With shops closed and delivery services facing restrictions due to the Covid-19 outbreak in Hanoi, apartment dwellers have stepped in fill the supply gap by selling online. 

Thu, a clerk at a media company, who is working from home amid the social distancing, said: "I orders goods online for home delivery and pay through bank transfer. The goods are hung on my apartment door."

The seller leaves goods outside Thu’s apartment. Photo courtesy of Thu

The online market, which serves Thu’s apartment block and others nearby, has over 2,000 members who buy and sell items like fish sauce, salt, cooking oil, rice, vegetables, fruits, meat, eggs, and processed foodstuffs, she said.

Prices are slightly higher than at traditional markets, but people like Thu accept that because "we don’t have to go outside, minimizing contact and the risk of contracting the disease."

In the beginning many sold goods online for a little bit of extra income and even just for fun, but later, when their jobs were severely affected by the pandemic, it became their main source of income.

A screenshot of snacks sold on an online market in Hanoi’s Ha Dong District.
Photo by VnExpress

Thai, a kindergarten teacher in Hanoi’s Ha Dong District, started selling foodstuff on an online market for residents of her apartment block when her kindergarten closed down.

"I order fresh pork from my hometown in the countryside, pack and deliver the meat to people in my residential area," she said.

"Within 30 minutes of advertising pork online I often get orders for 50 kilograms."

Quang, an administrator of an online market of an apartment block in Cau Giay District, said the market sells essential goods with clear regulations on product quality and non-cash payment, and so has recently become busier, especially amid the Covid outbreak.

Hanoi has gone over a month under a citywide social distancing order starting July 24, the longest such period since the novel coronavirus first appeared in the country. It has extended its social distancing order until September 6 as the novel coronavirus threat persists.

The capital has recorded 2,909 local Covid-19 cases since the fourth coronavirus wave hit the country late April.