(HSV VIETNAM GROUP) - Vietnam's agricultural products have four seasons, electronic trading platforms are increasingly supported, and the logistics network is developed... these are the advantages that make more and more young people interested in selling agricultural products online.
Creativity from local products
At the online conference with the theme "Connecting to support young people to start businesses and promote agricultural products on digital platforms", organized by Today's Rural Newspaper/Dan Viet in coordination with the Department of Science and Technology Enterprise and Market Development (Ministry of Science and Technology) on July 6, many young people shared stories about bringing agricultural products to social networking platforms and attracting many customers.
Nguyen Thi Tuong Thao (Tiktok Thao Mola channel of "Strange garden dishes" with nearly 180,000 followers and 1.5 million likes from Da Lat, Lam Dong) shares her story: "I was born and raised in Ka Do, Don Duong - the vegetable capital of Lam Dong province. When I grew up, I was a chemical engineer, and worked in the chemical testing department of a foreign company in the past. Ho Chi Minh City with a low salary, but my love for agricultural products made me return to starting a business in agriculture."
Returning to Lam Dong, Thao applied to work in the Da Lat Home Garden Cooperative. Here, Thao feels quite regretful because the vegetables are clean and diverse but the quantity sold is not much. Thao proposed to the cooperative's leaders to sell online, but did not agree, because this method was too new and everyone was temporarily satisfied with the output sold.
After that, Thao did her own research to create a Tiktok channel "Strange dishes from home garden", filming, editing and uploading videos with the purpose of introducing to many people about the unique agricultural products that Da Lat Home Garden Cooperative has.
"From videos introducing sweet palermo fruit peppers, South American passion fruit, rainbow carrots, fingernail peppers... after less than 2 months of setting up the channel, I had videos with over 4 million views. In particular, the video introducing noodle squash with over 5 million views became an online phenomenon. One day I received thousands of messages asking to buy this type of squash. The first time I opened the livestream sales feature, after only 15 minutes, I closed nearly 1,000 orders. goods", Tuong Thao said.
Thanks to sales via social networking platforms, the cooperative's revenue in just last June reached 1.2 billion VND.
At the conference, the story of Chao Thi Yen (Lao Cai) also attracted a lot of attention.
Pan Thi Yen is a 9X master's degree holder from the Dao Tuyen ethnic group (Nam Chac commune, Bat Xat district, Lao Cai province). Yen also recently built her Tiktok channel after attending the Prime Minister's Conference on dialogue with farmers last year.
Yen said: "Since the COVID-19 epidemic, I have seen the potential for selling on Tiktok, but I do not have products to sell, while farmers have products to sell but do not know how to make Tiktok videos. Therefore, I have given instructions to farmer groups so they can initially access this digital sales platform.
Before, I still thought that livestreaming sales made my 'value' go down. Why do I have to sit and sell livestreams after studying abroad? But when you do it, you will see the great effect, and seeing that this work can bring great effects both in terms of image and economic profit and create livelihoods for the community, there is no reason not to approach," Chao Thi Yen added.
It is necessary to professionalize online agricultural product sales
At the conference, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuc, Director of Bagico Joint Stock Company, Member of the Executive Committee of Vietnam Digital Agriculture Association, conveyed her experience in trading agricultural products.
Ms. Thuc connected young farmers to establish Binh Phuoc Digital Agricultural Service Cooperative. The cooperative has had certain achievements and achievements that have helped its members build their own brands.
Ms. Thuc said: "When young people start a business, when using social platforms, online communication, and e-commerce, it is very fast and very easy, not too expensive. But to be successful, it requires a root of understanding, as well as building products and plans, which must be very thorough."
With many years of experience in cross-border agricultural trade, Ms. Thuc emphasized that transportation is one of the stages that damages agricultural products, accounting for high costs in the product price before reaching consumers.
"For example, when durian is picked from the tree 1-2 days in advance to let it ripen evenly, it loses 15-20% of its weight. When it is sold to Hanoi to consumers, it loses another 10-15%. This is one of the costs that is not easy for consumers to understand and know. Why is the price of durian in the garden 70,000 VND, but at retail it is 200,000 VND," Ms. Thao said.
Sellers need to communicate, emphasizing the costs that affect the price and quality of the product so that consumers know. In addition, during the product packaging process, the seller also needs to let the buyer see the costs, then I believe that consumers will be willing to accept and sympathize, and at the same time, other competition will be minimized."
Agricultural expert Hoang Trong Thuy acknowledged: Vietnam has four fruit seasons, each season has abundant specialty products. Online sales create jobs for many people, earn great income, and exploit regional agricultural advantages well. In particular, if associated with tourism, it will be extremely effective, helping consumers connect with agricultural products in different regions.
However, Mr. Hoang Trong Thuy also noted that in the process of selling online, many young people still have limitations in sourcing goods and identifying target customers, so most of the sales on new digital platforms are synthesizing and selling agricultural products, and agricultural products aimed at specific targets are not really of interest to them.
Besides, the stage of interacting with customers and solving problems with customers is still weak, so we only focus on sales. Lack of human resources to answer customer problems. When this problem is lacking, communication about the product will be limited. Therefore, your market development, learning connections and exchanges are still quite modest.
Ha Diem - HSV