Online trading of goods in Lunar New Year

	Do not take away your benefits when buying online
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Online buying is expected to increase during the Lunar New Year.

Focus on online market

Online selling is being performed by many companies during the Lunar New Year because the shopping habits of consumers have changed amidthe Covid-19 pandemic.

Nguyen Anh Duc, General Director of Saigon Co-op, said the unit has finished preparing a large amount of essential goods three months before, during and after the Lunar New Year with the total value of VND 5,000 billion, an increase of nearly 20% year-on-year. Of which, it focuses on nine main commodity groups to stabilise the market, including rice, cooking oil andmeat.

At the same time, Saigon Co-op system will increase staff numbers by 25% for each store at the end of year period. The number of staff for big stores may jumpto dozens of people, ensuring the need for door to door delivery. In addition, Saigon Co-op also workswith Grab and now each store will has its own phone number to help organisations and individuals to place orders and avoid delaysinpeak periods.

A representative of BigC/GO said he worked with suppliers to provide sufficient food, in which an increase of 20% in pork supply and 25% in poultry meat supply year-on-year. In addition to receiving orders via phone and the website as before, in this Lunar New Year, BigC/GO isreceiving orders via Zalo and free delivery.

In particular, on e-commerce floors, sellers and brands have also strengthened the implementation of preferential activities, promoting shopping during this Lunar New Year. Arepresentative of Tiki said that to meet the diverse and highly increasing shopping needs during the Lunar New Year, the floor increased by at least 30% of the supply of consumer goods compared to the previous year, and focused on essential products such as dry food, drinks, nutritional products, milk andspices. Tiki has also workedwith partners to prepare goods for the Lunar New Year from three months ago, from production and import to designing and the production of new packaging bearing the atmospheres of the Lunar New Year.

Tran Tuan Anh, Managing Director of Shopee Vietnam said that, to prepare gods for the peak period of the Lunar New Year, Shopee Vietnam has improved features and services on itsplatform, upgraded the system of operation and logistics, and worked closely with partners to increase product supply and diversify industries, bringing the optimum and safe experiences for users in its ecosystem.

Prevent congestion in orders

Recognised from Lazada e-commerce floor, after the first six days of the Lunar New Year shopping programme on this floor since January 19, Lazada's genuine booth systemhas recorded an increase of more than three times of the number of customers, and more than fourtimes of orders. It is forecasted that the number of orders will continue to increase in the coming days, especially during the Tet season when shopping demand surges while the travel situation is limited to prevent the Covid-19 pandemic.

To prevent congestion in orders and delivery, many businesses have prepared warehouse systems, means of transportation for fast online delivery and given the highest priority for disease prevention, Dinh Liem Khiet, Logistics Manager of Shopee, said that Shopee has officially put into operation the warehouse to complete the third order at Tan Phu Trung Industrial Park, Cu Chi, HCM City. This is an area that is not prohibited from trucks during rush hour, meeting delivery 24/7. This warehouse location is also very convenient to transport goods to central provinces and the Mekong Delta. Shopee is working closely with sellers and delivery partners to launch a Lunar New Year delivery programme (from February 11 to February 16, 2021) to better serve shopping needs during the holidays.

Similarly, Giao Hang Nhanh Delivery has also added 1,000 post offices, extending the operation time at some key post offices and operating 24/7 so customers can send and receive goods at any time of day. This company has also launched its third automated sorting system in Hanoi with a sorting capacity of 30,000 orders per house and added 200 trucks, bringing of trucks to more than 1,000 trucks. During peak periods, Giao Hang Nhanh Delivery has leased an entire flight to shorten the north-south delivery time to two hours.

To deal with the congestion of delivery on Lunar New Year, from January 4, 2021, Sendo e-commerce floor has added a new carrier, SpeedEX, increasing the total number of Sendo shipping partners to 11. At the same time, to help sellers more proactively send urgent orders, from the end of December 2020, Sendo launched 11 more warehouses in HCM City and Hanoi, helping sellers to send goods conveniently and quickly.