"In 2018, Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhu Trang established the Son Dung Tea Cooperative to increase the value of traditional tea produced by smallholder farmers through the diversification of high-quality, market-driven products and by applying international quality and sustainability standards. The cooperative’s tea products have been exported since 2020.

The USAID Improving Private Sector Competitiveness (IPSC) Activity, through its course on “Market Expansion through E-Commerce,” trained Ms. Trang on digital content strategy, online branding, social media marketing, digital channel management, writing skills for marketing content, and in utilizing free digital marketing tools such as Google Maps and search engine optimization. Ms. Trang applied the skills learned at the training course and shared them with members of the cooperative. She immediately improved brand consistency across all channels, including the cooperative’s website, social media, and e-commerce platforms. She also enhanced digital content by integrating eye-catching photos and improving search engine optimization to increase the number of visitors to the cooperative’s online marketing platforms.

The Son Dung Tea Cooperative’s improvements in online marketing have resulted in a dramatic increase of more than 10,000 followers on Facebook and Zalo, with these two platforms now accounting for 30% of total revenue. In addition, the cooperative has seen a 30% increase in new inquiries from potential customers compared to the number of inquiries before the USAID IPSC training course. Most impressively, the cooperative’s annual revenue increased by 15% compared with 2022. Ms. Trang is confident that brand recognition will continue improving long term and that the cooperative will expand its membership and purchase more tea from local farmers to support the local community sustainably."