Exporting Vietnamese specialties through online channels

Activities such as livestreaming and participating in e-commerce platforms to sell products are being promoted by many businesses - Photo: N.TRI

However, to be successful, many experts say that many factors are needed such as investment costs, stable quality goods...

Build brand, find wholesale customers online

As a business supporting promotion through many e-commerce channels, Mr. Nguyen Tan Trung - Director of Live Channel Media Company - said that he is working with Shopee, Amazon and localities such as Tay Ninh, Dong Nai... to promote selling products on the platforms, especially agricultural specialties.

In which, the orientation is to increase exports to demanding markets such as the US, Europe... through the Amazon platform. "There are 50-60 specialty products with quality from Tay Ninh being considered for selection and promotion to the e-commerce platform if favorable.

Dong Nai is also a locality with many quality specialties, so we will add more outstanding products to participate," Mr. Trung informed.

Speaking to Tuoi Tre recently, a representative of the Department of Industry and Trade of Tay Ninh province confirmed that they are stepping up support and promotion to bring more local specialty and branded products to online sales and expect to export more through this channel.

According to Mr. Nguyen Tan Trung, instead of doing it separately, the program plans to build a common booth for specialty products on the e-commerce platform for easy management and to promote trade.

In particular, with this program, this unit will discuss with the parties to expect additional policies for sales such as fee incentives, or support vouchers from the floor.

Speaking with Tuoi Tre on March 30, a representative of Amazon Global Selling Vietnam confirmed that it has been working with the industry and trade sectors of many provinces and cities to promote and select more local specialties to put on the platform.

According to this person, many specialties and strong products of Vietnam such as cashew nuts, coffee... have been sold on the floor and are known to customers in many countries.

Having been involved in the business of processed coffee products on Amazon for over 4 years, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Luan, Director of Global Trade Link Company Limited (HCMC), said that business activities on this platform are stable, and more and more customers, even wholesalers from other countries, have come to the factory to import products on the platform.

"We have more customers in Germany, the US... thanks to introducing products on cross-border trading floors, and are planning to invest more to reach more customers," said Mr. Luan.

Many challenges remain

Not only selling products on many domestic e-commerce platforms such as Shopee or Lazada, Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Gia Khanh - owner of a cashew nut production enterprise in Dong Phu, Binh Phuoc - said that this unit's cashew nut products are also sold on cross-national e-commerce platforms such as Alibaba and Amazon and have achieved stable results.

According to Ms. Khanh, although the cost is high, with about 8 items of salted roasted cashews, cashews with spices of all kinds, the unit currently has many retail customers and dozens of foreign wholesale customers connected through the platform. "If you are willing to invest and learn, this is a good channel to build, promote the brand, find customers, like a miniature fair where sellers and buyers can still find each other while sitting at home," Ms. Khanh commented.

However, Mr. Nguyen Tan Trung said that it is still not easy to export specialties smoothly and effectively through e-commerce platforms, especially to demanding countries like the US. According to Mr. Trung, Vietnam has many specialties but most of them are produced on a small scale, with limited packaging and unstable quality.

Therefore, this unit must provide more support and be selective. "Food that wants to go to difficult countries must first have stable packaging, good quality, have certifications such as ISO, HACCP, and especially must have FDA if it wants to go to the US. These things are not easy for small production units," Mr. Trung commented.

Meanwhile, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Luan said that putting products on the market is just basic, it is necessary to spend more money to promote to more customers. In addition, choosing the market and customer base for effective commercial activities is also quite necessary.

According to Mr. Luan, if we can export to markets like the US and Japan first, the brand will be raised in the eyes of international consumers, so exporting to other countries will be easier.

Mr. Dang Ngoc Han, director of an agricultural export enterprise in Ho Chi Minh City, said that selling online, especially on cross-border platforms, is not simply about selling for profit, but also about advertising, which means taking advantage of it to build a brand.

"When we have a brand and are focused on by the market, customers and distributors from other countries will come to the manufacturer to discuss importing goods. If things go well, we can just rest assured to produce according to demand, and they will take care of distributing to other countries, so it will be much easier," he said.

Livestream sales are a "double-edged sword"

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Luan affirmed that the effectiveness of livestream sales cannot be denied, but this activity also has many potential risks. Because there are many cases where products and even business brands are initially very famous thanks to livestream but then get into trouble and gradually disappear from the market.

"Entrusting everything to KOLs is posing many risks to businesses because in reality, many KOLs livestream to sell products for personal gain or do not understand the product or business, leading to incorrect information or information that goes against the wishes of the business," said Mr. Luan, adding that this is the reason why he recently had to "post" livestream himself to talk more about the product and company brand so that customers can understand, and at the same time correct inaccurate information that KOLs or the market had previously shared.

According to Mr. Luan, the State needs to tighten the livestream activities of KOLs and the public should not idolize KOLs too much, instead they need to shop selectively, because very rarely are the products "delicious but cheap".

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/xuat-khau-dac-san-viet-qua-kenh-online-20250402083017259.htm