Retailers Struggle to Cope as there is up to a 600% rise in Online Orders to Beat the Pandemic.

The huge volume of online orders at major grocers and major supermarket chains in HCM City, has resulted in cancellations and long delays in delivery. This is due to the public’s concern over the surge in COVID-19 cases.

A worker from a supermarket in HCM City delivers goods to customers. Photo congthuong.vn

“I called the supermarket’s customer hotline for online ordering early in the morning and received a reply … at noon they were out of stock,” said Trần Thị Mai, who lives in Bình Khánh Apartment in Thủ Đức City.

According to Vietnam News, many major grocery stores and supermarkets have been temporarily closed due to local cases of infection, adding to the problem, leaving those stores that were still open for business even more crowded.

Online ordering is for many is now the only way to order groceries, and to avoid crowds in supermarkets. This trend is seen across the globe, however here in Vietnam retailers have been caught by the sudden surge in orders and the system is struggling to cope.

Nguyễn Thị Thanh Thảo of District 11 ordered fresh vegetables, fruits, and food online from a supermarket near her house and was told they would be delivered only the next day.

Retails Are Trying to Ramp Up Staff to Cope

Retailers said they were racing to add online shopping and ramping up staff for home delivery services amidst the continuing lockdown and strict social distancing requirements.

But Managers admitted it was still a tall order since there was a 300-600 per cent spike in online shopping.

The sales director of an e-commerce platform said the pandemic had accelerated the shift in retailing from offline to online.

"Fast delivery within two to four hours was a vital part of online orders for groceries and fresh vegetables, fruits, and food, but the boom in online grocery was precluding that," he said.

In HCM City, traditional markets account for 60-70 per cent of retail sales of agricultural produce, food and foodstuffs consumed.

40% of Markets Closed

Ninety-three out of its 234 traditional markets are temporarily closed to combat the outbreak.

The city Department of Industry and Trade said the volume of goods delivered to the three wholesale markets still open in the city was less than 4,600 tons on July 1, 11 per cent down from normal.

The prices of vegetables, fruits and seafood sold at traditional markets like Thị Nghè and Bà Chiểu markets in Bình Thạnh District and Tân Định market in District 1 rose by 5-25 per cent compared to a week earlier.