HCM City (VNS/VNA) ♛- Stores in Ho Chi Minh City have introduced a widerange of products for International Women’s Day (March 8) and are offeringpromotions to attract buyers.

Co-opmart and Co-op Xtra supermarkets are offering discounts of up to 50 percenton thousands of products, including skincare and hair care products andclothes, until March 11. They are also offering promotions on household utensils, fruits and vegetablesand other products. Big C is offering big discounts on skincare and hair care products, cosmetics,fashion products, and accessories under its “Big C Beauty Fair” programme fromFebruary 27 to March 18. Other supermarkets such as Lotte Mart and Emart have also cut prices onthousands of products. Jewellery companies like DOJI and Phu Nhuan Jewelry Joint Stock Company (PNJ)have introduced new collections and launched promotions. PNJ has launched a “Heart2Heart” jewellery line besides others such as Suncut,Disney and Aura silver. Besides promotions of up to 20 percent, PNJ also offers customers shopping fromFebruary 28 to March 8 the chance to win a Swiss watch in a lucky draw. It will gift customers shopping at its stores from March 6 to 8 a set ofthree-layer face mask to help prevent viral transmissions. Fashion and cosmetics shops on Nguyen Trai street, Hai Ba Trung street and NguyenDinh Chieu and Le Van Sy streets are decked out with promotion banners. But according to traders, sales of popular gift items such as body care andbeauty care products, clothes and underwear are much lower than last year sinceschools are still closed due to the Covid-19 epidemic outbreak. An owner of a large cosmetics shop on Hai Ba Trung street said customersusually buy cosmetics such as shampoo, body wash and make-up items to gifttheir children’s teachers. “In past years sales of these products would usually increase significantlyaround a week before March 8. But this year, with the school closure, saleshave fallen by 60 percent.”

Online shopping up

Nguyen Thanh Dieu, owner of a clothes store on Le Van Sy street, said, “Due tovirus fears, customers have restricted shopping at stores, and so we havepromoted our products via phones and social network since last month duringValentine’s Day, with payments being made via bank accounts or on delivery.” Revenues from online sales are increasing, she said. Some e-commerce platforms said demand for cosmetic products started inching upat the end of February, with the average value per order being more than 500,000VND (21.5 USD). Skincare, make-up and body care products are among bestselling items, theysaid. With more shoppers choosing to shop online amid the threat of the novelcoronavirus, e-commerce platforms such as Lazada, Shopee, Sendo, and Tiki havelaunched a series of promotions to attract buyers ahead of InternationalWomen’s Day. Lazada is offering attractive discounts on millions of items, free delivery fororders of 99,000 VND or more in HCM City and Hanoi and valuable gifts frompremium brands. In addition to shops, retailers and e-commerce platforms and banks are alsooffering freebies to women customers. On March 6 and 7, all women customers making deposits at Sacombank transactionoffices will get an additional 0.05 percentage points higher interest ondeposits of six to 12 months, and 0.1 percentage point for above 12 months. From March 6 to 8 individual customers who make an interbank transfer of atleast 5 million VND (215 USD) on iBanking or mBanking will get a refund of 83,000VND./.