By applying a flexible business policy and placing top priority on quality and price to assert its credibility to customers, after 13 years of construction and development (2003-2016), Tu Son Supermarket has become a reliable shopping address for residents in Chau Doc City and surrounding districts in An Giang province and even people from Cambodia. With high shopping demand, the supermarket was expanded from 1,200 square metres to 30,000 square metres, thus making Tu Son Private Enterprise an outstanding enterprise in An Giang province after 28 years of development (1988-2016).
Business is an art, not a game of tactics
Ta Minh Son, owner of Tu Son Supermarket, said that Tu Son Supermarket always puts a premium on the quality of commodities since its opening, because it understands that “Building the trust of customers today is building the foundation for sustainable development in the future.” Particularly, to ensure the high quality and competitiveness of goods, Tu Son pays cash on delivery to all vendors in exchange for the supply of guaranteed goods which meet quality criteria and price policies of the supermarket. Currently, Tu Son has established business relations with over 1,650 suppliers, manufacturers and importers. The supermarket has over 100,000 commodity codes, divided into 20 categories.
In addition, Tu Son Supermarket never uses worst-selling goods, stockpiled or poor quality products as promotional gift for customers. It does not apply aggressive sales promotions but only takes labour value plus goods value to offer a reasonable price for consumers, because its business philosophy is “Business is an art, not a game of tactics.” Therefore, the company must have well-arranged business strategies, especially competitive selling price and good quality. Promotion and discount-driven sales will not bring high efficiency. Furthermore, as consumers now attach much importance to product quality and reasonable price, companies and suppliers must absolutely respect customers to gain more of their trust.
Moreover, local people are still familiar with using prices of traditional markets as standard prices for comparison, and they want prices in supermarkets to be equivalent. From that reality, Tu Son understands that it must adapt to consumer habits and introduce plans to change their perception and habits. For that reason, selling prices at Tu Son Supermarket are set on par with those in traditional markets, while intensifying communications and asserting its goods' value to consumers in order to help them understand and change their shopping habits, that is, go to supermarkets.
Corporate interests parallel social interests
Apart from quality and price, Tu Son Supermarket sets store by corporate interests parallel to social interests and local development vision. On that basis, Tu Son has embarked on establishing VietGAP-certified vegetable and fruit farms, covering 10,000 square metres, to supply its supermarket. This practical project has contributed to carrying out Resolution 09 of the Provincial Party Committee on smart agricultural development. In addition, to help local consumers and tourists to enjoy interesting shopping experiences and purchase organic foods, Tu Son Supermarket has arranged locally peculiar products to catch the interest of tourists. This section is now selling typical products from 38 provinces and cities across the country.
In An Giang province, Tu Son Supermarket is effectively carrying out the “Buy Vietnamese” Campaign, which encourages Vietnamese consumers to place a priority on made-in-Vietnam goods on their shopping lists. “Proud to be Vietnamese goods” Fair was a very meaningful and important event that the supermarket launched in 2014 with the aim of meeting consumer needs for locally made products and facilitating people in the countryside to use quality-guaranteed products at reasonable prices, as well as helping them get familiar with modern shopping. Accordingly, Tu Son Supermarket invested in modern equipment and professional service for “mobile supermarkets” of at least 15,000 square metres to meet consumer needs. The up to 100,000 products offered in these mobile supermarkets, sourced from 100 vendors, are enough to meet consumer demand. So far, this activity has become popular among customers in the countryside and this has created strong momentum for Tu Son to carry out bigger, more professional events to bring more high-quality goods for people in the countryside.
PV