Internet, the perfect tool to strengthen exports in the agri-food sector

Knowing how to use a tool as powerful as the Internet to start a strategy of internationalization in cooperatives or agri-food industries has been the main starting point of the conference on “Digital Exports” held on 23th February in Tomelloso by Agro-food Cooperatives Castilla-La Mancha, with the collaboration of Santander Bank.

The deputy director of Agro-food Cooperatives Castilla-La Mancha, Juan Miguel del Real, in charge of inaugurating the day with Lorena Ruiz, territorial head of Agro-La Mancha of Santander Bank and Vanessa Rodríguez, responsible for Institutional Relations of IPEX, said that “the current dimension of the Internet dispels any doubts about its economic and social importance, a valuable tool for marketing, but few traditional companies have been able to take the right match, when its advantages are applicable to virtually every type of business”.

“For this reason, we have explained to cooperatives and agro-food industries the benefits and characteristics of this new marketing channel; that is a starting point for the cooperatives to enter this new sales channel, especially if we are aware that we all want the cooperatives to market and make the leap to internationalization. This is not only the future but also the present”.

The closure was carried out by the director of Agro-food Cooperatives Castilla-La Mancha, José Luis Rojas, and the director of Business Agro Santander Spain, Carlos Seara. “We must take advantage of the many technological tools, such as the Alibaba, Amazon or e-Bay marketplace, to spread our products; It is important to adapt to the times, the new tools and take advantage of them”, said José Luis Rojas.

The participants of this day have agreed on the need for agri-food products to be channeled through electronic commerce as an alternative to conventional trade

The perfect sector for digital export

To make the leap to digital exports, the first thing to do is to open the mind to new technologies, as one of the speakers of the day assures, Dori Lopez, manager of Innova Consulting, “there has been a revolution from the hands of major players, marketplace, such as Amazon, Alibaba or e-Bay, which are complementary channels, alternative to the on-line store itself”.

Dori López states that “to export via the Internet, the first thing is to register in a marketplace, regardless of having a sales channel of its own in a specific destination country; ideally, it should be a company with experience in exporting and betting on new technologies, with a sufficient level of knowledge to attract traffic through the networks”.

And in this sense, the manager of Innova encourages to make the leap to digital export, because this is the best sector to do it, “the agri-food sector is one of the industries that is taking the first steps, because it has the full meaning of World: if you want to export, for example, bulbs, technology …, your overseas supplier is probably already selling it, but the Spanish agri-food product has no competition, because of its quality, its origin, that is why it is the perfect sector and I encourage you to take the plunge”.

Program of the day

The event, which was attended by 60 people, has addressed the introduction to digital export, by Dori López, followed by “Electronic markets as an international sales tool”, by Fernando Aparicio, director of Amvos Digital, and “The means of payment applied to the international e-commerce”, by Sergio Íinsula, of Santander Bank.

Finally, “The key logistics aspects for success in international e-commerce” has been addressed, by Marta Belloso, product manager of DHL, and Dori López has explained several practical cases of digital internationalization.

The day has been sponsored by Santander Bank and has the collaboration of the Regional Institute of Agricultural and Forestry Research and Development of Castilla-La Mancha (IRIAF), Consulting Innova, SIC Agroalimentaria, ACM Specialists in Agrifood Risks, Alibaba.com, DHL And Amvos.

Source: Cooperativas Agroalimentarias de Castilla-La Mancha

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