Consumers shop at a supermarket in HCM City. Prices of consumer staples have been reported to be on the rise since the beginning of November. — VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY — Prices of consumer staples in HCM City, the country's largest economic hub, have been on the rise since the beginning of November, reported the Vietnam News Agency. 

For example, a bottle of chilli sauce has increased to VNĐ14,000 (US$0.61) from VNĐ12,000, box of instant noodles to VNĐ145,000 from VNĐ120,000. Prices for frozen and packaged food items have also increased by VNĐ1,000-5,000 on average. 

The price for a tank of gas has increased to over VNĐ500,000 from VNĐ340,000 at pre-pandemic levels. Petrol prices have also been on the rise in recent months. This has forced manufacturers and businesses to make price adjustments to better reflect increased costs in logistics, input materials and operations. 

While supermarkets and stores such as Saigon Co.op, Satra, Aeon Mall, MM Mega Market and LOTTE Mart were still running a number of promotions, prices have been reported to increase across the city. 

They have been relying on combo sales and promotions to deliver discounts to consumers, especially for clothes, kitchenware, vegetables and fruits.

Nguyễn Ngọc Thắng, director of operations from Co.opmart, said the supermarket chain has been working closely with big brands such as Suntory Pepsico, Coca-Cola, Abbott, Carlsberg Vietnam and Unilever to roll out even more sales and promotions. Notably, Co.opmart has been running discounts of up to 47 per cent on 11,000 consumer staples and up to 50 per cent during the weekends. 

Food maker VISSAN has rolled out additional delivery services for more districts in the city as well as Đà Nẵng and Hà Nội. The company's website, which introduced a delivery service a year ago, served as an effective sales channel during the pandemic. 

VissanMart, the corporation's in-house food retail service, allows consumers to shop for a wide variety of high quality and fresh food products. Consumers may even choose the time of delivery or pick up at their convenience as well as cashless payments, according to a VISSAN representative. 

Similarly, other retailers have rolled out their own online sales and delivery services. During the city's prolonged period of lockdown, online shopping, delivery and electronic payment, all parts of the city's effort to control the spread of the virus, have become popular among its residents. 

Businesses have also realised the benefits of online sales in reducing operational costs including rental fees and wages and in reaching more consumers. — VNS