Finding export customers by traditional or modern methods or combining traditional and modern customer search are still difficulties for many cooperatives intending to export agricultural products and goods.

Many cooperatives are now looking for customers by participating in trade fairs and exhibitions with brands in the same industry. Ms. Luong Thi Hanh, Director of Nam Cao Silk Cooperative (Thai Binh), said that participating in international trade fairs and exhibitions helps the cooperative have a more intuitive view of the silk market, better understand competitors and potential partners.

Not well prepared makes you passive

Perhaps what Ms. Hanh said is the biggest advantage of participating in international exhibitions and fairs. Because understanding the market is one of the important things that helps cooperatives do business effectively.

However, for fairs that are not cooperatives, businesses can also participate because it is quite expensive, especially when participating in large events organized by ministries and branches. Displaying a booth at a fair requires a lot of time to prepare, and is relatively costly in terms of human resources and resources of cooperatives and businesses.

To participate in a quality fair, cooperatives need to monitor information and register in advance to get a good position. Ms. Do Thi Kim Thong, Director of Kim Thong Trade, Service and Import-Export Cooperative (Hanoi), said that if the cooperative's booth is not carefully prepared, it will be easily competed by other competitors. Therefore, participating in fairs and exhibitions is often not suitable for small units that do not have much experience in the market. Depending on the scale, location, number of days of organization, and demand, the cost of participating in international fairs is usually between 3-15 million.

Although the advantages of customer search activities in the form of participating in fairs and exhibitions have been affirmed, not all cooperatives can participate, especially cooperatives with bulky items such as agricultural machinery, ceramics, etc. Therefore, finding customers on e-commerce platforms, in the form of B2B, is considered suitable in the conditions of developing digital transformation.

E-commerce is characterized by low costs, easy access for cooperatives, suitable for cooperatives in many different industries. Cooperatives need to register to become suppliers on e-commerce platforms and the cost of participation will be calculated annually, and is usually a fixed cost (excluding advertising costs and other services). Usually, the costs will be calculated in a package, and made public on the website of the platform or agent.

However, according to Mr. Hua Dai Duong, Director of Dinh Yen Cooperative (Quang Nam), currently, cooperatives are quite passive in accessing B2B e-commerce channels. If cooperatives do not understand these channels, it will be difficult to optimize and use advertising appropriately.

In addition, to operate an online store, cooperatives need to have a workforce that understands the platform and the market. However, this workforce is still relatively thin and new to cooperatives.

According to Mr. Hua Dai Duong, if the above conditions are not ensured, cooperatives will be passive, have to wait for customers and not optimize customer search.

The right choice

Currently, many cooperatives that have not participated in cross-border e-commerce platforms, international fairs and exhibitions often seek foreign customers by using social networks.

Mr. Rocky Thach Nguyen, CEO of Smart Link Logistics, said that Facebook and Linkedin are currently the two most potential social networks for cooperatives and businesses to reach international customers. On social networking channels, exporting units will have more promotional activities, such as posting articles on personal pages, joining groups, or advertising their own pages.

However, this is a channel that requires long-term investment, from building content, building cooperative pages, creating connections, and running ads. Therefore, the cost of building social networking channels is often calculated by personnel, and is difficult to measure without good preparation.

Obviously, there are many ways for cooperatives to reach international customers when they want to expand their market. Each method will have different advantages and disadvantages, but according to experts, cooperatives should focus on developing their brands on at least 1-2 channels to adapt to the market and take advantage of human resources and costs if they have decided to follow a methodical direction.

In particular, social media and e-commerce channels should be prioritized because the number of international customers using social media and having the need to buy, sell and exchange goods on commercial channels is very large. In terms of cost and efficiency, these are two methods of approaching international customers suitable for small businesses and cooperatives in the process of development.

Dr. Vu Vinh Phu, an economic expert, said that Vietnam has many agricultural and regional specialties, and social media and cross-border e-commerce channels will help small-scale producers have the opportunity to directly participate in the sales process.

Meanwhile, searching for fairs, exhibitions, and partner information on the internet is not always effective because official statistics on import-export enterprises on Google are still unclear, making it difficult to become a stable source of customers for cooperatives.

Source: VnBusiness