Phan Thao Linh, the owner of an orange orchard in Nam Dong district in Thua Thien - Hue province, is busy these days. She has to pack oranges, put them into foam boxes, and send them to clients. 

Her clients are from the locality and neighboring provinces, but also from all over the country, and her orders are from 5-10 to hundreds of kilograms.

Linh is one of the farmers of the 4.0 digital era who have succeeded in bringing Nam Dong oranges to Postmart, an e-commerce platform run by Vietnam Post.

In June 2022, Thua Thien - Hue’s post office began joining forces with Postmart to help farmers offer the district’s key product in a digital business environment. 

After the training courses where farmers learned how to take photos, stamp products for traceability, package products, and use standard transport processes, the owners of orange orchards have become proficient with this new way of doing business.

It is expected that 400 tons of oranges will be sold through the platform.

In the mountainous border area of Simacai in Lao Cai, Hoang Thi May in Ban Me commune is the first household putting Tai Nung peas on sale on Postmart. 

May sold 20,000 kilograms of peas after the first harvesting campaign at VND55,000 per kilogram.

May plans to harvest 20 tons of fruits from the family’s six hectares of growing area. With support from Postmart, her family hopes sales through the platform will double.

According to Vietnam Post deputy general director Le Quoc Anh, Postmart, the e-commerce platform, has created 3.2 million accounts for households. To date, there have been nearly 610,000 transactions of tens of thousands of products, which are specialties of cities/provinces, OCOP (One Commune - One Product) products, fine arts, and consumer goods.

Vietnam’s specialties 

Not only Postmart, but many other e-commerce platforms, such as Voso, Sendo Farm and Shopee Farm are distributing Vietnam’s farm produce, boosting sales in Vietnam but exporting products abroad.

In 2021, three tons of Bac Giang litchis were exported to Europe for the first time through the cross-border e-commerce platform developed by Viettel Post.

The litchis met GlobalGAP standards, the requirements on plant quarantine and quality control in Vietnam and Europe, and were traceable to the orchard through an app provided by iCheck.

In May 2022, Vietnam Post Logistics exported nearly 20 tons of durian to the US market. In addition to the US, the company exports durian and litchis to Asian and European markets.

Vietnam’s farm produce is competitive with other countries through international e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Alibaba.com.

According to Alibaba.com, some sectors have experienced impressive growth, especially F&B. 

The competitive edge of Vietnamese sellers is due to big production capacity, high-quality and diverse products, competitive prices, and an export-orientation policy. 

Tran Thi Yen Phi, director of DSW Co Ltd, said she earned $3,000 from the first order, and after one year, her revenue reached $260,000. She has learned lessons from Chinese sellers in multimedia payments and livestream methods.

Le Tu Uyen, director of Natural Love, said in 2021, when the Covid-19 pandemic was raging, the strategy on expanding business on e-commerce platforms proved its effectiveness. 

Orders now come regularly from 10 countries, including the US, Spain, Japan, South Korea, Cambodia and India. The company earns stable revenue of $800,000, and works with 2,000 factories, cooperatives and workshops.

Vu The Tung from Alibaba.com, said the strength of Vietnamese sellers and the FTAs (free trade agreements) signed recently are also major factors that have accelerated digital transformation at small and medium enterprises (SMEs). 

Digitization benefits sellers but also allows them to create a more sustainable business model.

Tam An