Many Chinese companies “save themselves” through online courses during the Covid-19.
“Internet likes a super-brain, which made the most timely and effective response in face of the Covid-19,” said He Yifan, the president of JinJinLeDao Book Club.
While many Chinese companies were damaged seriously during the Covid-19, some internet companies had unexpected developments. According to data from IMEDIa.com, 63.1 per cent of Chinese users bought knowledge payment products during the Covid-19.
According to the financial report of the first quarter of 2020 released by Chinese Netease Youdao company showing that the net revenue of the Netease Youdao was $110 million, with a year-on-year growth of 139.8 per cent. Netease Youdao is a company that provides online learning products through big data technology. Additionally, it has published a series of online products such as Youdao quality class, Youdao cloud notes, and Youdao promotional course. The optimization of the salary structure of teachers, which increase the gross profit margin of learning products and services from 18.5 per cent in the same period last year to 48.7 per cent in 2020.
According to the financial report of Netease Youdao, the number of people paying for online courses reached 276,000, which increase by 59.5 per cent from the previous quarter. Moreover, there were 153,000 people paid for Youdao’s full price courses, which up from the previous quarter 358.7 per cent year on year. In the first quarter of 2020, the average price of Youdao’s online courses was $338 per student, up 158.2 per cent year-on-year.
“The market demand for high-quality online learning products has increased dramatically during the Covid-19. Sales of online courses increased by 287 per cent year-on-year to $520 million in the first quarter,” Netease Youdao’s president Zhou Feng said in the financial report.
Many Chinese SMEs (small and medium enterprises) turned a profit by opening and optimizing online courses during the Covid-19.
According to the data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China, in 2017, there were nearly 62 million individual companies and 28 million enterprise legal persons in China. Furthermore, SMEs account for more than 80 per cent, which over 90 per cent of the Chinese market. In the face of crisis, SMEs have an important impact on the national economy. The advantage of SMEs is the flexibility of timely adjustment.
“ Turning offline curriculum activities into online courses is like posing our company to the highway during the Covid-19. The epidemic also likes a shakeout. And the market is necessary to change a lot and give the survivors a bigger share of the market during the special period. Through the worst of times, consumer spending will rebound and the survivors will prosper,” Said He Yifan, President of JinJinLeDao Book Club.
JinJinLeDao Book Club is a company dedicated to organizing young entrepreneurs to read books. “Before the Covid-19, the Club has invited a lot of successful entrepreneurs from various industries in China. Those famous entrepreneurs read classic books and share their entrepreneurial experiences with participants. Our target is to help young entrepreneurs find a clear direction along the way,” said Li Jingzhuo, President Assistant of JinJinLeDao Book Club.
As a company focusing on offline education for many years, JinJinLeDao Reading Club has held nearly 300 courses in 218 cities. The number of offline activities exceeding 60,000. However, the offline courses cannot be conducted normally due to the epidemic. The company has suffered heavy losses and laid off 19 employees from December 2019 to February 2020.
“We had to change and broaden new distribution channels at that time. Fortunately, our company has transformed courses from offline to online now,” said Li Jingzhuo.
On March 8, 2020, the club has launched the course which is “Continuous Recovery — Online Training Camp”. The training camp is the first time for the company to optimize, iterate, and transfer the course system from offline to online.
According to He Yifan, the online training camp has been effective so far, and it has achieved great results for the company. In the era of data, digital transformation is a problem that most enterprises have to face. “ Our company will continue to optimize the teaching content and technical ability to retain users through a better learning effect and service experience,” said He Yifan.
Online courses cater to users’ need to study at home.
The professional optical lens brand Shima Trading (Shanghai) adjusted the marketing model during the Covid-19. Shima is a company that makes camera-swapping lenses. It innovated a series of webcast courses on Bilibili during the epidemic to improve user stickiness and boost product sales. Bilibili is a well-known Chinese video website.
Du Haolin, a user of the Shima online course, said the online course allows him to learn professional knowledge related to photography at home.
“I had watched the live courses of Shama at Bilibili for 67 days without a break Since 1 February 2020! Additionally, some of the teachers for this course are very charismatic. During the live broadcast, there were also many question-and-answer sessions, and if you answer the right questions, you will have the chance to rent Shima’s products for free,” said Du Haolin.
This kind of edutainment helped Shima to achieve good sales performance during the Covid-19. At the same time, users who did not catch up with the live broadcast can also watch the playback of live courses.
“ Shima’s online courses can be replayed at any time, which makes learning times more freedom. The courses involve a series of knowledge such as lenses, camera introductions, and home photography. We can use the knowledge to develop our style of photography of the landscapes, pets, and flowers around us. Also, I have purchased two lenses from Shama. I believe in the quality of Shima’s products because of their online courses,” said Du Haolin.
