Locals' changing demands, partly due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, have inspired companies to be creative with their Tết gift baskets. Photo courtesy of thoibaokinhdoanh.vn

HCM CITY — Compared to years ago,Tết (Lunar New Year) gift packages are now being arranged and priced slightly differently.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected how locals are going about buying Tết gift baskets. New variations of gift baskets have been introduced to the market to meet customers’ changing demands.

Vegetable wholesale market Phiên chợ Xanh tử tế, Trà Quế Company and the e-commerce site FoodMa have collaborated to launch exclusive gift sets for the new year since the end of November 2020.

Multiple types of snacks are arranged in these sets, including dried-food candies, tea, wine and biscuits, among others, and priced from VNĐ595,000 to 1,690,000 per box.

According to an update from FoodMap, the best-selling gift box set includes products with a mid-range price of VNĐ895,000 per box. It has Đồng Tháp smoked beef jerky, Xuân Mộc Châu oolong tea, salted-egg fish skin, Tiền Giang mango wine, Cần Thơ chili garlic peanuts, and red packets, among other products.

Xuân Lan, 40, a resident of district 2, said that she appreciated gift boxes with products that are locally made.

“I used to love gift baskets with products shipped from overseas as a way to demonstrate wealth. With the COVID-19 pandemic and extreme weather events, I think it would be better to support each other,” she added.

Sustainability

Last year marked the first year that Gia Long Art Joint Stock Company in HCM City entered the Tết market with its green gift box.

General director of the company Lâm Thuỵ Nguyên Hồng said the green gift box was designed in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way so that customers can reuse the boxes. The company has received positive feedback from the market.

“We sold boxes of gifts but many people thought they were paintings since we had intentionally designed the box lid to be able to be hang up like a piece of art. The body of the box also had partitions to help it function like typical containers, which can be used to arrange goodies and make the house tidy,” she said.

This year, despite economic difficulties, the company would like its customers to continue pursuing the habit of using environmentally friendly products.

Hồng recently had a chance to meet up with a company specialising in dried-food candies in Đà Lạt City at a business meeting between Lâm Đồng Province and the Sài Gòn Entrepreneur Club.

“We have decided to do business with them. From just selling boxes, we will sell complete Tết gift sets with products inside. Our target audience will be companies that aim to purchase our sets in large quantities for their partners or employees. Our sets are affordable yet very high in quality,” Hồng added.

Healthy options

CEO of Organica Investment Joint Stock Company Phạm Phương Thảo predicted that these days locals prefer quality to quantity for Tết gift baskets.

To meet demand, Organica has launched several healthy Tết gift sets with organic products.

“Dried-fruit candies from orange peel and organic ginger are Organica’s new products for this year.” Thảo said, adding that the company will make chưng cake from specialty yellow flower sticky rice and garden pork as well.

Meanwhile, Thanh Nhàn, owner of an online gift shop, said the number of locals seeking healthy and practical options is rising each day.

“We have sold many healthy gift baskets at different price ranges. Since the COVID-19 pandemic has sort of tightened people’s budget on buying gifts, we have introduced affordable options, starting from VNĐ250,000 each,” she said.

Nhàn said that in addition to traditional platforms such as markets or supermarkets, nowadays locals choose to shop online as they can preview all items in the basket easily.

This year, Vinmart has developed a home delivery system to meet local’s online shopping habits.

“Compared to earlier this year, the number of gift baskets sold has increased as most people have the tendency to purchase gifts two weeks prior to Lunar New Year. Recently, Vinmart offered a 15 per cent discount for companies with large quantity orders to boost sales," a representative of Vinmart said. — VNS