At a time when the Covid-19 pandemic is causing severe impacts on the business community, the upcoming Vietnam Local Specialties Fair 2020 is an opportunity for local firms to diversify their sales channels and boost market penetration via e-commerce platforms, according to Vice Director of Hanoi Promotion Agency (HPA) Nguyen Thi Mai Anh.

Goods supply – demand conference between Hanoi and other provinces/cities in 2019. Photo: Le Nam.

The annual event is set to take place at Vincom Mega Mall Royal City from November 25 to 29.

According to Ms. Anh, in the past five years, the fairs have contributed positively to sales revenue of enterprises. In the 2018 – 2019 period, the number of visitors to the event remained consistently at around 80,000 – 90,000.

Additionally, local producers and retailers signed a total of 350 contracts for distribution and supply of products in previous fairs. With such successes, over 90% of enterprises are looking forward to joining the event this year, stated Ms. Anh.

Ms. Anh noted if the last fairs had an average of around 200 booths each, this year, the figure is nearly 300 with the participation of 200 local enterprises from 60 provinces and cities.

Products at the event range from seafood, tea, coffee, fruits, processed food, agricultural products, and spices, among others.

Notably, in this year’s event, the HPA and the Vietnam e-Commerce and Digital Economy Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade would provide support for local enterprises to sell their products on e-commerce platforms such as Sendo, Tiki, Voso, among others.

This would help enterprises expand their reache beyond traditional sales channels, she added.

In addition to the fair, the HPA is scheduled to organize a Goods supply – demand conference between Hanoi and other localities in 2020, which serve as a platform for local producers and distributors across the country to look for potential partnership and expand their distribution networks to serve both domestic needs and for exports.