Laboratory for online commerce
淘宝班教你成为网店CEO 作者：XU WEIWEI, 21ST CENTURY STAFF 时间：2009-11-19
来源：21世纪英文报第830期
Students from Wenzhou University's Oujiang College learning how to design an online shop. PROVIDED BY ZHANG YIMAN
BONUS
hold back
阻碍, 抑制，退缩
Jim has been held back a year in college because of his illness the first year.
吉姆因为大学第一年生病，他必须再多留一年才能毕业。
hands-on approach
采取动手实践的方法
In my anatomy class we're expected to have a hands-on approach, but I'm still uneasy about cutting up animals.
在我的解剖学课程上，我们需要采取亲自动手实践的办法，但是切开小动物们还是让我感到非常不安。
Internet fraud
网络诈欺
I tell you, Internet fraud is getting out of control, so you need to be extra careful about releasing any credit card information.
我告诉你，网络诈欺已经难以控制，对于透露你的任何个人信用卡信息，你必须加倍小心。
英语词汇解析
assign 分配, 指派
code 密码
cultivate 培养
delivery 递送, 交付
infant 幼儿
layout 设计
refine 使完善，变得更高雅
resort 求助, 诉诸
setting 情景
ballet 芭蕾舞
commodity 日用品
graphic 绘画的
profitable 有利可图的
tuition 学费
update 更新
automobile 汽车
backdrop 背景
converse 交谈，谈话
coordination 协调, 协同动作
elective 选修课程
guilt 内疚
interpersonal 人与人之间的
logistics 后勤
novice 新手
stab 努力；试图；尝试
symphonic 交响乐的
A NUMBER of college students who want to take a stab at business have resorted to opening online shops at Taobao.com. But the contrast between the ease of entry and the amount of competition has been quite a shock.
In response, Wenzhou University came up with a Taobao Class, a training course specifically targeting online businesses. The university's Oujiang College, in Zhejiang, offered it as an elective, available to all students in April. It finished two days ago and was very popular.
In just six months, the class brought obvious benefits to the first group of students. It cultivate both practical and theoretical skills in the 25 young people who were dreaming of an e-business career in the future.
“The course didn't simply teach them about how to start and run a profitable online shop,” commented Zhang Yiman, the e-commerce teacher who's in charge of it. “Instead, it drew an overall picture of the current nature and future of e-commerce.” She said they even learnt how to build their own online business platform, independent from Taobao.com.
Diverse group
The class was not organized in a traditional way, according to Zhang. Actually, the 25 students consisted of both novices and experienced Taobao shop owners. The class was designed as a “Taobao business-starting experimental lab”, where the students work together on real projects in a laboratory setting. They were assigned to eight different departments of a company: logistics, marketing, administration, technology, sales, commodity supplies, finance and management.
The class started out by opening regular shops on Taobao and improved themselves by sharing business ideas and specialized skills with each other.
Liu Hao, a senior who already ran a clothing and telephone card shop with an excellent credit level, says that even she had something to learn. She lacked experience producing high-quality pictures of the goods she displayed in her Taobao shop.
Before, she didn't know to adjust the lighting and backdrop to make her clothes look attractive in pictures. “Also, I wasn't sure about doing the layout of my virtual shop with special software. But I solved all the problems quickly by conversing with the graphic designers at the lab,” Liu said. “In exchange, I gave them sales tips. It was a friendly and active learning atmosphere in the lab.”
Ambition
There were also lectures on the legal and technical aspects given by experts from Alibaba. Another student, Zhu Jindi, 23, an administration major, learned how to run promotions by handing out free gifts or using discounted products to boost sales. She also learned how to deal with Internet fraud. “My bank code was stolen by a ‘buyer', but I now know how to avoid that,” she said.
Eventually, the students found that they were more ambitious than they had thought and weren't satisfied with just individual shops. So, Yang Feixiang, 23, the class monitor and a senior in marketing and sales, got the idea of creating Taobao shops with established brands and shifting from a customer-to-customer model to a business-to-customer one.
Yang got his first deal from the domestic shoemaker Aokang for an online shop at Taobao. To secure it, he agreed to handle the project for free, but the group members didn't agree at first. They thought that doing it for free would mean too much of their time and energy.
“But I persuaded them by saying that we needed a reputation and at least one successful case.” That turned out to be very beneficial, since managing an online shop for a well-known brand developed their professional spirit.
Big change
The students learned to refine their behavior to maintain the established image of the company. Liu, who works at customer service, says she's come a long way with her wording and phrasing.
“In the past, when a customer told me to deliver a product at once, I might say, ‘I'm busy at the moment. You can either wait or go to another shop,'” she explained. “But now I say, ‘Your needs are noted and we'll deal with it as soon as possible. Thanks for your understanding.'”
The successful Aokang shop outcome has won them other projects as well as job opportunities. “Many companies are going after our classmates after hearing about our cases ,” said Zhu, “They wish to hire us to enhance their online business sector.”
And the students are moving ahead: They're building a business portal and have designed an online toy shopping mall on an infant education forum. And a supply shop for any Wenzhou student with dreams of starting a business – like they had.
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