Promote solutions to develop domestic market and stimulate consumption

Vietnam's retail market still has a lot of potential - Photo: VGP/Le Anh

Vietnam's retail market still has a lot of potential.

The global commodity market in 2025 is forecast to continue to be complicated due to geopolitical and global economic factors. In that context, Vietnam's domestic market is identified as a "pillar" for stabilizing economic growth and a "lifebuoy" for businesses, especially when exports face many challenges.

In the first quarter of 2025, although political and trade instability in the world market is still complicated, affecting the stability and development of the global economy and strongly impacting the supply chain of goods, the domestic commodity market is still relatively stable, the supply of essential goods is always guaranteed, and the prices of goods do not fluctuate much (except for food items such as pork, the price fluctuated sharply in the second half of the first quarter but then gradually stabilized).

According to the General Statistics Office (Ministry of Finance), the total retail sales of goods and service revenue in the first quarter of 2025 reached VND 1,708,252 billion, an increase of 9.9% over the same period in 2024, in which the group with high growth rates was food, foodstuff, cultural products, education (increased by 10.1% and 13.3% respectively); tourism, services and accommodation, catering (increased by 12.5 and 18.3%);

Also according to the General Statistics Office, the scale of Vietnam's retail market is currently about 4,922,000 billion VND (equivalent to about 190 billion USD, 2024 data), of which, consumption for food and foodstuffs still accounts for the largest proportion of 35.7%, followed by household appliances, tools and equipment at 10.7%, clothing at 5.5%, and means of transport at 4.8%...

Goods are distributed and sold to consumers through a continuously developing commercial infrastructure system along with the process of promoting infrastructure investment and urbanization in localities across the country. By the end of 2024, the country will have 8,274 markets, 1,293 supermarkets, 276 shopping malls and nearly 7,000 convenience stores.

According to experts, the Vietnamese retail market is currently considered a relatively potential market, attracting the attention of large retail enterprises in the world. In recent years, large retail enterprises such as Aeon (Japan), Lotte (Korea), Central Retail, MM Mega market (Thailand) ... have continuously invested and developed retail locations in many localities across the country. Enterprises operating online shopping platforms such as Shopee, Lazada, Tiki ... have also expanded and strongly developed sales activities in Vietnam. In addition, large domestic retail enterprises such as Sai Gon Co.op, Hapro mart, Wincommerce, Bach Hoa Xanh ... have also continuously developed retail systems across the country.

Proposing synchronous solutions to stimulate consumer demand

Regarding the current state of the domestic consumer market, representatives of distribution enterprises said that consumer sentiment is still cautious, and although purchasing power has shown signs of recovery, it has not yet achieved clear growth.

Delegates propose solutions to promote domestic consumption - Photo: VGP/Le Anh

Mr. Phan Van Chinh, Deputy Director of the Department of Domestic Market Development, acknowledged that support programs such as VAT reduction, interest rate support for retail businesses, and promoting public investment help increase income for workers in the construction and infrastructure sectors, thereby promoting consumption.

According to experts, in the long term, the growth driver for domestic consumption must come from close coordination between public investment, institutional reform and domestic market development. In particular, administrative reform, especially in the tax sector, needs to be promoted to create a transparent and effective business environment and promote sustainable consumption.

In the current context, Mr. Tran Huu Linh, Director of the Department of Domestic Market Management and Development (Ministry of Industry and Trade), said that businesses need to quickly adapt to the trend of online shopping and the demand for green products with clear origins.

Mr. Linh called for close coordination between all levels, sectors, enterprises and the whole society to promote the production - distribution - consumption - credit finance - state management chain. From there, build a dynamic, modern and sustainable domestic market.

At the conference, delegates also proposed synchronous solutions to stimulate consumption and support businesses in expanding their markets. Accordingly, the Ministry of Industry and Trade needs to strengthen coordination with the Department of Industry and Trade of localities and businesses to promote activities connecting supply and demand, combined with the implementation of programs such as Vietnamese people prioritize using Vietnamese goods, One Commune One Product (OCOP) program... to link production with distribution of goods, supporting the consumption of domestically produced goods. Along with that, develop policies and programs to stimulate consumption, programs to encourage centralized shopping nationwide.

Previously, on April 4, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Directive No. 08/CT-BCT on implementing solutions to continue promoting domestic market development and stimulating consumption in 2025, in which it assigned specific tasks to affiliated units, enterprises, and industry associations; at the same time, assigned specific tasks and retail market growth targets to each locality to strive to achieve the common goal of promoting domestic market development, contributing to the economic growth of the whole country.

Le Anh

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/day-manh-cac-giai-phap-phat-trien-thi-truong-trong-nuoc-kich-cau-tieu-dung-102250422144437035.htm