Accelerating agricultural product exports via e-commerce platforms

Overview of the talk.

In recent years, e-commerce is gradually asserting its important position and is an effective solution in promoting the consumption of goods, and maintaining the supply chain, typically with regional agricultural products.

Products such as Luc Ngan lychee (Bac Giang), Vinh Chau purple onion (Soc Trang), Bac Ha plum (Lao Cai), and fragrant zucchini of Bac Kan province are offered for sale in prime locations on reputable e-commerce platforms such as Alibaba, Seashell, Postmart, Lazada, etc.

Bac Giang province has signed a cooperation agreement to bring lychee products to 6 domestic and cross-border e-commerce floors. In addition, the province also continues to activate the existing e-commerce floor "vaithieu.net".

Speaking at the seminar "Promoting the consumption of products in ethnic minority and mountainous areas via e-commerce" organised by Industry and Trade Magazine on November 23, Mr. Pham Cong Toan, Deputy Director of the Department, shared: In the past two years, Bac Giang has not only sold agricultural products on e-commerce platforms but also held conferences to promote the consumption of agricultural products through digital transformation.

"We do this often. During the week, the province can work with customers from the US, Europe and China with a dense frequency, trying to take advantage of opportunities for Bac Giang products to reach consumers at home and abroad. Mr. Toan said.

DACE Agricultural Development and Environmental Consulting Co., Ltd. is an enterprise that exports organic spice products such as ginger, chilli, turmeric, garlic, lemongrass to many "fastidious" markets such as Europe, America, Korea, Japan, Australia, and Russia.

Mr. Tran Van Hieu, Director of DACE Agricultural Development and Environmental Consulting Co., Ltd shared with the B2B customer channel (business-to-business), the company usually sells through the e-commerce platform Alibaba. In addition, businesses seek partners through traditional trade fairs around the world.

The company is very interested in selling through e-commerce. Chinese farmers have made a fortune via selling live streams from the field. However, in Vietnam, things like sales livestreams require the participation of a cooperative or business specialising in that field. Farmers can participate in a section to introduce the product

For DACE, businesses often have to build a set of documents to put on e-commerce sites, such as images, videos or updated and useful information," said Mr. Hieu.

Besides the favourable factors, according to Mr. Toan, in the process of promoting the consumption of goods and products through e-commerce channels to access international markets, localities also face certain difficulties.

Bac Giang Province has the support of 1 unit to join Alibaba e-commerce platform. Immediately after the agricultural products were listed on the floor, within the first 1-2 weeks, the amount of interaction was very large. Some days up to 600 customers were interested. However, all products must be organic and have strict quality control.

According to Mr. Tran Van Hieu, enterprises must meet international, organic, and factory standards to export to supermarket systems. In addition to organic products, many markets also require social justice, environmental protection, etc.

Lychee is an agricultural product sold thanks to online trade promotion in domestic and export markets successfully. Photo: N.Thanh

Businesses also face many difficulties in branding and finding customers and markets. "Through the process of drawing experience, he said it is advisable to professionalise and form a chain of links from farmers to collectors, processors, and exporters."

Logistics and transportation units must also participate in the chain. A processing business cannot specialise in transportation. On the other hand, sales through e-commerce channels can be very small in quantity such as 1kg, 2kg, 5kg or 10kg, which requires professional transportation to ensure favourable consumption of goods.

Evaluating the importance of Government support, Mr. Hieu said: "Businesses want to continue to receive support in terms of policies, such as: reducing administrative procedures or tax incentives".

Emphasising the branding for agricultural products, Mr. Nguyen Binh Minh, a member of the Executive Committee of the Vietnam E-commerce Association, said that as soon as one recognised Vietnamese brand is sold out successfully in the United States, it could eventually sell 1,000 products in other markets.

Therefore, investing in branding or image promotion, and improving marketing skills on digital platforms is what businesses need to invest in to make significant achievements in the current digital transformation era.