According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), the nation's total revenuefrom retail sales of goods and services surpassed 477 trillion VND (20.7billion USD) in May, up 4.2 percent on the month and 22.6 percent on theyear. The growth on year reached a higher rate in the years before the pandemic.
According to GSO, thetotal revenue from retail sales of goods and services surpassed 2.25quadrillion VND in the first five months of 2022, up 9.7 percent year-on-year.
The revenue from retail sales of consumer goods increased by 9.8 percent overthe year, with revenue surging by 13.1 percent for food, 12.8 percent forcultural and educational products, and 3.1 percent for transport.
Meanwhile, the revenue from accommodation and catering services in the firstfive months rose by 15.7 percent. The high demand of domestic tourists and theSEA Games 31 helped revenue in May increase by 69.3 percent over the sameperiod last year.
Localities having growth in the revenue from accommodation and cateringservices were Can Tho (39.7 percent), Hanoi (34.2 percent), Dong Nai (22.6 percent), QuangNinh (17.3 percent), Hai Phong (10.5 percent), Binh Duong (11.4 percent) andDa Nang (11.2 percent).
The strong recovery of tourism activities and the 31st SEA Games increasedthe travel and tourism revenue in the first five months of 2022 by 34.7 percentover the same period last year.
Localities having growth in the revenue from travel and tourism included KhanhHoa (347.6 percent), Can Tho (88.2 percent), Phu Tho (80.6 percent),Quang Nam (67.8 percent), Hanoi (61.1 percent) and Quang Binh (29.6 percent).
When export activities have faced many difficulties from fluctuations in themarket, increases in sea freight and prolonged transportation time, some smalland medium-sized enterprises have been returning to the domestic market.
As a small and medium-sized enterprise in the agri-food industry, SurifarmOrganic Vegetables Co., Ltd., based in HCM City, sees a huge potential in thedomestic market for small and medium-sized enterprises, said To Huynh, arepresentative from the company.
According to Huynh, 90 percent of the company's revenue has been from thedomestic market, while only 10 percent of its revenue has come from exports.
He said exports face many difficulties from high sea freight and congestion atinternational seaports.
Meanwhile, agricultural and food products are still essential products on thedomestic market, although consumers have tightened their spending dueto the pandemic.
"Despite the difficulties from the pandemic, the domestic market of thefood industry is still quite good. During the outbreak period of the pandemic,many businesses in this field operated efficiently and even expanded theirmarket shares. Now that the pandemic is controlled, opportunities for small andmedium enterprises will open up," Huynh told VnBusiness.
Nguyen Hoang Dat, director of Vinahe Co. Ltd., an enterprise in Binh Phuocprovince specialising in cashew nut production and processing, said exportswere now a challenge for the company.
The company continues to focus on the domestic market even though there areperiods of slow production due to the pandemic. Now, sales from domesticsupermarket chains account for about 90 percent of the company's total revenue.
According to experts, when focusing on the domestic market, businessesneed to pay attention to local consumer confidence in their products.
Domestic consumers now have more and more information about products, brandsand services, and their needs are also increasingly demanding.
Therefore, in the long term, small and medium enterprises need to havestrategies to enhance the quality of their products and services and produce accordingto the market's needs./.