The Dankook Wishes team received the highest award at the 15th Global Trade Expert Incubating Program (GTEP) Electronic Commerce Competition held at COEX on November 12, 2021. Dankook University’s (DKU) Global Trade Expert Incubating Program Business Group (DKU_GTEP Business Group) signed an agreement on April 15, 2021, to support the overseas marketing activities of Beant Corporation a project that proved to be a huge success.

▲ The Dankook Wishes team received the highest award at the 15th GTEP. (Photo from Dankook University)

   DKU_GTEP Business Group has been running since 2009 as a project to foster the development of global trade experts with support from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy' and DKU. It consists of specialized education programs such as e-trade experience programs and so on. The Beant Corporation produces vegan products and they were looking to develop their marketing in Southeast Asia, mainly in Singapore. They were having difficulty expanding their domestic distribution and overseas exports. To solve these problems, the Dankook Wishes team introduced their products to the electronic commerce platforms ‘Shopee’ and 'Alibaba'. The team is made of six members, including Park Yu-jung and Park Na-kyung (Junior, Dept. of International Trade), An So-yeon (Senior, Dept. of International Trade), Song Yong-woo (Senior, Dept. of Chinese), Hong Seok-jun(Senior, Dept. of Economics). The Dankook Herald (DKH) interviewed them to learn more about their experiences. 

Q1. What is your motivated you to join the GTEP program?     

A1. Most of the participants join this program to increase their competitiveness in the job market, especially in the export market. There are three reasons why I participated in the GTEP program. First, you can get help from receiving trade certificates. Second, you can get practical hands-on experience instead of learning from a book. In addition, you can make yourself more competitive in the job market by gaining experience from being dispatched oversea and consulting with buyers.     

Q2. What is the effect of e-marketing from electronic commerce platforms?     

A2. The biggest effect electronic commerce platforms have is ‘overcoming the constraint of time and space.' In fact, stores have a promotional effect only on the floating population located near the items for sale. On the other hand, electronic marketing is not only unlimited in time and space, but also economical. Trends in electronic marketing in 2021 are 'live broadcasts' and the 'metaverse.' This is because there are no opening costs and you can maintain continuous broadcast links.

Q3. What is the most important thing when searching for a company to work with?     

A3. We considered the ‘export possibility’, ‘company factory’ and ‘willingness to cooperate.' ‘Export possibility’ is the first condition because only competitive products will be successful regardless of price and quality. The ‘company factory’ is also important because producing products is easier, when the company has its own factory. Finally, after securing an agreement, to assess the willingness of the company to cooperate with us, we need consistent two-way communication.

Q4. What is the most significant point of oversea marketing?     

A4. In electronic commerce activity, ‘collecting objective data’ is crucial. For example, to list vegan chocolate with 'Alibaba', our team had to develop an accessible title. We extracted keywords related to the product in China and listed more than 200 titles. With an uptake in search requests, Alibaba registered our product more than five times on the main page providing key market visibility.

Q5. Were there any hardships during the contest?     

A5. This was our first electronic commerce experience and we wanted to find a good export assistance company. So, we spent a lot of time looking for marketing tools. Especially, we didn’t have enough financial support and had to create optimal efficiency with 100,000 won. We were forced to look for free marketing tools and check market response by constructing our own search engine.

Q6. What have you gained through this project?     

A6. “If you follow the trend from an objective point of view with the people around you, you will be closer to success.” What I mean by that is (1) you can’t succeed alone, (2) you can gain an unbiased perspective by discussing your thoughts, and (3) you have to explore competitive trends.

Q7. Do you have any advice for students who want to participate in the GTEP program?     

A7. Looking back, I don’t think I could ever have partnered with a company and experienced the entire export process as an undergraduate. I recommend the GTEP program to anybody who has not decided on a career path but wants to earn credentials, wants to go overseas and work with a buyer, or simply wants to become a better person.

▲ The Result of GTEP Competition (Photo from Dankook Wishes’s SNS)

   Throughout the interview, we were able to learn about the Dankook Wishes team’s efforts and participating in global trade. By overcoming difficulties they faced, they grew as team and as people and were able to accomplish something great. The DKH is looking forward to the team’s next noteworthy projects, and hopes their success inspires other Dankookians (Students of DKU) to reach for their dreams.