Trade and services are considered an important factor directly promoting socio -economic development. Therefore, in recent years, Thanh Hoa province has paid attention to creating favorable conditions for the trade and services sector to develop rapidly in terms of quantity, scale and diversity of types in a professional, civilized and modern direction.
With rapid economic development, people's living standards have been raised, the demand for modern retail shopping has increased, creating conditions for the development of supermarket systems, shopping malls, and convenience stores. In the province, there are currently 388 markets, 27 supermarkets, 2 shopping malls; a number of retail systems operating in chains: Winmart, MediaMart, Mobile World , Pico, Dien May Xanh,... and thousands of other general stores in residential areas, well meeting the shopping and consumption needs of the people. Nowadays, when coming to supermarkets, shopping malls, and convenience stores, people do not only stop at shopping but also get entertainment, have fun, and enjoy preferential policies... Along with selecting goods of good quality, origin, and strict inspection, creating new forms of shopping to attract customers is also paid more attention by supermarkets and shopping malls, in order to retain customers.
In addition to the supermarket and convenience store systems, the traditional market system has also been invested and developed in the direction of socialization. Up to now, Thanh Hoa province has had 142/388 markets complete the conversion of management, business and exploitation models; 238 markets have announced compliance with food trading market standards and are leading the country in converting and building standardized markets and food trading markets. It is estimated that the total capital of market investment projects in the form of socialization that have been approved for investment policy is 1,500 billion VND. After converting the management, business and exploitation models, enterprises and cooperatives have actively mobilized capital, implemented market infrastructure investment projects in a modern and civilized direction, contributing to improving the quality of trading activities in the area. The rapid growth in the number and scale of operations of convenience stores, convenience store systems, supermarkets, traditional markets, etc. has contributed to promoting the consumption of goods produced in and outside the province, increasing the total retail sales of goods and service revenue for the locality, contributing to serving production and consumption needs of the people. In the first 6 months of 2023, the total retail sales of goods and service revenue of the whole province reached 64,741 billion VND, an increase of 12.2% over the same period in 2022.
In particular, digital transformation is also identified as one of the important "links" to contribute to the development of trade and services in a modern direction; departments, branches and localities are focusing on developing e-commerce and other types of trade based on digital platforms. The Department of Industry and Trade has implemented a digital transformation plan for the entire sector, focusing on supporting businesses, production and business establishments and people to access e-commerce development skills, connecting and promoting e-commerce; supporting businesses, production and business establishments to introduce and consume products on e-commerce platforms such as Postmart, Voso, Sendo. Build and support businesses to apply technological solutions (QR code, NFC chip, blockchain...) to trace the origin of products, apply customer information management software, smart sales management, promote online shopping, online payment, gradually change shopping habits, consumer behavior of people in a civilized and modern direction. Currently, there are nearly 200 agricultural production households with 2,200 products organized for sale, introducing products on e-commerce trading floors Voso and Postmart; thousands of specialized establishments and small traders have applied online sales software and cashless online payment applications. The Department of Industry and Trade and relevant departments and branches are continuing to support people to digitize data of business households, traditional craft village products and pilot QR codes for typical production and business households.
To achieve that result, all levels and sectors in the province have developed and implemented many policies to support, encourage and facilitate economic sectors to develop trade and service activities. Focusing investment resources, gradually completing the industry's infrastructure network such as the market network, supermarkets, shopping malls, large stores... and the wholesale and retail network in each locality, creating conditions for the trade sector to develop harmoniously and reasonably. The province has mobilized significant resources for investment, construction and upgrading of the market system; providing financial support to promptly remove difficulties and obstacles in market operations, especially regarding environmental issues, food safety... Thanks to that, the gradually completed trade infrastructure system has contributed positively to the development of domestic trade.
Comrade Le Van Khoa, Head of the Trade Management Department (Department of Industry and Trade) said that in order to ensure that trade and services develop in a modern and civilized direction, in the coming time, the Department of Industry and Trade will synchronously deploy many solutions. Typically, the consolidation and development of traditional markets in rural markets, focusing on people's markets (class III, retail). Carefully select conditions to develop a number of wholesale markets for agricultural products near large consumer centers. Among these wholesale markets, a number of potential markets will be selected to develop to a higher level such as auction markets, commodity exchanges... or form specialized markets.
In addition, in the urban areas of the province, it is also necessary to promote investment attraction, build large shopping centers, multi-industry activities such as: shopping, entertainment, recreation... from capable international enterprises, such as AEON MALL, LOTTE... to create momentum for the development of the commercial service industry for urban areas. In the districts, priority is given to allocating land funds in areas with commercial advantages to attract investment in building supermarkets of suitable scale, convenience stores, franchise stores or chain businesses... At the same time, develop policies to encourage small family businesses to apply new management methods through sales management software. Here, methods of inventory, management, sales, payment, reporting... are all carried out quickly and modernly, reducing loss of goods.
Article and photos: Chi Pham
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