Da Nang City has begun selling 477 of its regional certified specialty "OCOP" products on the app of the ride-hailing and delivery major Grab. It set up a dedicated section called "OCOP – Da Nang Specialties" on GrabMart (food and daily-goods delivery) and GrabFood, and has first organized and released data on more than 80 producers and 14 sales points. The report is dated August 10, 2026. For Japanese agricultural-product buyers and procurement staff, it is a story readable as a concrete example of channel design, in which a ride-hailing app can become a "new shelf" for regional specialties.
Da Nang's 477 OCOP products built up by "4, 80, 393"
The number of OCOP certifications Da Nang City published is 477. The breakdown is 4 at 5 stars, 80 at 4 stars, and 393 at 3 stars, which add up to exactly 477. OCOP (One Commune One Product), which Vietnam rolled out nationwide in 2018, is a regional-product certification system that scores taste, quality, brand power, and production regime out of 100, giving 3 stars for 50–69 points, 4 stars for 70–89, and 5 stars for 90 and above. Certified products of 3 stars and above number about 17,400 across all Vietnam as of the end of 2025. That 3 stars make up over 80% of Da Nang's 477, with only 4 reaching 5 stars, shows from the figures a structure of "stock yet to be polished."
According to the report, Da Nang City expects about 150 more certifications within the year. In a system where increasing the number of certifications itself easily becomes the goal, this time differs from the past in that it moved the certified products together with "where to sell them." How many items Vietnamese agriculture has is organized by item in a list of Vietnam's crops but that very diversity has also been a trouble of dispersed channels.
Lining up from 80 businesses and 14 points on GrabMart and GrabFood
What Grab prepared this time is not a mere product page. On top of GrabFood and GrabMart, it combines Grab's "smart warehouse (Kho hang thong minh)" function, putting ordering through delivery on a single flow line. At the launch stage it standardized product data for more than 80 producers and 14 retail points, with a plan to extend sequentially to the remaining OCOP goods in September 2026. Grab is said to be coaching producers individually on everything from how to list digitally to payment and promotion design.
This is where it works in practice. Even if Vietnamese regional producers go solo onto Shopee or TikTok Shop, many cases stall somewhere in photography, inventory, delivery, or payment and do not last. Because Grab already holds a delivery network and users' payment habits in urban areas, producers can concentrate on "lining up on the shelf." The structural challenge of Vietnamese agriculture, which has depended on middlemen and missed value added in the downstream of processing and sales, was also touched on in the Vietnam produce guide and turning a ride-hailing app into a channel is positioned as a move to take part of that downstream back to the producer side.
The national treasure Ngoc Linh ginseng lines up on the app, a commodity born of a provincial merger
Among the specialties joining, what catches the eye is product related to sam Ngoc Linh (Ngoc Linh ginseng). A rare highland ginseng called a "national treasure (quoc bao)" in Vietnam, it was originally a product of the Nam Tra My area of neighboring Quang Nam Province. With Quang Nam Province merged into Da Nang City in 2025, Ngoc Linh ginseng became administratively a "Da Nang specialty," and the city has put forward a policy of growing the Tra Linh area into a national ginseng hub. This Grab listing is the first entry point for delivering that high-value-added commodity directly to urban consumers.
A commodity like a rare highland ginseng differs in character from a primary product whose price swings with supply and demand. What the coffee-price surge brought Vietnamese farmers is the explainer article on the coffee surge summed up there, but raw material swayed by the market and certified specialty products that can hold their price by production area and brand demand different things of their channels. The former hinges on export lots and the market; the latter on a direct-sales channel that can deliver traceability and story. The decision to put OCOP goods on Grab is also a bet on how far the latter's character can be stretched on urban small-lot demand.
How does it differ from Japan's roadside stations and direct-sales e-commerce?
The idea of selling regional specialties digitally is not itself new. Japan has roadside stations, JA, and direct-sales e-commerce like Pocket Marche and Tabechoku. But Da Nang's approach this time differs in aim from a dedicated e-commerce site in that it inserts specialties into the "add-on purchase" flow line of a super-app that already grips drawing customers, payment, and delivery. Direct-sales e-commerce gathers "people who come to buy specialties," but Grab mixes specialties into the screen of "people ordering tonight's meal or daily goods." It is designed to capture new customers by cutting into the life flow line rather than purposeful visits.
The implications for the Japanese side are also concrete. For food makers and importers who want to handle high-value-added material like Ngoc Linh ginseng, the present phase, with producer data standardized and the administration waving the flag, makes it easy to enter procurement negotiations while confirming production-area information and certification grades. Conversely, among the 393 3-star products that are certified but have thin sales destinations, there may be OEM-raw-material candidates that will grow into 4 and 5 stars.
Points agricultural-product buyers should grasp
What is of high certainty in this move is the number of certifications (477 products), the breakdown (4 at 5 stars, 80 at 4 stars, 393 at 3 stars), the initial target scale (over 80 companies, 14 points), the September expansion plan, and the outlook of 150 more certifications within the year. On the other hand, money figures such as sales, transaction volume, and discount rates are not shown in the primary source. To measure the effect, the quickest way is to track how many products the OCOP section on Grab actually grows to from September onward, and how much exposure 5-star-class goods such as Ngoc Linh ginseng gain. What Da Nang is testing is whether it can connect the "entry point" of certification and the "outlet" of a ride-hailing app and dissolve regional specialties into urban daily consumption. The real novelty this time lies in the 393 products that began moving before climbing all the way up the certification ladder.
Sources
- Nong Nghiep & Moi Truong, "OCOP dac san Da Nang len Grab tim khach moi" (August 10, 2026) https://nongnghiepmoitruong.vn/ocop-dac-san-da-nang-len-grab-tim-khach-moi-d825353.html
- Dan Viet, "After the Quang Nam-Da Nang merger, Tra Linh becomes a national Ngoc Linh ginseng hub" Article URL
- FAO / Vietnam News (background on the OCOP system, star-certification criteria, and national certification counts) https://vietnamnews.vn/economy/1690849/28-products-receive-five-star-national-ocop-rating.html
