Ha Noi Christmas decorations sales down
Ha Noi Christmas decorations sales down
With just a few days to Christmas, decorations are being sold on the streets of Ha Noi, but fewer people seem to be buying this holiday season.
Streets specializing in selling Christmas decorations such as Hang Ma, Luong Van Can, Hang Bo, Cha Ca are full of merchandise shimmering and colorful with thousands of Christmas trees, tinsel, reindeers, lights, laurel wreaths, baubles, candy sticks and Santa's costumes.
The streets are crowded but those who buy are not many or they just purchase small and low cost products such as tinsel, pearls or small pine trees ranging from VND5,000 to VND20,000 (less than one US dollar).
Nguyen Thi Nghia, owner of a souvenir shop on Hang Ma Street, Hoan Kiem District said: “The streets have become busier and more vibrant than a few days ago. However, it is mainly tourists, not buyers,” adding that “the number of buyers has decreased by 30 – 50 per cent compared to most years. Due to the difficult economic situation, and closer gap between Christmas and local Tet, many people are limited in shopping for Christmas decorations.”
Pham Van Dung, owner of a souvenir shop on Cha Ca street, said: “This year the price of decorative accessories is about 15 per cent higher than last year due to the higher shipping costs.”
Dung said he thinks the difficult economic situation also makes many people save on shopping for decorations for this Christmas.
Besides decorative accessories, the market for fresh pine trees for the season can be very diverse as they are imported from different parts of the world such as Denmark, the Netherlands and China.
In terms of price, fresh Chinese pine branches range from VND170,000 to VND200,000. And fresh Dutch pine branches are sold between VND250,000 - VND 350,000 each. Fresh pine with five or six branches imported from Denmark or the Netherlands could cost from VND1.8 million to VND2.2 million.
Nguyen Thi Hong Phuong, Director of Agricultural Import-Export Co., Ltd told Vietnam News Agency: “Fresh pine trees are priced from VND1.4 million to VND7.9 million depending on the size.”
Phuong said fresh pine trees with a height of over 6m cost up to nearly VND150 million, adding fresh pine trees have glossy green colour, beautiful shape, durability from six to eight weeks, a pleasant aroma and bring a warm atmosphere to the Christmas season, so many consumers choose them.
During this year's Christmas season, eco-friendly decorations made from fresh pine leaves have received special attention from customers. Laurel wreaths, mini pine trees or large full-sized pine pots are the most sought items.
Nguyen Ngoc Bich, director of Nam Binh Import-Export and Trading Co, said that she bought a real Christmas tree for VND15 million to welcome Christmas and New Year. Although the price was a bit high, the real pine tree has a wide canopy, bright green colour, and a natural scent, so it creates a very pleasant feeling of warmth.
Besides the traditional market, decorative accessories and Christmas gifts are also being sold on e-commerce platforms such as Lazada, Sendo, and Shopee or social networking sites such as Facebook and Zalo, where the products are also abundant, with prices cheaper by about 20 per cent.
