Consumers are encouraged to support SMEs through Visa's new initiative called Where You Shop Matters. — Photo Courtesy Visa Vietnam

HCM CITY — Visa has recently launched Where You Shop Matters, an initiative that encourages consumers to support local businesses in Việt Nam and helps SMEs go digital to benefit from the surge in e-commerce during the COVID-19 crisis.

Đặng Tuyết Dung, Visa Country Manager for Việt Nam and Laos, said: “The Where You Shop Matters initiative is part of Visa’s broader vision of supporting SMEs. It follows Visa’s pledge to support 10 million small and micro businesses across Asia Pacific, and a global commitment from the Visa Foundation to provide $210 million in COVID-19 emergency relief to the small business sector.”

According to Dung, the campaign in Việt Nam will help connect shoppers with merchants across the country, enabling SMEs to access new customers quickly, capitalise on the trajectory in favor of eCommerce, and maximise their revenue streams in this difficult period.

Under the programme, Shopee will apply discounts of up to VND30,000 for Visa cardholders purchasing over VND300,000 on the platform in order to encourage more activity and sales. 

“As Việt Nam braces for the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Shopee is committed to further strengthening our ecosystem to offer all our users a more secure, seamless and rewarding way to shop and do business online. With Visa's fast, easy and secure payments network, our shoppers will be able to make purchases with an ease of mind, while our sellers can reach new customers and unlock tangible business growth through exclusive incentives and promotions,” said Trần Tuấn Anh, Managing Director, Shopee Vietnam. 

Meanwhile, Now has seen rapid growth in recent years, onboarding over 70 thousand sellers and covering 16 cities with population over 30 million. The platform will be offering a VND20,000 promotion code for transactions exceeding VND100,000 for existing merchants, and 20 discount e-vouchers worth VND20,000 for each newly onboarded merchant on NowFood. 

“By going online, SMEs can expand their customer base not only to consumers in their city, region or country, but also to a global marketplace that can be accessed by millions of Visa cardholders around the globe,” added Dung. — VNS