Many household businesses and firms across Da Nang have been successful in getting their products onto retail shelves instead of focusing on selling their products in traditional markets in the past. Da Nang-made products are popular with locals and tourists.

Da Nang producers hope for more opportunities to attend supply-demand connection conferences in order to introduce locally-made products to modern distributors. IN THE PHOTO: Covang’s fresh tofu products were first introduced to such conference in Da Nang on June 17. Photo: QUYNH TRANG

Linkages among producers and distributors for mutual benefits

The Hoa Bac General Cooperative located in the namesake commune, Hoa Vang District daily supplies 4,000-5,000 eggs to the market. The Cooperative’s products are mainly being sold at traditional markets and a few retail stores in Da Nang. The Cooperative does not dare to expand its distribution channels as its products are still precarious.

Mr Pham Van Chien, the Cooperative’s Director, said that the main goal of many cooperatives is to get their products into modern distribution channels such as organic farm stores and supermarkets as this will help boost consumption of their agricultural products and support their consumption stability, as well as ensure steady returns to them.

The Coperative has made great efforts to introduce Hoa Bac’s chicken eggs to modern distributors at trade promotion conferences for many years. Besides, the Coperative is exerting every effort to have its products certified by the country's one commune – one product (OCOP) programme in order to help the unit find it easier to expand into new markets and get its products onto supermarket shelves.

Mrs Le Thi Tuc, a representative of the Con Market Chapter of the Da Nang Women's Union which acts as a selling point for made-in-Viet Nam products at the Con Market, said that ‘Banh kho me’ (dried sesame seed cakes) made by ‘Ba Lieu’ facility located in Cam Le District have been sold at this point of sale since 2015, and the majority of the buyers have been tourists.

Mrs Tuc remarked that Da Nang’s typical products are very popular with tourists as the Con Market becomes a tourist attraction in the city. She revealed that a survey on toasted coconut cake made by My Phuong Food Company Limited is underway in order to help the company introduce its products to tourists and increase sales for it.

Mrs Phan Nhu Yen, the Director of Danavi Mart said that although low number of locally-made items is presence on the supermarket’s shelves, and these products are selling very well. The supermarket has always given high priority to facilitating household businesses and cooperatives to get their products onto its shelves in efforts to help local consumers access high quality made-in-Viet Nam products in response to the ‘Vietnamese people give priority to using Vietnamese goods’ campaign.

Increasing support for businesses to boost sales of their products

Mrs Vo Thi Thu Thuy, the Director of supermarket GO! said that GO’s policy is to help Da Nang’s producers bring their OCOP products closer to local consumers. However, GO! finds it difficult to build links with local producers due to unstable quality of their products and the instability of their supplies.

She highlighted the need for local producers to have their OCOP products certified, improve the packaging design of their products as well as improve the quality of their products in an attempt to meet requirements of modern distributors and pitch their products to retailers nationwide.

In its efforts to support Da Nang’s typical products to gain a foothold in the domestic market, the municipal Department of Industry and Trade has worked with local relevant agencies to organise trade promotion events and provide financial support for local agricultural businesses to attend trade shows at both home and abroad, as well as participate in supply-demand connection conferences to pitch their products to trade centers, supermarkets, convenience stores, wholesale markets, other retailers in the city and other parts of the country. In addition, heed has been paid to supporting local producers to improve the packaging design of their products, promote their brands, protect their brand of agricultural products by registering it as a trade mark, and more.

Da Nang’s trade promotion activities have yielded many positive outcomes. Included are helping many local producers to get their products on the shelf in supermarkets, convenience stores, market stalls and selling points for OCOP products.

Mr Nguyen Huu Hanh, the Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Industry and Trade said that after the COVID-19 pandemic has been brought under control in the city, many local producers still find difficult to pitch their products to supermarkets as they fail to meet supermarkets’s requirements. Besides, another challenges facing some local producers are their products to be made based on customers’ orders on an irregular basis. In the coming time, the Department will continue its efforts to support local businesses to perfect their products, build strong brands for their products, and reach modern distributors across the country.

Reporting by QUYNH TRANG – Translating by H.L