The nation’s postal service has recently rolled out an online direct-sales model for agricultural products via its Post Mall Web site, allowing independent farmers to reach consumer markets without going through wholesalers.
Chunghwa Post chairman Philip Ong (翁文祺) said that the company’s e-commerce venture has helped 31 small-scale farmers of Yuherbau (玉荷包) lychees in Dashu (大樹), Greater Kaohsiung, in selling their products over the Internet.
“We purchased these lychees at NT$70 per 0.6 kg, which was about two to three times higher than the wholesale price,” Ong said. “We sold 16,000 boxes of them within just two weeks. All the farmers needed to do was to pick the lychees once they received the orders and put them in boxes provided by the post office. The post office, on the other hand, was in charge of marketing, delivering and collecting the payments from the consumers.”
The revenue of these farmers increased by 40 percent because of the direct-sale model, and the post office donated NT$10 per box for charity, he said.
According to Ong, the idea of selling agricultural products from small-scale farms online came in February, when postal service employees helped garlic farmers by purchasing more than 1,000kg of garlic.
The price of the garlic had hit rock bottom because of overproduction, he said.
Meanwhile, Ong also announced that the postal service is to undergo a makeover of its corporate image in September, with the changes covering the uniforms of mail carriers and service personnel, as well as the interior design of post offices.
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