Despite a downbeat picture of sales, many merchants at Dong Xuan Market in Hanoi, the largest wholesale market in northern Vietnam, do not intend to sell their goods and products online.

In reply to a question about the trend of selling online, they insisted that they dislike online sales, or will not launch services over the Internet.

Normally, markets become busy and see upbeat sales for the rest of the year due to higher demand of consumers. On the contrary, sales at Dong Xuan Market are slowing to a crawl.

According to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reporters' observation, the wholesale market got depressing on Saturday.

Most stalls at the market were serving no buyers on Saturday morning, while some souvenir stands were welcoming a few foreign tourists.

Due to a handful of buyers, vendors spent their time reading newspapers, surfing the Internet, or knitting.

Hang, owner of a stall selling watches and glasses at Dong Xuan Market, said that she has much spare time although the Lunar New Year holiday is drawing near.

“I have sold the items here for decades but I have seen the market in the doldrums for the first time,” Hang lamented.

Only one, or two, or even no market-goers have visited a stall a day over the past few days.

Running a stand selling household appliances at Dong Xuan Market, Hanh said that she has never seen the market experience such a slack period before.

“Two years ago, when the coronavirus outbreak hit the country, the market was even busy and crowded with customers, but vendors are now struggling to sell goods as there are few clients, and, if any, they are lowering their spending,” Hanh said.

Due to the economic downturn, paired with online shopping, she voiced concerns over more sluggish sales.

“I go to the market daily for unprofitable work, while I am living on my savings,” she said.

In spite of slow sales at the market, the majority of merchants there did not intend to shift to selling their goods online.

“We have done business here [at Dong Xuan Market] for dozens of years. If we run an online shop, our children will support us, but we dislike this, and are too lazy to change,” Hanh explained.

Nguyen Nhu Quynh, a clothes vendor in Ha Nam Province, over 50 kilometers from Hanoi, said that she travels to the capital city to visit some wholesale markets for bulk buying each month.

However, plunging demand for the products forced her to change her schedule, meaning that she returned to the city for clothes purchase four months after the previous visit.

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