VietNamNet
Bridge – Amid the strong development of
convenience stores, traditional markets have been dieing slowly, while small
merchants have lost their bread earner.
Traditional
markets have become quiet over the last 2-3 years with the dramatic fall of the
purchasing power. The economic crisis has forced people to fasten their belt,
while they would go to convenience stores to buy essential things instead of
traditional markets.
At 9 am
on Sunday May 20, the Phu Lam Market in district 6 was still quiet with just a
few visitors. Dang Ngoc Trang, the owner of a cosmetics kiosk was seen reading
the newspaper.
“The
sales have been going very slowly. I cannot earn 100,000 dong a day,” Trang
said. “Consumers have left the market. We now only serve loyal customers and
non-resident visitors.
The
merchants at the market said they may have to give up business here, because
they have been taking loss for a long time. They do not think they can re-lease
the kiosks, because no one would make profits in such circumstances. Some
merchants closed their kiosks last month just after 1-2 months of doing
business, because they had not had many experiences before becoming merchants
and they did not have loyal clients.
The
same situation can be seen at Pham Van Hai Market in Tan Binh district and
Hoang Hoa Tham Market. Fresh food kiosks were seen deserted as merchants have
left the market after seeing the purchasing power dropping by 30-35 percent.
Ung Thi
Lien, sweets wholesaler at Binh Tay Market in district 6, complained that the
business performance gets worse year after year. The daily sales are less than
1 million dong. She said she has been incurring losses since the beginning of
the year, while she still cannot get payment for the goods sold before Tet. As
the retailers complained the sales were slow, they did not have money to pay
Lien.
While
it is getting more and more difficult to do business, tax and fee of all kinds
have been increasing sharply, and it is nearly impossible to borrow money firm
banks, thus putting a harder pressure on merchants. Some of them have halted
their business to avoid the tax and fee.
Giving strength to traditional markets
According
to the HCM City Department of Industry and Trade, the purchasing power has
dropped by 10 percent since the beginning of the year. Meanwhile, the
purchasing power at supermarkets has reportedly increased by 10-20 percent.
Traditional
markets have been pushed into a dilemma: they cannot compete with “pavement
markets” in terms of prices, and cannot compete with supermarkets in terms of
sale promotion campaigns and the convenient services.
In the
past, consumers preferred going to traditional markets, where they believed
they could buy fresh food. However, they have changed their mind. High income
earners would go to supermarkets to buy frozen food, while low income earners
prefer going to convenience stores to hunt for sale-off products.
Meanwhile,
traditional markets have shown too many problems. With the loosened management,
consumers are not sure about the quality of the food they buy. Counterfeit,
imitation goods and low quality products have still been available at the
markets.
Since
most of the traditional markets were built a long time ago, they have been
seriously degrading, thus causing inconvenience to visitors.
Deputy
Director of the HCM City Department of Industry and Trade Le Ngoc Dao has
informed that the city’s localities are considering restructure the market
system to modernize the distribution channel.
Source:
NLD
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