E-commerce platforms and food-tech companies are boosting the sales of agricultural products, especially in the time of social distancing in many localities.
“E-commerce platforms boost consumption. The number of orders is high with plenty of customers nationwide. Selling on these platforms is also leisurely – we don’t have to drive and urge people to buy our products at traditional markets, which wastes a lot of time,” Hoa said.
Taku Tanaka, CEO of Kamereo, the Vietnam’s first tech enabled supplier for restaurants and hotels, stated that once farmers coordinate with e-commerce platforms there will be many benefits, such as stable demand, big demand per purchase, and better prices compared to selling to dealers in farming areas, as middle stages in the supply chain are cut.
Along with Sendo, Voso, and Shopee, the likes of Tiki, Postmart, and Lazada are also launching programmes to stimulate the consumption of agricultural products.
In mid-July, Shopee and Hung Yen inked a partnership agreement to increase the trading and distribution of longan and agricultural goods. It will roll out the initiative in additional provinces like as Dong Thap, Binh Thuan, Dak Lak, and Can Tho in the third quarter. Shopee not only focuses on marketing and promotion, but it also assists farmers in doing research and converting seasonal agricultural goods into year-round products utilizing processes such as freezing and drying.
Food-tech firms like Kamereo, for example, provide platforms to help farmers in addition to e-commerce platforms. Unlike other e-commerce platforms, the firm caters to smaller companies such as mini-stores, supermarkets, and food stores. The website and mobile app are designed specifically for this purpose.
“As we focus on fresh produce, we have a facility to keep vegetables fresh in our fulfilment centre. Our fulfilment centre is active all the time, receives goods from farms at midnight, then delivers to customer door stop within the following day to ensure freshness. Currently, restaurants cannot operate due to lockdown, but retail shops still can. We are supporting more and more retail shops and supermarkets to have fresh produce in their stores every day,” Tanaka of Kamereo said.
There are additional websites and applications that are run with the aim of linking farmers and customers, in addition to e-commerce or food-tech platforms. Last month, the Ministry of Industry and Trade created an agricultural food and product website that connects to other food sites, allowing seasonal items to be displayed to a wide number of customers..
Farmers may also sell their products directly through other small websites or apps, such as Agriculturalvn and Vidas, which act as intermediate platforms between vendors and purchasers.
Websites and applications like Chotot and Muabannongsan, in example, allow consumers to communicate their wants by post in order to find merchants. As a result, if farmers sign up for these platforms, they will have more opportunities to trade by actively engaging with buyers. Customers are also attracted to groups on social media such as Online Agricultural Products.
Tanaka believed that buying fresh produce online is still not popular with many consumers as Vietnam has lots of small retail shops, wet markets, and modern retail shops. “Due to the recent lockdowns, many consumers experience buying fresh produce online for the first time because many wet markets close and people avoid going out often. The question is whether buying fresh produce online will become a habit afterwards. Each player might seek different value propositions like competitive price, quality, or convenience,” he said.
Credit: vir.com.vn
