Livestreaming nets huge revenue surge for rice distributor APG Eco

Vietnamese rice distributor APG Eco is getting an average of 8,000-10,000 orders each day with a breakthrough tactic of livestreaming on the TikTok platform, says founder and chairwoman Dang Thuy Linh.

Linh, a new comer in rice trading, said success in the industry was very difficult to achieve without a long-term strategy and good direction from the beginning.

"Many people have sold rice at supermarkets and stores. If you want to position your name, you must find a different way. And I chose to sell rice on the TikTok platform,” she said.

“Now is the age of technology, everyone has a phone and online shopping is huge; and TikTok offers a lot of incentives to customers including free shipping and discounts, so sellers can attract huge orders," she added.

Linh made a breakthrough decision to sell rice through e-commerce, something no Vietnamese rice brands had tried before.

Besides the new sales channel, APG Eco offers solutions focused on product quality and packaging, she noted.

"Quality is a prerequisite and we chose ST25 and Lua Tom, the leading varieties of rice in Vietnam, as key products. In addition, we also improved the packaging and chose ‘Rice Beauty’ as our brand.”

Linh explained further that APG Eco had an advantage in the control of raw material areas, fertilizer quality, soil and irrigation through a system of factories and affiliated farmers throughout the Mekong Delta.

When the company started livestreaming at the end of 2023, there were zero visitors and orders, initially. Linh acknowledged that changing purchasing behavior in a market that was familiar with traditional transactions and had an old-age customer segment was very difficult.

"Serving from factory to kitchen" was the message APG Eco used to attract customers, she said, adding that instead of having to go out and bring rice home, customers just needed to place an order and in just 12 hours, it would be delivered at their doorstep.

As a result, APG Eco quicky became the largest revenue earning rice seller on TikTok with 1,000 orders per day on average. Its May 5 livestream session recorded up to 4,000 orders, bringing in revenues of VND500 million ($19,670), Linh said.

Since then, the number of orders has continuously increased, reaching 8,000-10,000 orders per day now. Its revenue has skyrocketed to more than VND1 billion ($39,340), she added.

"During the livestream sessions, APG Eco employees cook rice, try it and share their feelings and experiences with customers. We even allow customers to buy rice to try. If they feel it's not delicious, they can return it within six days,” she said.

“Overcoming initial difficulties, we have got a stable number of customers and a high rate of customers returning to buy our products,” she added.

International target

On the firm’s long-term strategy, Linh said that APG Eco owned five factories as well as rice growing areas now and controlled quality from input to output. The company was confident of taking its VEBO ST25 rice to the shelves of international supermarkets.

"Currently, we distribute about 80% of goods for the domestic market and about 20% for exports. APG Eco wants to become a leading manufacturer in the clean, organic agricultural product industry. In the future, we hope to bring the APG Eco brand to the world, affirming Vietnam's position in the international market and making the country proud," Linh said.

APG Eco is a member of APG Securities JSC (APG). In its Q4/2023 financial statement, APG said that in 2023, APG Eco received VND19.8 billion ($778,914) in investment from the parent company.

Previously, APG had bought 265,400 AGM shares of An Giang Import-Export JSC (Angimex). After completing the deal, APG Securities increased its stake in Angimex to 6.38% (equivalent to 1.1 million shares).

Angimex, considered the largest rice exporter in An Giang province, operates in agricultural supplies, trade and services, with rice and its main product. This enterprise has produced up to 350,000 tons of rice per year for demanding markets in Europe, America and Asia, utilizing nine food processing factories. It has warehouses with capacities of up to 100,000 tons and a rice drying, milling and polishing network throughout southern Vietnam.