HANOI - Some three tons of Bac Giang lychees were exported to Frankfurt, Germany, on June 22 through the e-commerce platform, Vo So, to be sold to overseas Vietnamese living in the city.

This is the first time agricultural products are being exported to the European Union via e-commerce channels run by Vietnamese businesses.

In order to operate the cross-border e-commerce flow, the e-commerce platform of the Viettel Post Company set up the Vo So Global booth last March to target overseas consumers who want to find quality products of Vietnamese origin.

For this year’s Bac Giang lychee crop, aside from promoting domestic consumption, Vo So also introduced the specialty to the international market, helping overseas Vietnamese and consumers from other countries enjoy the Vietnamese lychee through cross-border e-commerce.

After consumers place their orders on Vo So Global, the e-commerce platform proceeds to gather orders of the lychees harvested in Vietnam and shipped by air to Germany through the transport partners of Viettel Post in Germany to be delivered to the doorsteps of consumers.

Lan Anh (Berlin, Germany) said that previously when she needed to buy fresh lychees, she had to seek out different Asian markets. The lychees sold there were either of unknown origin or dry, unlike the lychees she tasted in Bac Giang.

Nowadays, she can place an order on the Vo So platform and receive a box of fresh lychees at a reasonable price in four-five days, without having to go to a supermarket.

Vietnamese lychees delivered to German consumers are GlobalGAP standard lychees, which have been preliminarily processed to remove the damaged fruits, meeting phytosanitary and quality control requirements in Vietnam and Europe, and are sourced directly to the garden via the application provided by Icheck.

Dang Hoang Hai, director of the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy, said Vietnam has exported fruits and agricultural products to the European and Asian markets. The export of the Bac Giang lychee in the form of cross-border e-commerce by Vo So is a special milestone.

“This is a remarkable step forward for our country’s e-commerce industry in bringing high-quality fresh agricultural products to foreign markets with strict standards such as Europe,” Hai said.

To facilitate cross-border e-commerce, the Ministry of Industry has assigned the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy to take charge and coordinate with the Vo So e-commerce platform, along with the related ministries to assist in the completion of import and export procedures, quarantine and quality control procedures for goods, fully meeting the host country’s strict requirements.

Beside the Bac Giang lychee, Vo So will continue to export many other products to the world market.