Vietnamese lotus products company expand to global market with Alibaba.com

In the digital era, putting products on a large e-commerce platform like Alibaba.com is the right choice for businesses. Alibaba.com is the bridge to help Vietnamese agricultural products in general, and Dai Viet Lotus, in particular, reach the international market.

- Lê Thị Ngọc Châu, Export Manager, DAI VIET LOTUS FOODS JOINT STOCK COMPANY

Story

Lotus represents constancy, purity, and beauty. Vietnamese people love the lotus and regard it as the national flower. The lotus flower is the representative flower of Buddhism, so the Vietnamese also have great respect for it.

On a trip to Dong Thap in 2016, Lê Thị Ngọc Châu found that the area of local lotus cultivation was decreasing due to the instability in the output source and the unstable lotus price, and people switched to growing other agricultural products. She was surprised by this situation, and stepped into in-depth research about the lotus plant and realized that the economic value of the lotus plant is particularly large and has a high potential for development.

Therefore, with the dream of establishing a pioneering enterprise in the food field, she is committed to promoting the medicines and cosmetics of Vietnamese lotus all over the world.

Solution

Dai Viet Lotus Foods Joint Stock Company was established in 2016 and is located in the south of Vietnam. In order to strictly control the quality of inputs and finished products, as well as ensure a year-round supply, they choose to manufacture all products locally. The main products are frozen/ dried/ seasoned lotus seeds, lotus root, lotus tea, and agricultural products.

It was difficult in the beginning, especially when they are pioneers. The price was not stable and sometimes it falls deeply. They need to handle the instability along with lotus farmers.

Initially, it was hard for the company to convince big customers like supermarkets (Aeon mall, BigC,…), and B2B customers to try their products. In order to catch more opportunities, they focus on stocking raw materials in peak season to supply for low-season orders and also offer customers stable prices year-round. In the end, by persevering in the face of difficulties and maintaining stability in product quality. They successfully win the domestic market.

After being successful in the domestic market, they decided to introduce Vietnamese lotus products to international markets. Lê Thị Ngọc Châu believes that even a small local company will be given the opportunity to go to the global market if it has a reliable partner. And she immediately thought of Alibaba.com.

Success

Digital transformation was an ambiguous idea for them at the beginning, however, with Alibaba.com they eventually realize how to tune in with the digital business. First, they can meet customers anytime, anywhere in many contexts from Online Tradeshows to RFQs. Second, they can communicate with their customers in 16 languages. By joining the Alibaba.com seller community, they have shared the exporting experience and elaborated their digital business mindset which is much quicker, more informative, and requires as much investment as traditional business.

By joining Alibaba.com, they realize that the true value of the GGS membership does not only lie in exporting, but also in the acceleration of the company's transformation from a local small business to become an e-commerce company, with full fledge export capable staff.

''Thanks to Alibaba's connection, we have got acquainted with many more partners and successfully exported our products to more than 5 countries, in Asia, Europe, America, etc.''