Holiday leaves retailers brokenhearted

While
the number of orders for Valentine’s Day products and services in Viet Nam increased
this year, their values didn’t compare to those of last year due to a slower
economy, Thoi bao Kinh te Saigon
reported Tuesday.

The
news website quoted Nguyen Thi Thuy Vu, managing director of Fresh Flower World
Joint-Stock Co., as saying that this year the number of orders for Valentine’s
Day at her company increased by 25 percent year on year, but their values were
not as high as last year.

In
fact, the orders were worth between $28 and $48 each on average, which was
almost the same as last year, Vu said

“Being
equal means that it has decreased because everything, from raw materials’ to
workers’ costs, has all increased,” she explained.

Vu
added that this year orders have been much smaller.

Vo
Tran Anh Thy, marketing manager of Kinh Do Viet Nam Co., which owns well-known
Kinh Do Bakery chain stores, agreed.

This
year consumers tightened their belts, and small cakes, or anything on discount,
sold far better than large expensive cakes.

Ngoc
Anh, who runs a gift shop in District 3, Sai Gon, told the news website she was
selling fewer Valentine-specific gifts this year.

While
teenagers were still willing to buy gifts, the number of customers who were
university students and white-collar buyers decreased remarkably, she said.

“We
did not order many products from suppliers for fear that they would not sell
well,” the shop owner said.

Anh
was not the only seller who was reserved in response to the slow market.

According
to the news website, Fresh Flower World Co. said it was offering more simple
and inexpensive products this year than last year.

Kinh
Do Bakery stores also pushed cupcakes costing 90 cents each as a way to target
teenagers, it said.