Bringing local products closer to customers

After 5 days of taking place, the International Trade, Tourism and Investment Fair of the East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC) - Da Nang 2025 has achieved certain successes in promoting, connecting and consuming products in the city. Besides, there are still limitations that need to be learned from for the next time.

Consulting and introducing products to customers at the fair. Photo: VINH LOC

Customer Connection

The Cua Khe Traditional Fish Sauce stall (Duy Ha village, Thang An commune, Da Nang city) is hidden inside the Da Nang Exhibition Fair Center but it seems like there are always customers coming to buy.

Ms. Truong Thi Bon, from the Bon Thai Traditional Fish Sauce Factory, was selling her products while calling home to send out more products. Attending this fair, Ms. Truong Thi Bon initially brought 20 boxes of fish sauce (12 bottles each) but by the third day, they were gone and had to continue to replenish the stock. As of the morning of October 5, about 30 boxes of fish sauce had been sold at the fair.

"Many customers bought, most of them were acquaintances who had used Cua Khe fish sauce before and now knew that I was attending the fair so they came to support me," said Ms. Bon.

A few stalls away, Ms. Nguyen Thi Kieu Anh, Director of Go Noi Green Agriculture Cooperative, was introducing customers to the uses of essential oils extracted from lemongrass, cajuput, and mint.

This is the first time the cooperative's products have participated in the East-West Economic Corridor International Trade, Tourism and Investment Fair, so in addition to selling products, Ms. Kieu Anh always takes the opportunity to promote the quality of the products. "Besides revenue, the most important purpose of the cooperative when participating in the fair is to meet customers and partners to expand product distribution in the future," Ms. Kieu Anh shared.

At the fair, Ms. Kieu Anh connected about 10 entities and customers inside and outside the city, bringing expectations about market development and bringing products further.

Similarly, Ms. Truong Thi Tien, representative of Bao Ly Investment Company Limited (a company specializing in the production and supply of products from Ngoc Linh ginseng), said that although the revenue was not much, during the fair, the company was able to connect with a number of customers who came to visit and learn about the products. "Here, we mainly introduce the products, invite them to try them, and if they are effective, they will buy them later," Ms. Tien said.

Limitations to overcome for next time

EWEC - Da Nang 2025 Fair takes place from October 1-6, gathering more than 220 booths of 150 enterprises from 20 provinces and cities across the country, along with enterprises, diplomatic agencies and international organizations of 6 countries, including: Russian Federation, China, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.

Agricultural and rural products are introduced and sold at the Fair. Photo: VINH LOC

Within the framework of the fair, many meaningful activities and events took place such as the Export Trade Connection Conference; training on digital technology application skills in business activities for enterprises... Notably, trade promotion activities, product introduction of enterprises and localities with OCOP products, craft villages, typical products, typical rural industrial products... of Da Nang and other provinces and cities.

This is considered a highlight demonstrating the city's new connection and development vision for rural products and local craft village products.

According to the representative of the Department of Industry and Trade of Da Nang city, the purpose of the event, in addition to strengthening friendship and close cooperation between localities, bringing many experiences and choices to people, is also an opportunity for businesses and OCOP entities to find strategic partners and expand the market... However, in reality, this goal has not been as expected.

Besides some businesses and establishments that have strong brands or a relatively large number of regular customers, most establishments participating in the fair have not yet connected much with customers.

In addition to weak purchasing power, another reason pointed out by the subjects and businesses is that the promotion work, especially visual promotion activities, is not strong, and information about the fair is not known to the people. Notably, the arrangement of parking lots too far from the booths unintentionally prevents people from stopping by to visit and shop, especially the elderly.

According to Ms. Truong Thi Tien, representative of Bao Ly Investment Company Limited, instead of placing the parking lot outside the gate, the organizers should move it inside the Exhibition Center to create the most favorable conditions for visitors to access the booths, because walking a long distance (about 200m) in hot or rainy weather will prevent them from shopping. Not to mention, if they buy a lot of goods, they cannot carry them all to the street because it is very heavy and inconvenient.

Source: https://baodanang.vn/dua-san-pham-dia-phuong-den-gan-hon-khach-hang-3305543.html