dkrc Chapter 23 Forum Discussion
Chapter 23 Forum Discussion
After thinking about it, I realized I had prepared a method that I could now use.
That is, supporting niche labels.
In short, "fluorescent stockings" is a niche product category created by Lin Mu. Lin Mu prepared the materials and submitted them to the review department for approval. This category was indeed not available on Alibaba before, and stores that exclusively offer this category will receive a dedicated traffic entry point.
For example, if a female user frequently searches for items like clothing, socks, and stockings, a recommendation like "Recently popular searches: fluorescent stockings" will appear below the search box. The fluorescent stockings item will be highlighted with a trending keyword tag to attract clicks. Once the user clicks on this tag, the first item on the first page will be "Spring Diary."
Applying for this label support is a privilege unique to shop assistants. The reason Lin Mu hadn't arranged it before was because he couldn't benefit from it—this product category was essentially something he'd brought from his later life, and he couldn't share in the profits. Why should he be doing all the work for the factory manager for nothing?
Things are different now.
Lin Mu used WPS 2007 to create a document detailing evidence that "fluorescent stockings" were a unique product category created by "Spring Diary." After completing the document, Lin Mu sent it to his colleagues in the review department via the internal email system. Incidentally, Alibaba Cloud email was only launched in 2009; in 2008, Alibaba employees all used email addresses ending in alibaba.com to communicate.
While waiting for the review to be approved, Lin Mu took a break from his work and browsed the Taobao seller forum. In 2008, the Taobao seller forum had not yet been integrated into the later Taobao merchant community. Many e-commerce giants from later generations observed, learned, and exchanged ideas on the forum.
Strictly speaking, Lin Mu browsing the seller forum during work hours doesn't count as slacking off. Jack Ma set a rule that every Alibaba employee must register an account on the seller forum and spend their free time answering questions, collecting sellers' pain points, and essentially acting as customer service. This rule has been implemented very well to this day; even Alibaba's top management, such as Jack Ma and Lu Zhaoxi, occasionally pop up on the forum.
Lin Mu saw two very interesting posts in the forum's chat section.
One of the posts was titled: "This Brother Li's shop is amazing! Does anyone know who's running it?"
Clicking into the post, he found that the poster was an underwear seller. He would scan the rankings daily to follow new competitors, learning from those who did well. One day, he saw a store called "Brother Li's Shop" that received 1 orders on its first day, almost scaring him to death. He initially thought it was some money-grubbing competitor engaging in fraudulent order practices, and that the store would be shut down within hours. However, this store soared to the top of its category in just one week, with sales exceeding 3 in the first week and over 4.5 in the first month, and then stabilizing at around 3 per month.
After careful investigation, the original poster discovered that the store was attracting traffic through an external Baidu Tieba forum. He checked the posts about the traffic generation on the forum and was left only with awe at the seemingly miraculous methods of the manipulator. In the posts, the original poster asked if anyone knew who was behind the operation, as he didn't believe it was a coincidence—even with his less-than-professional eye, he could spot several rough signs of manipulation. The original poster even tagged Temujin, asking if it was President Lu personally handling the operation.
The comments section below the post was filled with discontent, with many people making sarcastic remarks: "Anyone could be the mastermind behind this, but it's definitely not Lu Zhaoxi." Due to the "evaluation scandal," Lu Zhaoxi has become very unpopular on the forum recently.
Lin Mu also saw another post titled: "This family's spring diary is going off like a rocket, it's incredible!"
The post stated that within the past week, a hosiery store called "Spring Diary" had surged to third place in its category. After careful investigation, the poster confirmed that this wasn't due to fake orders—the store's operations were impeccable in every aspect; the product labels, main images, and product detail pages were all flawless. The most impressive aspect was their product selection. The poster wondered, "Where did this store owner find such high-quality products? I've never seen similar products in the market; this is a unique business!"
One comment under the post read, "This year's new sellers are amazing! First it was Li Ge Underwear, then Spring Diary. The new generation is truly surpassing the old!" Another asked, "Does anyone know how to contact them? Could we get them to open an account on the Taobao seller forum and share their experiences?" Yet another said, "You should contact the Taobao customer service representative for this."
Lin Mu's eyes lit up. "Hey, that might not be a bad idea."
The Taobao Seller Forum's parent organization has a "Taobao University," which offers video courses and offline training programs. He can personally demonstrate his operational strategies at Taobao University and also share many operational experiences from later generations, such as "how to select products based on your own strengths" and "how to train your customer service team."
Sharing these experiences has two benefits: first, it can enhance one's resume within Alibaba, attract capital attention, and let the industry know that he exists; second, it can help build connections with more Taobao sellers, so that when poaching talent in the future, they can be encouraged to open two stores directly—Taobao to sell mid-to-high-end products and Pinduoduo to sell low-priced products to clear inventory.
Lin Mu scrolled down and saw another comment: "@TemujinLu, come and take a look, this store is definitely engaging in order manipulation!"
Lin Mu's lips twitched. Good grief, they're really stirring things up here. He replied directly using his forum account, "Wild Goose": "Honey, we've checked the backend, all the data is accurate, no anomalies~"
After browsing a few more posts on the forum, Lin Mu received a reply in his email. The email stated that the entry for "pearl-colored stockings" had passed the review and would be available through a specific traffic portal in 12 hours.
……
night.
Lin Mu took a taxi to Fangzhi Road and found Factory Director Mao's factory.
After this period of production, Factory Manager Mao has prepared 1 pairs of stockings, totaling four denier (D) styles, with 2500 pairs for each denier. At the same time, she has also selected a model.
Lin Mu walked into the photography studio and took a look at the model's appearance—she was a beauty in her thirties, exuding mature charm in every gesture. She was wearing a professional office lady outfit, with a full figure, a slender waist, a pert bottom, and her beautiful legs were covered in shiny 0D stockings, with sky-high heels on her feet.
Factory Director Mao introduced, "President Lin, this is my best friend, Sheng Mingyue. She used to act in television and was a minor celebrity, but she's retired now and runs her own small business. I was thinking you were looking for mature models, and I felt my best friend was perfect, so I asked her to help."
She then turned to Sheng Mingyue and introduced, "Mingyue, this is the young and promising General Manager Lin I told you about. My factory was able to revive entirely thanks to him helping me select products."