The Hanoi People's Committee has released a plan for citywide promotional activities in 2024 to stimulate demand and boost sales.

The program, which will take place in May, July and November, will involve around 1,000-2,000 businesses from all sectors nationwide.

The plan aims to increase total retail sales of goods and services, promote the consumption of goods, improve production and business activities, and contribute to the growth of the Gross Regional Product (GRDP) in 2024.

Local consumers shop at the Big C supermarket in Hanoi's Cau Giay district. Photo: Pham Hung/The Hanoi Times

The program is a concrete step toward realizing the "Vietnamese People Buy Vietnamese Goods" campaign so that domestic and foreign tourists can buy quality goods at reasonable prices.

At the same time, Hanoi will continue to remove difficulties, develop diverse and intelligent business types in line with the development of e-commerce, aim for an intelligent consumer market and faster connection between businesses and consumers, contribute to economic growth in the industry, trade, services and tourism, stabilize prices and the market, control inflation, and ensure social security in the capital.

The Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade is responsible for considering and approving companies participating in the promotional scheme.

"If businesses can meet the demand of a domestic market of 100 million people, they will gain the ability to withstand the impact of adverse external factors," the department's Deputy Director Tran Thi Phuong Lan told The Hanoi Times.

She added that with purchasing power gradually recovering and new policies aimed at stimulating consumption, the domestic market is expected to serve as a driver of economic growth in the new year.

"It is necessary to grasp domestic consumption trends to promote production and other economic activities to achieve a high growth rate," said the Deputy Director.

To stimulate domestic consumption, the Vietnamese government has introduced policies to boost production, business and consumption. In particular, the 2% reduction in value-added tax (VAT) from 1 July 2023 has contributed significantly to stabilizing the prices of many goods.

Lan said the policy has helped companies cut input costs to lower goods prices and step up promotional activities to boost sales.

The increase in the basic wage from July 1 is also encouraging consumption. In addition, the reduction, exemption and extension of payment deadlines for many fees, levies and taxes have also helped reduce enterprises' expenses.

A number of programs to support product promotion and connectivity have also been implemented to help businesses minimize costs and, consequently, selling prices, Lan added.

She stressed that more measures should be taken to connect producers with consumers to cut inventory and other costs and encourage Vietnamese to prioritize locally produced goods.