Hanoi outlines plan for consumer demand stimulus program

Hanoi has decided to organize the 2024 Promotion Program to boost the city's economic growth, especially in the trade and services sector, according to Tran Thi Phuong Lan, Acting Director of the city's Department of Industry and Trade.

"As the country emerges from economic recession, Hanoi's promotion program is a practical and timely solution to stimulate consumption and help enterprises develop their production and business," Lan said.

She added that the new feature of the program is the development of diverse and intelligent types of businesses that are suitable for the development of e-commerce, contribute to price stabilization and market stability, curb inflation and ensure social security.

Foreign businesses and organizations visit AgroViet 2023 held in Hanoi. Photo: Nguyen Minh/The Hanoi Times

"The event will embrace innovation in content and form, aiming to diversify promotion strategies and make it easier for consumers to access companies' incentive programs. It will also influence consumer demand and forge connections between consumers and manufacturers, enabling businesses to meet people's needs and explore potential partnerships," Lan emphasized.

She noted that Hanoi’s promotion activities are often aimed at attracting thousands of enterprises involved in the production, trade and distribution of goods within the city and in dozens of provinces and cities nationwide, positively impacting the city's economy.

For many years, Hanoi has been organizing promotional programs with an increasing number of participating companies, strongly promoting the consumption of Vietnamese goods.

"In 2024, Hanoi's industry and trade sector aims to increase the total retail sales of goods and services by about 10-11%; the added value of the industrial sector will reach about 7-7.5%; the export turnover will increase by about 4-5%. To achieve the above target, stimulating domestic consumption remains one of the important solutions," Lan said.

The program is expected to attract 1,000 to 2,000 enterprises from all sectors of the economy nationwide, with activities planned for May, July, and November. The main contents include trade fairs, promotion days, "Promotion Month", "Hanoi Sleepless Night" and others.

Nguyen Anh Duong, Director of the Hanoi Center for Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion, said that promotional activities not only help balance supply and demand, but also help consumers buy goods at reasonable prices, confirming that the domestic market is one of the driving forces of economic growth.

"These professionally organized events are designed to help businesses promote and introduce their products, facilitate contacts, promote business cooperation, and boost economic growth. Thanks to promotional activities, businesses also have a greater sense of responsibility towards consumers and the domestic market," Duong told The Hanoi Times. 

Big C Thang Long supermarket in Hanoi's Cau Giay district has launched many attractive promotions to attract consumers. Photo: Hanoimoi

In 2023, Duong said Hanoi, as the country's economic powerhouse, actively spearheaded trade and investment promotion initiatives within the city and in various provinces nationwide. The goal was to involve thousands of enterprises in the production and trade sectors and encourage their participation in a concerted effort to stimulate domestic consumption, increase total retail sales, and stabilize the market.

"The program contributed to a 10.4% increase in total retail sales and service revenues in Hanoi last year, helping to curb the average inflation rate of 2.04%," Duong added.

Notable among the events were Hanoi Promotion Month 2023, Consumer and Agricultural Products Promotion Day, Fashion and Beauty Promotion Festival, Electronics and Technology Promotion Festival. They have become a "specialty" well received by consumers.

"Under difficult economic conditions, big promotional programs throughout the year are especially meaningful. Many discount promotions and abundant goods in supermarkets have supported and shared the spending burden with consumers," Le Thi Nhu, a resident of Nam Tu Liem District, told The Hanoi Times.

From a distribution perspective, Do Tue Tam, Deputy General Director of Hanoi Trading Corporation, said that participation in Hanoi's promotional program has become a key activity of the year for the company's BRG Mart/Hapromart supermarket system.

"We have worked with suppliers in advance to get the best price and source of goods. In addition to the supplier discount, the BRG Mart/Hapromart supermarket system also applies its own discount, which both helps consumers and creates a competitive advantage," Tam said.

According to Chu Xuan Kien, director of the Hanoi Market Management Department, in order to make Hanoi's promotion program truly meaningful to consumers, the city authorities will strengthen the inspection and verification of promotional sales businesses.

"The inspection content focuses on whether companies have registered for promotional programs and whether they have properly implemented the registration content, their origin and the quality of the goods participating in the promotional program, and whether the discount is real or a pricing trick?" Kien said.

He stressed that the promotion program can be a "golden" opportunity for people to shop, each consumer also needs to raise awareness of self-protection.

In order to protect consumer rights and create fair and healthy competition in the market, the authorities will make public channels to receive reports from people about acts and tricks that violate regulations on promotions and take advantage of consumer incentive policies to commit fraud, Kien added.