Transforming Vietnam’s Food & Beverage Scene: 3 E-Commerce Trends Reshaping Dining

With the rapid evolution of technology, have you considered how your dining habits may transform in the coming decade?

As of 2019, IBM’s report highlighted Vietnam’s food and beverage market has been emerging as one of the most enticing globally, ranking among Asia’s top ten in growth rate. Currently, in its stability phase, the F&B sector is projected to be dominated by digital trends, particularly one-touch meal deliveries.

Here are three notable F&B trends shaped by e-commerce, offering a glimpse into future food consumption habits:

1. Online Groceries: Home delivery of fresh produce

Online grocery shopping, enabled by apps or websites, simplifies your purchasing process with a few taps.

This mode of shopping is predicted to become commonplace, where you’d easily browse and buy varieties of meat, fish, and vegetables from the comfort of home rather than making daily market visits. Further, delivery apps provide comprehensive product details, like origin, price, and brand, streamlining the shopping process and saving precious time.

This trend has gained traction thanks to a report by Q&Me on “Vietnam Food Ordering Trends 2022,” indicating food delivery apps have become the preferred choice across age groups post-pandemic, with 18-25-year-olds comprising 81%.

In response to this trend, ride-hailing apps such as Grab, BAEMIN, Be, and GoJek have expanded their services to deliver fresh food. Likewise, large supermarkets like WinMart, LOTTE Mart, and BigC have launched websites for home deliveries.

E-commerce platforms, including Shopee, Lazada, Sendo, and Tiki, have joined the fray, selling food products akin to an "online supermarket."

How does this e-commerce boom impact consumers and businesses? Firstly, it offers customers quick, convenient access to any product. Moreover, it significantly alleviates the financial pressures on small F&B enterprises, reducing the need for maintaining physical outlets.

2. Multichannel Shopping: Choose Where and When to Buy

Beyond mere convenience, 81% of customers seek a seamless shopping experience, as highlighted by a Linnworks survey. This seamless approach, known as “omnichannel” or multichannel sales, allows customers to buy at their preferred shopping destination.

Picture this: you search for “Udon noodles” on Google, and suddenly, your Facebook feed is filled with appealing local Udon restaurants.

You'd get recommendations on Facebook and Instagram stories might offer attractive options. If you fancy a dish, you could click a button to inquire about the menu, seating, and atmosphere before deciding.

This customer-centric approach keeps you feeling supported throughout your shopping journey. The challenge for F&B businesses, however, lies in managing their supply chain efficiently to deliver a seamless omnichannel experience. This process comes with its fair share of challenges, such as supply risks and transportation issues.

According to the 2022 Vietnam F&B Market Report, 99% of F&B businesses faced operational challenges, and nearly 50% had difficulty with financial management and material loss.

So, how can these supply chain issues be mitigated?

3. Digitize Everything, Including the F&B Supply Chain

In a nutshell, digitization makes the F&B ecosystem more streamlined, efficient, and risk-averse. This ecosystem includes:

• HORECA: An acronym for "Hotel, Restaurant, and Catering/Cafe," representing all businesses within the hotel and food service sector.
• Distribution Channels: These suppliers meet HORECA’s business needs, providing everything from furniture and technology to cooking ingredients and beverages.
• Customers: The end consumers who ultimately consume the food.

Today, SME restaurants often grapple with intense competition from established brands or financially robust enterprises. These businesses also face supply risks, such as delayed or insufficient delivery or subpar quality of raw materials.

The solution? Digitizing operational management through online apps is trending as a strategy that addresses both HORECA and supplier-side challenges.

A leader in this trend is the Oda app. Embracing an “Order, So Easy” philosophy, Oda presents a digital solution for the B2B activities of F&B businesses in Vietnam, aiming to mitigate multi-channel operational risks. Here's how the Oda app aids businesses:

• Simplify Operations: Streamline the process to enhance efficiency and boost productivity.
• Order Management and Progress Tracking: Manage orders effectively and provide real-time delivery updates.

• Real-time Spending Status and Reports: The app offers detailed and summary reports for businesses to analyze, assess, and forecast long-term growth potential and risks.
• Simplify Documentation: Minimize paperwork through online operation, ensuring data accuracy and providing an overall view of operations.
• Optimize Operational Costs: Reduce workforce burden and inventory-related costs.
• Expand Supplier Network: Diversify distributor options, improve quality, and ensure seamless communication between HORECA and suppliers.

Moreover, rigorous control over ingredients helps the F&B industry minimize food waste. This caters to sustainable ESG needs for environmental preservation and optimizes costs.

Early usage data show that Oda saves 76% of shopping time for HORECA, increases efficiency, and mitigates human error by 98%. Suppliers using Oda have seen a 27% revenue increase thanks to expanded connections with HORECA businesses.

Oda’s intuitive interface and professional management features make it a valuable tool in the digital transformation of F&B operations. This approach, necessary in today's digital age, paves the way for the growth of F&B businesses and their ecosystem.

Digitizing F&B operations is the right direction in the digital age, where every business needs technological solutions to their problems.

In the tech era, just as in the F&B sector with its rapid-fire orders, it won't be long before all our needs are met with a simple screen tap. This integration ensures that our quality of life continually improves in terms of convenience and optimization.

Oda provides SaaS to F&B players (Buyers and Suppliers) and connects buyers and suppliers. With more than 600 suppliers’ networks, Oda provides an easy and cost-saving way to place and receive orders for F&B businesses. Buyers, such as hotels. restaurants, cafes, and bakeries, only need to order 1 time for multiple Suppliers on our system (APP and Web), then they have all purchasing data.

Suppliers can also use our system to control and manage orders, inventory, and even outstanding receivables.

Through SaaS for Buyers and Suppliers, Oda is building a true F&B Platform that can service the F&B industry in Vietnam.