Focus on solving difficulties in digital economy development

– The year 2021 marks the strong development of the digital economy in the province with the participation of a large number of people from all walks of life, especially farmers. In-person shopping habit is gradually shifting to online one. During the implementation process, the host unit is the Department of Information and Communications (DoIC) has identified the limitations, thereby proposing solutions to overcome in the coming time.

   Difficulty identification

After nearly 5 months of implementation (from July 2021), the digital economy development program in the province has achieved some remarkable results. Specifically, the province has opened more than 110,000 digital stores; over 90,000 e-payment accounts. In which, there are 6,718 “leading” households who regularly sell goods in large quantities. The Department of Information and Communications also cooperated with enterprises such as Vnpost and Viettelpost to train core forces and community technology groups with more than 5,800 people; they sold more than 21,000 orders. It can be said that the digital economy is like a new breeze for people in the province, because farmers do not have to go to the market but can still sell goods. Agricultural products, specialties, foods, especially fresh food with short-storage time are also sold online and delivered to consumers within 24 to 48 hours.

However, besides the achieved results, the development of the digital economy also presents many difficulties. Specifically, agricultural products in the province are mostly harvested seasonally, the output volume is small, therefore, people only want to sell their products in a short time. After the end of the agricultural harvest season, the online stores are almost inactive. At the same time, many residential areas in the province are scatteredly distributed, sparsely populated, hence, the transportation of agricultural products for trading faces many difficulties.

Viettelpost Lang Son staff support farmers in packing products

According to statistics, only 23% of stores actually can sell goods through e-commerce platforms. This number is still very limited compared to practical needs. Through research, we know that people’s awareness of the digital economy is not alike, online shopping is mainly used by young people and people in cities and towns, people in rural areas still do not have this habit. Walking through some booths on e-commerce platforms like postmart.vn, voso.vn, it can be seen that sellers have not invested much time in their displays. The product information is sparse, mainly contains images and product prices, the introduction about the outstanding advantages of the product, the difference of the product, thus, it has not made any impression on customers.

In addition, the telecommunications infrastructure for the development of the digital economy in the province is not yet complete. Currently, the whole province still has 295 villages and hamlets that do not have 3G and 4G waves. Consequently it is very difficult for people in these areas to participate in buying and selling on e-commerce platforms. At the same time, the digital economy has a close relationship with the digital society, however, the digital society in the province has not been fully developed, which is also a barrier.

   Gradual change for solutions

Mr. Nguyen Khac Lich, Director of the Department of Information and Communications said: “After identifying the difficulties and inadequacies in the development of the digital economy, we are accelerating the implementation of many measures to change the habits of people in the province. In particular, it is necessary to strengthen propaganda, promoting the completion of infrastructure for the digital economy.

Regarding propaganda, the Department of Information and Communications has been coordinating with the People’s Committees of districts and city to popularize the new method of shopping in many forms on the media. At the same time, the unit continues to coordinate with businesses such as Vnpost, Viettelpost to open instruction classes to equip people with skills in writing promotional articles about products.”

Ms. Pham Thi Thanh Xuan, Director of the Provincial Post Office said: “When we first implemented the digital economy development program, we supported people to write advertisements about their products on their stores. In the coming time, we will continue to collect useful information about the province’s agricultural products as well as coordinate to organize activities to equip people with advertising, packaging and initial processing skills to enhance the popularity for agricultural products of the province.

In order to attract more people to join e-commerce platforms, the Department of Information and Communications continues to coordinate with related units to diversify products on e-commerce platforms, thereby, it stimulates consumer’s demand inside and outside the province; it also calls on suppliers of agricultural materials to participate in e-commerce to create online shopping habits for farmers. In particular, it promotes the development of soft ATMs at commune cultural post offices to create favorable conditions for people in remote areas in non-cash payments as well as convenient money withdrawal and recharge; coordinates with farmers to improve product quality by producing according to good agricultural practice standards such as VietGAP, GlobalGAP, organic standard, focusing on product packaging as well as stamping traceability in order to improve their credits with consumers.”

Mr. Hoang Manh Tuan, Director of Viettelpost Lang Son said: “We are researching on producing suitable packaging, labels for all kinds of agricultural products of the province. Along with that, we actively guide the stall owners to exploit their advantages in product consumption links, thus, the stalls regularly operate and bring in a source of profit for the owners.

With the efforts of relevant units, it is believed that in the coming time, the digital economy development program will continue to receive attention from all classes of people in the province.