Hearts and flowers lose out to blossom and kumquat trees

With Valentine’s Day this year coinciding with the first day of the Lunar New Year, businesses selling romantic gifts claim they are losing out as people are spending on Tet instead.

In HCM City, Huynh Le Hai Ha, the boss of Hanah chain, said that buying power is still low and it may be better later when people finish Tet shopping and begin seeking gifts for Valentine’s Day.

Ha said that the most favourite gift this year is still stuffed toys. There are many attractive models such as a couple of stuffed hearts with the words “husband and wife” which costs 400,000 dong. Other nice gifts are heart-shaped curtains made of feathers, costing 80,000 dong each.  Elsewhere a big sized heart candy, costs 120,000 dong for one.

Phu Nhuan Jewellery Company has introduced a collection called “The avowal of the spring”. This includes 50 products designed inspired from hearts, flowers and leaves. Twin rings or twin medals of necklace will be meaningful presents. Each silver piece of jewelry costs 150,000 to 700,000 VND. Gold jewelry costs from 500,000 to 14,000,000 VND each.

Having anticipated a high demand for flowers, Dalat Hasfarm has prepared nearly 10,000 sprigs of tulip flowers in many colors such as orange, pink and violet which each sprig costing 10,000 VND.

The owners of gift shops and entertainment centers in Hanoi remain worried about sales for Valentine’s Day, fearing that the unusually hot weather will also make them unsalable.

Hoang Thi Thu, a saleswoman of a Hai Ha-Kotobuki confectionary, said that she fears the worst.

“We don’t expect to sell many chocolates and cream cakes since they will melt on the way. In previous years, customers usually ordered cakes nearly one month before Valentine Day, but this year there have only been a few orders. We only hope to sell one third of last year,” she said.

The owners of hotels, restaurants and entertainment centers are also worried stiff, because hot weather may stop people wanting to visit.

In previous years, hotels and restaurants were full of customers, but now there are only a few orders although they have thought up many interesting promotional campaigns.

Only jewelery sellers are entirely happy about both Tet and Valentine’s Day. Within the first few days of February, the sales of jewelery products has increased by 16 percent over the same period of the previous month and 20 percent over the same period of December 2009.

Nguyen Thi Cuc, deputy general director of Phu Nhuan Jewellery Company said that twin jewelry products are selling very well because lovers are purchasing them for Valentine Day.

VietNamNet/TT, KTDT

Tags: markets for Velentine, Velentine 2010 in Vietnam