Pinduoduo’s Duo Duo University Equips E-commerce Merchants with Skills in Setting Up Digital Business
What is Duo Duo University?
Introduced in 2019, Duo Duo University was first launched by China’s social commerce platform Pinduoduo as a local program in Yunnan Province which provides week-long training sessions to equip farmers with important skills for opening an online store on its marketplace, including resources for the understanding of e-commerce, finance, business operations and marketing.
The program was then developed into an official online education platform for all Pinduoduo merchants to learn step-by-step how to build their digital business. The courses it provides range from “naming your online store” to “setting prices for your products”, as well as guidance on the stores’ daily operation, customer service and marketing in the forms of articles, video and livestreaming sessions.
Side by side with Chinese universities
Pinduoduo has worked with Chinese universities on a training program called “10,000 New Agricultural Merchants” in 2020, according to a June report by China Agricultural University on the development of China’s rural e-commerce talents. With assistance from China Agricultural University, Pinduoduo will train 10,000 new farmers within 5 years and explore innovative models in the agricultural industry to effectively help the country’s final push to eliminate poverty. Professors from China Agricultural University have conducted professional training for merchants on the cultivation and safety of agricultural products, brand promotion, logistics, etc. Meanwhile, lecturers from Duo Duo University have taught how to carry out e-commerce activities of agricultural products on the Pinduoduo marketplace.
For example, the company worked with Yi Ethnic Group in Chuxiong, Yunnan Province in September 2019, training 102 local merchants from 10 counties in the prefecture-level city on how to launch a business, the platform’s policies and operation management skills. Duo Duo University also works with the city of Shouguang in Shandong Province, China’s major vegetable-providing hub, on R&D for vegetable growing technologies, brand building and marketing. The online training will help the city gradually upgrade its agricultural product supply chain.
Educational Platforms for E-commerce Operators
Similar to Pinduoduo’s Duo Duo University, which is designed for helping online vendors launch their business and improve their operating skills, Alibaba’s Taobao University consists of senior management from the online marketplace and teaches how to build a digital business. Located in Hangzhou, students of the university are Taobao business owners or entrepreneurs from small-and-medium-sized companies, who attend courses that range from a few weeks to several months.
Taobao University has conducted two online training webinars for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) on navigating their post-pandemic recovery, the company announced in its press release on Thursday. With China being one of the first markets to be impacted by COVID-19, the webinars shared practices from brands who were initially affected by the pandemic and their actions to recovery, while also sharing insights from Alibaba’s way of managing the crisis as a company. Over 500 SMEs from regions such as Europe, Africa, and North and Southeast Asia attended these webinars by Taobao University certified lecturers.
Chinese food delivery giant Meituan Dianping has also announced the establishment of “Meituan University” in 2019, a vocational education project, including establishing nine colleges to offer training sessions on catering, delivery, lodging and customer service, etc. The university has planned to team up with 1,000 vocational schools nationwide, ensuring their courses can reach over 100 million people, according to Rongjun Mu, co-founder and senior vice president of Meituan.
