Online shopping is the preferred method to shop for pine trees and Christmas decorations in Ho Chi Minh City as this year’s holiday season draws near.

Unlike previous years, when customers often visited stores in person to choose Christmas decorations, they have turned to online channels to look for items in a safer manner this year, given the complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shop owners in the southern metropolis said they have imported pine and cedar trees in large numbers to meet the growing demand, with many customers already placing orders.

“This month, I’ve imported thousands of cedar trees of all sizes to serve the Christmas season,” Pham My Khanh, the owner of a plant shop on Nguyen Thi Thap Street in District 7, said from her 300-square-meter garden.

“This year, due to the pandemic, it’s difficult to forecast the market demand. 

“Compared to last year, the number of orders has now halved, with the majority of customers placing orders online.”

Khanh added that a few customers had also come to her garden to physically select cedar trees, which fetch from VND150,000 (US$6.6) to VND1.2 million ($52) apiece, and other ornaments.

“The decoration fee for each tree is VN200,000 [$9] to VND1 million [$44],” she said.

Vu Hong Hanh, the manager of a plant shop on Vo Thi Sau Street in District 3, said that 1,000 pine trees imported from Denmark had arrived at her venue.

“Currently, up to 90 percent of my customers place orders online,” Hanh said.

The selling price has remained relatively the same as last year, according to Hanh, with a pine tree under one meter costing about VND6 million ($264) and a tree under two meters selling for VN15 million ($661). 

The decoration fee depends on customers’ preferences, some paying nearly half the price of the pine tree for the ornament, Hanh added.

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