Too many promotional tricks, customers confused

Electronics sales centers have launched so many promotional campaigns that it is difficult to keep up. Plus, the discount programs don’t always mean that customers can purchase good products at low prices.

Thu Van in HCM City has intended to buy an air conditioner since late March, when it became hot. As soon as the promotion “Giai nhiet mua he” (Cool the Summer Heat by Best Carings began on April 1, she arrived to make her selection.

Van heard about the program in late March 2010, when the retail chain advertised on mass media, saying that it would offer the best prices with attractive discounts and gifts. Best Carings promised to offer discounts on cooling-related equipment such as air conditioners, electric pans, blenders and refrigerators.

She found out the price was not cool. Van purchased an LG model 2010 F09CN air conditioner for 5,290,000 dong at Best Carings, but later found out that the same air conditioner sold for 5,050,000 dong only at another home appliance centre without any promotional program.

VietNamNet reporters spent time comparing prices at different centres quickly became confused. There are so many sales that customers do not know which prices are discounted and which are best.

The prices quoted by different home appliance centres are all quite different, even though the centres all claim that they sell products in accordance with the manufacturers’ retail prices.

For example, the air conditioner Van purchased is selling at 5,790,000 dong at Thien Hoa Centre. The price board at Thien Hoa centre noted that the official retail price suggested by the supplier is 6,990,000 dong, but Thien Hoa decided to offer the discount of 1.2 million dong.

Another air conditioner model (LG V09CD) is also priced quite differently: Best Carings advertises it for 8,790,000 dong (plus a humidifier worth 400,000 dong as a gift) and at Thien Hoa Centre, it sells for 8,890,000 dong under their promotion “San Hang Khuyen Mai” (Hunting for Products with Price Discounts).

Other products sold by Thien Hoa, Nguyen Kim and Best Carings also have prices higher by tens to hundreds of thousands of dong more than the average market prices.

When asked why the products at Thien Hoa are more expensive than at other shopping centres, Nguyen Thi Quyen, Deputy Marketing Director of Thien Hoa, proposed that some retailers use unhealthy competition methods, including the dumping of products to lure more customers.

Quyen also guessed that the cheap products are inventory items that retailers sell cheap to clear stocks. Quyen stressed that retailers cannot slash retail prices too sharply, because the price still depends on the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.

Launching promotional campaigns is a method that many retailers like. Yet customers cannot enjoy price reductions under these programs. In fact, an older method has been used: retailers quote very high original prices, and then lower them as part of a sales campaign.

Many big home appliance centres point out that they provide free air conditioner installation service worth 700,000-800,000 dong. If customers wish to install air-conditioner themselves, the price reduction is just 200,000-300,000 dong. A customer at Best Carings reported that, in fact, the service fee for installing air-conditioners is just 250,000 dong

Vietnamnet

Tags: Vietnam goods, Vietnam markets