On December 21^st, the “2012 Forum on Developing Online Shopping”, to which our School provided academic support, was held in the Yuan Tianfan Lecture Hall of our School. Jointly organized by Yangpu District Commerce Commission, Oriental CJ Home Shopping (OCJ), and China Business Network (CBN), the Forum attracted an audience of nearly 300.

Taking on the theme of “To Prosper in An Era of E-commerce: A Challenge for the Retailers”, the Forum invited representatives from major e-commerce retailers such as OCJ, Yintai.com and Suning.com as well as specialists and scholars to discuss the prospects of the online shopping industry and how retailers can respond to the era of e-commerce. The Forum was also attended by many distinguished guests such as Mr. Wan Donghui, Deputy Secretary General of the China Electronic Commerce Association; Ms. Dongying SHI, Director Assistant of the Shanghai Commercial Information Center; Mr. Xingshou JIN, Managing Director of OCJ; and Associate Dean Zhiwen YIN of our School.

The Forum started with a speech by Associate Dean YIN of School, in which he indicated that the online shopping industry has become quite mature as an emerging industry. However, the advent of a new era has inevitably brought new problems and challenges, including increasingly heavy logistics workloads that the traditional extensive online marketing model can no longer handle. Associate Dean YIN also stressed the importance of word-of-mouth reputation and post-sale service packages for retailers in the e-commerce era.　

Associate Dean YIN of School delivering a speech in the Forum

Then the three speakers from the online retailing industry: Vice President Xin TONG of Yintai.com; Market Director Juanqing MIN of Suning.com; and Media Department Director Zaisheng YU each delivered a speech and had discussions and exchanges with Dr. Deqiang ZOU from the Department of Marketing of our School.

　(From the left) Vice President TONG of Yintai.com; Market Director MIN of Suning.com; Media Department Director YU of OCJ; and Dr. ZOU of our School in the Forum

In the following roundtable discussion, Mr. Hongman MA, a CBN program host; Dr. Deqiang ZOU; E-commerce Director Yinan XIE of Analysis International; CEO Jun LIU of Yesmywine; and Mr. Qiang ZHANG, a co-founder of Red Ambers had further dialogues and discussions about the topic of “How to Integrate the Internet Gene into Offline Sales”.

　(From the left) Mr. MA serving as the moderator; Dr. ZOU of our School, CEO LIU of Yesmywine; E-commerce Director XIE of Analysis International; and Mr. ZHANG of Red Embers in the roundtable discussion

Each of the panelists freely expressed their opinions and enthusiastically discussed about the fierce price war, innovative reforms, and the increasingly noticeable trend of using large platforms in the e-commerce industry in 2012.

When commenting how the retail industry can respond to the e-commerce era, the four panelists proposed several suggestions particularly for SME retailers. According to them, differentiation from competitors, accurate positioning and innovation are the key to success. For small and medium-size e-commerce retailers, finding suitable market segmentation can bring a breakthrough of business development. For SMEs entering the e-commerce industry, the panelists suggested they start with less noticed products of already popular brands. In addition, for SMEs unique products are more likely to bring profits than improved ones.

Dec. 25, 2012