Groceries sell like hot cakes online on HCMC lockdown announcement

"In the last two days I ordered groceries on GrabMart for delivery for cooking, but everything was sold out," Kim Hanh of Phu Nhuan District said Thursday afternoon.

Nhat Mai of District 8 said he was unable to order on Grab Mart or retail chain Bach Hoa Xanh’s website despite trying many times. "Sometimes I succeeded in placing orders, but no shipper was available."

G Kitchen, an app that sells fresh meat and fish, announced it has run out of stock.

Orders on GrabMart have increased in the last few days, a Grab spokesperson told VnExpress on Thursday.

A Be spokesperson said: "The number of orders on Be Di Cho doubled on Tuesday and Wednesday from [a week earlier]."

Unable to order groceries on applications, many people have switched to e-commerce platforms, accepting later delivery.

On Wednesday alone fresh foodstuff sales on Lazada was equal to entire sales in July 2020. It said it sold over two tons of ribs and chicken on Wednesday. It also sold 10,000 poultry eggs within 12 hours and 120,000 boxes of fresh milks within three hours.

Tiki said fresh foodstuff sales have surged by over 10 times in the last six weeks.

Shopee said orders for essential items and health and personal hygiene products have increased sharply.

E-commerce platforms said they already have plans to stabilize prices and improve logistics to ensure sufficient supply and timely delivery amid the social distancing.

Tiki said it has increased supply of fresh and dried foodstuffs, face masks and hand sanitizers. Shopee said health-related products, essential goods and consumer goods are always available and easy to buy.

On Thursday, Sendo launched a program called ‘Shopping at home’ to offer over 25 kinds of vegetables and fruits, eggs and essential items. It said it is joining hands with agricultural cooperatives in HCMC’s neighboring provinces so that fresh foodstuffs are transported directly to sellers on its platform and not through wholesale markets.

After a customer places an order on Sendo, agricultural products would be harvested, packaged and transported to them within 24 hours, Sendo chairman Nguyen Dac Viet Dung said.

Lazada said it has enhanced the use of artificial intelligence to optimize routes for shippers to deliver faster.

For two weeks starting on Friday, Tiki is covering part of the logistics costs for certain merchants, including fresh food sellers.