Vietnam businesses launch Lunar New Year gifts at affordable prices

In the context of a gradual economic recovery and people tending to tighten spending, a series of affordable Lunar New Year (Tet) gift baskets have been launched by businesses in Vietnam with diverse designs.

At many supermarkets, traditional markets and stores in Ho Chi City, a large number of Tet gift baskets have been released to the market by businesses at reasonable prices and with many promotions.

Thousands of Tet gift baskets and gift boxes with diverse designs and prices are being displayed at many Co.opmart and Co.opXtra supermarkets. In particular, business prioritizes gift packages priced from VND150,000-600,000 ($6-24), or even only VND99,000 ($4).

A representative of Co.opmart said that this year's Tet gift baskets would be sold early and would focus on promoting 15 types of popular baskets with essential items needed during Tet such as candies, nuts, spices and nutritious foods.

Similarly, at the Lotte Mart supermarket system, a large number of gift baskets have also been introduced. In addition to applying discounts of up to 15%, Lotte said it would give vouchers and additional discounts for large orders.

The variety is quite diverse with dozens of models priced from VND190,000-2,070,000 ($81.38) per basket.

Popular baskets from VND190,000-500,000 are given priority to be launched the most.

Lotte Mart said it also introduced gift cards with values from VND100,000-5 million ($197) to give customers more choices.

A representative of the Emart supermarket system said that this year it proactively displayed and diversified gift baskets with more than 25 different types priced from VND299,000-2,190,000 per basket, most of which are under VND1 million.

In addition to focusing sales on the mid-range segment, this year the company proactively reduced the amount of candies and jams and increased healthy products in gift baskets such as brown rice cakes, tea and various nuts.

Faced with increased demand in the low-price segment, many manufacturing enterprises have also changed their Tet gift strategies to suit the market.

A representative of Orion Vina said that they had increased the quantity of affordable goods for Tet this year by 20-25%, pricing baskets from VND88,000-500,000.

This is a strategy to reach users in the context that they prioritize finding Tet gifts at reasonable prices and guaranteed quality. Thanks to diverse products and reasonable prices, the company recorded growth in the first weeks of sales, a representative of Orion Vina said.

A representative of Kido Group said that in addition to the confectionery line that would try to keep prices affordable, this year the group had proactively launched a large number of Tet gift packages with prices of only VND100,000-200,000 per basket, featuring mostly practical products such as cooking oil, fish sauce and spices.

Businesses are the biggest source of customers buying Tet gift baskets every year, but this year many companies have announced a reduction in the quantity and value of gift baskets. Therefore, keeping prices and prioritising the low-priced segment is reasonable.

As the 2025 Lunar New Year approaches, many businesses have to recalculate the cost of Tet gifts for employees and customers.

The leader of a textile company in Dong Nai province said that in previous years, each Tet gift the company spent on employees averaged around 300,000 VND. However, this year, this amount had been cut by 40% because the company failed to meet its profit target.

Accordingly, each Tet gift basket for employees this year was only valued at around VND180,000.

With 1,500 employees, the company expects to spend about VND270 million ($10,615) on Tet gifts, not including New Year and Lunar New Year bonuses.

Tran Thi Thuy, head of human resources at an interior design company in HCMC, said that the company was reducing the value of Tet gift baskets for employees and customers during this year's Tet holiday. Therefore, she must prioritize choosing essential gift baskets for Tet needs.

The company's gift budget for employees is VND300,000 and for customers it is VND500,000 ($19.66).