The first ever free Lelong.com.my training session on e-Commerce for Penang was held at the Wawasan Open University (WOU) main campus on May 5 and 6.
The workshop called ‘Class 101 – Now Everybody Can Sell Online’ was conducted by Adrian Foong, Business Development Manager of Interbase Resources Sdn Bhd, the company responsible for Malaysia’s pioneer auction website with more than 10,000 registered members.
The class was spread into four different 3-hour sessions over the weekend; three of the sessions were conducted in English and the other in Mandarin. Many of the participants turned up without prior registration to record a total of over 200 participants for the workshop.
PARTICIPANTS TURN UP FOR THE WORKSHOP.
WOU not only played host but was part sponsor of the event as well. As such, e-invitations were sent out to all its students to provide them the opportunity to know more about conducting business online. Many of the WOU students who attended found the workshop helpful, especially since electronic commerce is a core major course for the Bachelor of Technology (Hons) in Electronic Commerce programme and offered as an elective for the Commonwealth Executive MBA (CeMBA) programme.
Foong presented his points in a very interactive and entertaining manner. The workshop was quite educational and informative, as he started off with introducing Lelong.com.my and how it could help to increase sales in a company. The class then continued with discussions on the payment gateways – e.g. what is the right payment gateway, how to enjoy low transactions fee – and courier services before he concluded with effective marketing or seller tips for an e-Commerce business to increase buyer confidence and sales revenue.
Overall, the participants were exposed to the basic and step-by-step instructions on how they can use the auction site to the maximum, and also gained a better understanding of e-Commerce. Many of them had yet to venture officially into the arena of e-Commerce but had tried buying and selling online as consumers and were now considering taking it further. The participants ranged in ages and were very diverse in their background, some being retirees and housewives and others managers in the MNCs.
Lelong.com.my was initially based on Consumer-to-Consumer transactions when it began in 1998. It has evolved into a portal for Business-to-Consumer relationships as distributors realise the potential of the online auction system and now use the site to trade and develop their existing business.
