Confectionery companies are excited to recruit hundreds of workers with the goal of double-digit sales growth during this year’s Tet holiday. Meanwhile, many retailers are worried about low purchasing power and are considering increasing promotions.
"Consumption this year is good, sales could increase by double digits compared to 2023," Mr. Christian Leitzinger, deputy general director of Pham Nguyen confectionery, told Tuoi Tre.
Exciting from the confectionery sector
With three factories in three provinces and more than 1,300 full-time employees, Mr. Christian said Pham Nguyen assessed that the market is showing positive signs, with retail outlets boldly placing orders. The company will recruit about 250 seasonal workers for peak production and sales periods.
The confectionery market is very competitive, with a variety of imported products. However, Mr. Christian said that consumers Domestic customers will prioritize choosing branded products as gifts and for home use.
There are only about two and a half months left until Lunar New Year 2025. More than a month ago, Bibica Company launched confectionery products for the Tet season.
Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hoang, general director of Bibica, said that the total output of Bibica confectionery products brought to the market this year is more than 5,000 tons of all kinds, of which gift products alone are about 6 million boxes.
"This year, we plan to have 15-20% higher sales than last year. The current situation is relatively better than last year. Points of sale are boldly importing goods. The market is growing evenly in all three regions," Mr. Hoang said, sharing his plan to recruit 300-400 seasonal workers.
Many other confectionery companies are also focusing their resources on three phases. The first is from now until mid-November 2024, when they will focus on bringing goods to points of sale, ensuring that the products are placed in convenient locations.
Phase two will take place from November 16 to Christmas. This is mainly when companies and organizations buy gifts for partners and employees. The peak period will take place after Christmas until Tet.
Take advantage of regional agricultural products
Not only expecting the purchasing power in the domestic market to improve, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hoang also said that this year Bibica recorded positive export sales to Korea, Japan, and even the "confectionery kingdom" of Thailand.
"Bibica has achieved export efficiency by linking confectionery products with typical Vietnamese agricultural products such as coconut, durian, coffee...", Mr. Hoang said.
This person assessed that in developed countries, confectionery production is not an industry with attractive profit margins for new investment. This is an opportunity for agricultural countries and deep processing capabilities with some product lines like Vietnam.
Sharing the same view, Mr. Pham Ngoc Anh Tung, CEO of FoodMap, said that consumer demand for domestic agricultural specialties has increased in the past two years.
The reason comes from the increasingly better product quality and convenient transportation. Therefore, FoodMap's sales target this year will be 30 - 40% higher than last year.
FoodMap representatives also said they will include about 100 types of products in this year's Tet gift list (especially tea - nuts - fruit jam), with about 98% of the items being domestic products.
Increase prices and buyers will turn away
Representatives of many retailers such as Bach Hoa Xanh, MM Mega Market, Co.opmart, Lotte Mart... affirmed that with the commitment from suppliers, the supply of goods for the end of the year and the peak Tet holiday will not be lacking, including calculating long-term promotions for meat, eggs, vegetables...
"The purchasing power during Tet this year may not be too strong, even lower than previous years. Therefore, the calculation "Stabilizing prices and increasing promotions for essential products are necessary to stimulate purchasing power," said a representative of Bach Hoa Xanh.
On November 16, Mr. Vo Tran Ngoc, sales director of Saigon Co.op , said that according to plan, the amount of goods served at the end of this year could increase by about 30-40% compared to normal, and nearly 10% compared to last year's Tet.
According to Mr. Ngoc, regarding selling prices, the company aims to maintain stable prices and even increase promotions. "The peak period of 59 days before Tet will see a sharp increase in imported and stockpiled goods.
We have worked with suppliers and most of them support maintaining stable prices. For vegetables alone, the unit has signed contracts and provided capital support to seven major suppliers, so key products such as carrots, tomatoes, cabbage, bitter melon, cucumbers... are expected to have prices 10-15% better than the market price," Mr. Ngoc affirmed.
A representative of another business said that there may still be items that increase in price at the end of the year due to the impact of input prices such as cooking oil; sugar; rice products such as vermicelli, noodles, dried pho...
"However, if there is a price increase, it needs to be calculated harmoniously. If it increases sharply, it will easily lead to consumers turning their backs," he commented.
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