Consumers take advantage of buying discounted goods
In recent days, the fresh food, vegetable, and fruit area at GO! supermarket on To Hien Thanh street (HCMC) is crowded with customers. Many people compare prices, prioritizing promotional items to save spending.
At the fruit counter, many items priced below 50,000 VND/kg attract consumers such as avocado 19,000 VND/kg, VietGAP ice mango 25,000 VND/kg. Some vegetables such as pumpkin and napa cabbage are also sold at prices of 14,000 VND/kg and 16,000 VND/kg respectively.
Ms. Le Diem Trinh (resident of Dien Hong ward) said that price reductions help consumers have more choices in the context of still having to balance spending.
Some items are discounted such as VietGAP pork thigh priced at 109,000 VND/kg, frozen pork leg priced at 65,000 VND/kg, pork tenderloin priced at 19,000 VND/kg or frozen shoulder ribs priced at 65,000 VND/kg.
Through records, the supermarket also implements promotional programs, points accumulation and activities for customers until July 15.
Towards a transparent supply chain, reasonable selling price
Mr. Dinh Trong Cuong - Deputy Head of the Trade Management Department, Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade - said that the city is supporting businesses and production households to promote trade, connect supply and demand, apply digital platforms and green transformation to bring green products to consumers at reasonable prices.
The city will continue to promote connections between manufacturers, cooperatives and distribution systems; promote e-commerce and digital technology applications to form transparent supply chains, reduce intermediaries, thereby optimizing the cost of goods circulation. In parallel, retail systems are also encouraged to prioritize display spaces for green products, organize promotional programs and stimulate consumer demand.
However, the discount programs of the retail system are mainly for stimulating demand at each time.
From an expert's perspective, Mr. Pham Viet Thuan - Director of the Institute of Economics, Natural Resources and Environment of Ho Chi Minh City - said that although gasoline and oil prices have continuously decreased in recent times, selling prices at many eateries, food stores and services are still almost unchanged. This is a fairly common phenomenon in the market.
According to Mr. Thuan, in addition to the "price-fixing" mentality of some businesses, Vietnam currently does not have a price management mechanism based on actual costs.
Mr. Thuan proposed to study a mechanism requiring business households and enterprises to register cost and profit norms so that management agencies have a basis to monitor the price formation process. For example, for pork, if the price of live pigs is about 62,000 VND/kg, after adding transportation, slaughtering, preservation and distribution costs, the cost may be over 82,000 VND/kg. Meanwhile, the retail price on the market in some places is up to about 160,000 VND/kg.
According to Mr. Thuan, the registration of cost norms is not for the purpose of tax calculation but to make the price formation process transparent, helping management agencies have a basis to assess reasonable profit levels, limiting the situation of "price fixing" when input factors have decreased, thereby contributing to protecting consumer rights...
