Accordingly, small traders are guided to open booths on e-commerce applications, receive and manage online orders, implement promotions, and pay cashless. Along with that, the "OCOP - Da Nang Specialty" Exchange is also put into operation on the Grab application.
These things are very encouraging, because digital transformation for small traders in traditional markets must first start from such close and practical things.
A stall in Con Market can be only a few square meters wide. Customers for a long time are mainly people who step into the market, pass by the stall, see the item and decide to buy.
But when that stall appeared on the digital platform, the scope of business was no longer limited to a few square meters.
People a few kilometers away from Con Market can still buy a dish. Tourists staying at hotels can find specialties, order on their phones and receive goods without necessarily having to go directly to the market.
Technology, in that way, is helping a small stall have the opportunity to enter a larger market. And this is the important meaning of digital transformation for small businesses.
However, the success of the "Digital Con Market" model later should not only be calculated by the number of small traders who have opened online booths or the number of accounts created on platforms.
These figures are necessary, but only reflect the initial steps of the transformation process. What is more concerning is how many booths are still operating regularly after a few months or a year; how many small traders have online orders; how much new customers have increased and most importantly, whether the income of business people has improved or not.
Similarly, bringing OCOP products, Da Nang specialties to digital platforms should not stop at having one more place to display products.
A product recognized as OCOP 3 stars, 4 stars or 5 stars is a recognition of quality and certain values. But for the product to last long in the market, in the end, there must still be buyers.
Therefore, putting OCOP on a digital platform needs to aim for the most important goal of turning accessibility into orders, turning customer interest into revenue for producers.
The Con Market digital transformation model, if successful, may be a way for small businesses to participate in the digital economy with the goods they have sold for many years.
The story from Con Market can also be a suggestion for many other localities across the country, because everywhere there are traditional markets, OCOP products, specialties and thousands of small businesses that need more online markets.
