Workplace reviews and discussion: 全何科技股份有限公司

I work in cross-border e-commerce, and the company knows very little about Amazon, so there is actually a great deal of freedom when you first join. Moreover, because the company’s e-commerce management is virtually a blank slate, if you have ideas about e-commerce, you can create your own forms, plan and execute your own initiatives, and validate your actions. Watching your own accounts steadily rise is one of the few things that can make you happy at this otherwise deeply frustrating company.

Everything from here on is negative, so I’ll go through it point by point.

1. There is only one person in the entire company handling e-commerce, so Amazon US/Japan/Australia and Newegg will all be assigned to you. Everything from listing products, SEO, price comparisons, sales, advertising, and monitoring results (the boss actually doesn’t really manage this; these are your own initiatives), to setting up international logistics and official partnerships with Amazon/Newegg… is your responsibility. The work is actually very miscellaneous.

2. The boss cannot understand the value of data analysis or operational execution. Even if the GMV of Amazon/Newegg grows ninefold year over year, if you are not constantly typing on a keyboard, he will think you are idle. The boss cannot understand why you need to spend time thinking about e-commerce strategy. (He also believes AI can replace e-commerce, so he will even say that he doesn’t think this position is anything special.) [If you’re so capable, try doing it yourself.]

3. The boss loves calling meetings for no reason or suddenly deciding to do something, but his ability to interpret data and understand written material is extremely poor. It is best not to mention ACOS/ROI/CTR… (he may not understand them and could become embarrassed and angry). He also does not want to read anything longer than one page.

4. Employees have an extremely bleak future at the company. Almost all employees stay for around one year, and on average one person leaves each month. The boss also revealed at a dinner that he cannot accept employees producing less than he expects, but “when employees produce more than expected, he also cannot accept them openly or indirectly asking for a raise or promotion.” (The implication is that raises and promotions are his “grace”; what I do not grant, you may not ask for.)

5. The boss is extremely emotionally unstable. He likes to berate people and pick fights for no reason, and speaking loudly and aggressively to others is normal. In addition, he likes to plant informants and encourages employees to report on one another behind their backs (I personally experienced being reported on by an assistant who had only been employed for one month). A culture of backstabbing is widespread in the company, so people who slack off, pretend not to know anything, or coast actually fare better there.

6. When problems arise in e-commerce or other areas, the boss’s first reaction is to find a scapegoat rather than solve the problem. I strongly recommend getting into the habit of taking screenshots; instead of solving the problem, he is more interested in solving you or someone else. In addition, e-commerce operations naturally involve trial and error, so I strongly recommend taking screenshots frequently to protect yourself.

7. Fake colleagues. Because of the culture of backstabbing and the tendency to look for scapegoats, employees are generally very afraid of trouble. At critical moments, they are always shifting blame or pretending not to know anything because they are afraid of being scolded. Even if you have helped your department or team, or even helped clean up after their mistakes, they will still stab you in the back without hesitation when you are caught up in the boss’s anger.

8. Art/design that is unbelievably bad. When I joined, there was only one person handling art/design for the entire company. On top of that, she was placed under Marketing, which made it extremely difficult for e-commerce to request images or videos. Her work ability and attitude were extremely poor. Even if all she had to do was change text on a product image, she could paste it incorrectly; she could even give you a resized image cut in half down the middle. (Can you imagine asking her for a product image of a Mac and getting a Mac cut in half? I really can’t.)

#Summary: What the company really needs is a professional who genuinely knows how to do everything, but preferably does not actually do too much—an e-commerce employee who can pretend to be doing a lot.