Developing e-commerce in traditional craft villages

In the digital age, e-commerce is an important tool to help traditional craft villages expand their markets and spread the unique cultural values ​​of each locality. Thanks to e-commerce, sophisticated technical products of traditional craft villages can reach customers worldwide, promoting sustainable development for rural industry.

Production of traditional handicrafts in Bach Long commune (Giao Thuy).

The province has 124 industrial and handicraft villages, including 17 famous traditional villages with a history of formation and development of hundreds of years, such as Vi Khe ornamental flower and tree growing village in Nam Dien commune (Nam Truc); mother-of-pearl inlaid wooden furniture village in Hai Minh commune (Hai Hau); La Xuyen, Tong Xa, Cat Dang carpentry and bronze casting villages in Y Yen... Craft villages create jobs and income for about 50% of rural laborers. In the trend of economic integration, along with the implementation of national target programs on new rural construction and digital transformation, promoting the development of e-commerce has become an inevitable trend in rural craft villages, creating opportunities for craft villages to promote local products and images, expand markets through diverse sales channels, improve production and business efficiency and income for people.

Ms. Pham Thu Thuy, a wooden furniture trader in Hai Minh commune (Hai Hau), shared: “In the past, I had to go everywhere to sell products or wait for customers to come to the factory to see the products. Now, I spend more time consulting online and livestreaming to sell products. Thanks to that, revenue has increased by 20-30%, customers are no longer limited to the district or province but also have orders from abroad. Meanwhile, sales costs have decreased significantly”. Other craft villages in the province have applied this form of sales through popular e-commerce platforms such as Shopee, Lazada... combined with introducing products and product production processes on social networking platforms such as Facebook, Zalo, TikTok... Dien Xa Ornamental Plant Association, Nam Dien commune (Nam Truc) is one of the pioneers in successfully building the model of "Digitalizing Vi Khe flower and ornamental plant craft village" (http://caycanhdienxa.namdinh.gov.vn). Households selling flowers and ornamental plants in Nam Phong and Nam Van communes (Nam Dinh city) have digitized data on each unique flower and ornamental plant variety of the garden and created QR codes for each product. This method helps craft villages not only maintain connections with traditional customers but also attract many new potential customers that they have never met. E-commerce is an important sales channel for more than 90% of households in craft villages and more than 70% of products are supplied through this form, opening up opportunities to develop more craft village tourism services. Up to now, not only do craft villagers sell products, but they also attract many traders and customers from all over the provinces and cities to film, take photos, and introduce products on social networking platforms to sell. On the occasion of the Lunar New Year of At Ty 2025, through selling products on e-commerce trading floors, combined with creating conditions for young people to go to the garden to take photos and introduce products, most households growing flowers, ornamental plants, and fine art wood have more customers and more income from this method. Mr. Tran Duc Hung in Hanoi city often livestreams the la han pine gardens of the flower and ornamental plant village of Dien Xa commune (Nam Truc) and said: "My strength is appraising flowers and ornamental plants, so I often introduce them online to help customers choose plants. On this occasion of Tet, I returned to the craft village to appraise, select plants and introduce them to different customer segments. Customers confidently closed orders right during the live broadcast or placed orders a few minutes later. On average, each product introduction session, I sell dozens of products to the craft village". It is known that this method continues to bring the craft village an exponential increase in customers, buyers save costs, get products at the place of production without having to travel all the way to the craft village.

Although e-commerce brings many benefits, not all businesses adapt quickly. Some common difficulties are: Business on e-commerce platforms is still spontaneous, sellers do not have the skills or business strategies on e-commerce. Sellers lack the skills to apply digital utilities for marketing, do not know how to record videos, take photos, and write attractive promotional content. Product information posted on e-commerce platforms is incomplete, making it difficult to impress customers. Market competition is increasingly fierce, requiring products to have superior quality and a methodical marketing strategy. According to the Department of Industry and Trade, the scale and quality of e-commerce transactions of production households and businesses in the province are still low. Most small and medium-sized enterprises have not invested properly in e-commerce, but only consider it an auxiliary sales channel.

Identifying e-commerce as a pioneering field of the digital economy, functional sectors and localities have actively implemented the Project on e-commerce development in the province until 2025, with a vision to 2030. The province has implemented solutions to support and promote e-commerce development. In particular, focusing on expanding the consumption market for key products and strengths in localities. The Department of Science and Technology coordinates with the Provincial Post Office; Viettel Military Industry and Telecoms Group and local authorities, associations and organizations to support people in introducing and selling agricultural and handicraft products of the province on two e-commerce platforms, buudien.vn and voso.vn. At the same time, support people with skills in building booths, filming, taking photos, writing comments, dialogues... to attract customers and support the construction of domain names (.vn) for new businesses to position their brands.

The Department of Industry and Trade actively coordinates with authorities at all levels to strengthen propaganda work, support people and businesses to promote the application of e-commerce in production and business. The agricultural sector focuses on supporting participation in activities on specialized trade exchanges to support quality products, key products of localities to expand product introduction and consumption channels, helping to reduce costs and increase income for people. In addition, in the increasingly fierce competition trend on e-commerce, establishments are required to have fundamental changes in product lines, business management level, workers' skills and infrastructure. Focus on product quality and branding; actively diversify product introduction and consumption channels; at the same time, proactively exploit information to expand the market, grasp market trends to improve product quality, actively implement promotional programs, stimulate consumption to improve business efficiency.

Article and photos: Nguyen Huong

Source: https://baonamdinh.vn/kinh-te/202503/phat-trien-thuong-mai-dien-tu-trong-cac-lang-nghe-truyen-thong-ed71e87/