Ngoc Anh’s family in HCMC will not spend much during the nine-day festival in February 2026.
“If I get a large year-end bonus, we might spend a little bit for the holiday, but most of it will go towards our mortgages,” she said.
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Customers shop during Tet holiday in HCMC in January 2025. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran |
Tet begins on Feb. 14 this time, and retailers often start to offer discounts a month earlier to boost spending, but analysts are not anticipating much consumer demand.
“Consumers are tightening their spending,” Vu Kim Hanh, chairwoman of the High-Quality Vietnamese Goods Business Association, said, adding that she is not seeing signs of the usual “explosive” shopping season.
Nguyen Phuong Nga, a director at market research firm Worldpanel by Numerator Vietnam, said her company’s surveys show that consumer sentiment has been declining in recent months due to a range of factors, including several severe floods in central Vietnam that killed over 100 people and destroyed crops, changes in tax policy and a rise in counterfeit products.
Prices of most products have been rising, she said.
“Many people go to the market and find prices of vegetables surging, so they have to calculate their spending more carefully.”
The consumer price index rose by 3.58% year-on-year in November, with food and catering services, beverages, garments, household equipment and furnishings, healthcare, and education seeing increases.
In a report released this week, Singapore-based lender UOB said inflation in Vietnam shows no sign of cooling.
Nga also pointed out that the way Vietnamese shop for Tet is also gradually changing toward simplicity and convenience.
“Many consumers shop not because it is Tet, but because they genuinely have a need.”
Tran Minh Van, director of modern trade sales at dairy company FrieslandCampina Vietnam, said though spending could double from normal days during Tet, big discounts are no longer the only attraction.
“What consumers are looking for now is the feeling of getting a ‘good deal’, rather than just the percentage discount shown on labels.”
He suggested that businesses should develop creative bundled offers with high value, generating positive emotions and trust in quality.
