When Ha Tinh traditional market traders livestream, expanding sales channels

For over a month now, Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong, a children's clothing vendor at a market in Ha Tinh City, has developed a new habit of selling products via livestream - something she never thought she would try before.

Ms. Phuong shared: “Because I have a fixed business stall at the market, I used to only sell products in the traditional direct form. However, with the development of new business trends as well as changes in people's consumption habits, traditional sales no longer attract many customers. Therefore, I participated in livestream training courses to gradually change to a more diverse business method.”

Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong - a children's clothing vendor at Ha Tinh City Market, started livestreaming to sell her products about a month ago.

Ms. Phuong's livestreaming tools are quite simple, a phone with internet connection, a specialized lamp, she can "go live" to introduce products to customers. Currently, every day she will livestream once at a fixed time with each session lasting from 1 to 2 hours. "In the morning, I will sell products and arrange new models to serve the live session. Starting from around 12 noon, I will start turning on the livestream to sell products and always keep this fixed time to create a habit for customers. Initially, the sales were quite effective, taking advantage of customer connections during off-peak hours, increasing sales by 20 - 30%/day" - Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong added.

Starting earlier than Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong, the livestream sales method has been applied by Ms. Nguyen Thi Bong, Thach Trung ward (Ha Tinh city) for nearly 2 years now. Overcoming the initial obstacles of psychological fear when connecting with customers on social networking platforms, she now has 79,000 Facebook followers to develop an online sales channel.

Thanks to persistent livestreaming to sell products, Ms. Nguyen Thi Bong's Facebook (Thach Trung ward, Ha Tinh city) has 79,000 followers.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Bong said: “At first, I was a bit hesitant because the interaction on my Facebook platform was low, my accent was local, and it was difficult to attract viewers, but thanks to my perseverance, the number of followers increased day by day. Compared to traditional stalls, sales via social networks increased in both the number of product codes and the number of products on each product code. To develop this sales channel, I regularly update fashion trends, and when there are new product codes, I have to go live immediately to lead the supply channel, apply discount programs, gratitude programs, and mini games to give away products to attract customers to view and buy products…”.

In recent years, online sales channels, especially livestreaming via Facebook and TikTok, have been growing strongly in Ha Tinh. The advantage of this sales channel is that it does not require initial investment costs such as premises, labor, etc., while sellers can reach hundreds, even thousands of people at the same time to increase sales and profits.

The Department of Industry and Trade coordinated with the People's Committee of Ha Tinh city to train small traders in livestream selling skills on e-commerce platforms on April 22.

According to a preliminary survey, most sellers admit that selling via livestream can increase revenue by 30-50%/month compared to traditional methods. And, not only small traders and businesses in urban areas, but also farmers and cooperatives have applied this method to promote and sell products effectively.

To achieve this goal, recently, the Department of Industry and Trade has organized many training sessions on livestream sales for small traders and business owners in the area; coordinated to invite tiktokers and KOLs to directly livestream to promote OCOP Ha Tinh products...

However, business people are also facing big challenges to develop this modern sales channel. The first is the fierce competition of the market, when anyone can become an online seller. To retain customers, sellers need to have good communication skills, rich content and creativity in product presentation. Moreover, among the "countless" products of the same type, competition in price and product quality also requires sellers to have a clear, long-term strategy to protect their personal brand.

Many merchants share that the biggest limitation of livestreaming is that consumers only hear product descriptions without being able to experience the product themselves, making it difficult to gain customers' trust. Livestreaming mainly attracts young merchants who are curious and willing to invest; accessing livestreaming for merchants in traditional markets still has many obstacles.

Sen Hao Thanh Joint Stock Company is increasingly investing in product image and brand, promoting the effectiveness of online sales channels.

In addition, Ha Tinh businesses and small traders in general are still small-scale in their sales activities on digital platforms, and do not have enough capacity to connect and cooperate with large e-commerce platforms such as tiktok, shoppee... to create live sessions with "huge" revenue and great influence. While many large brands, in addition to having a stable customer base, use KOLs (influencers), KOCs (consumers with great influence on the market) to promote their products, they also apply many promotions and "shocking" discount vouchers to attract customers' shopping and trust.

Finally, the problem of counterfeit goods is the biggest challenge of the online market. If sellers do not have enough knowledge and chase after prices without a sustainable business strategy, they can easily fall into a “dead end”, even violating the law on trading in counterfeit, fake, and poor quality goods.

By the end of 2025, the province strives to have 50% of small and medium-sized enterprises conducting business activities on e-commerce trading floors; 40% of enterprises participating in e-commerce activities on mobile applications; thousands of enterprises, cooperatives, and business households in the area... participating in online business and sales training courses.

According to the Department of Industry and Trade, in the coming time, the sector will continue to focus on expanding training courses, improving livestream skills for small traders and businesses; increasing the number of businesses and small traders using livestream to sell goods. In particular, focusing on typical rural industrial products, OCOP and key local products. At the same time, coordinating with other sectors, improving management and control of online sales channels, e-commerce; combating and strictly handling violations of operating procedures and conditions; subjects taking advantage of e-commerce activities to smuggle, commit commercial fraud and counterfeit goods.