, said business often stands still in September and is not a good time to attract foreigners.
The promotion should be set at a more suitable time, and plugged effectively with creative advertising and improved product quality, Lang felt.
Trieu Thi Huong Giang, deputy director of HCMC Zen Plaza, said food and home appliances can be on sale in September, but clothes and cosmetics should be promoted when the number of foreign tourists is high or during festival seasons.
“It’s difficult to sell different kinds of products together,” she said. Nguyen Thi Khanh of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism said the department is polling city businesses to come up with a more suitable time to have the special campaign.
Thanhnien
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