Oriflame Summer Internship

 

I decided to write a post dedcated to what I do at work. Altough it doea not sound as exciting and fun as a river hike do, it is actually just as fun. Being here has made me realize that marketing and business strategy is something that I want to do in the future. Study these subjects at university is fun, but it is not even comparable to actual work experience. 

At work I am continuing to learn, not only about Oriflame, but also about Oriflame's competitors here in China. There are quite a few and it is very interesting researching about their online activities. As I mentioned before, Chinese users are not using the apps that we consider "basic" in the rest of the world. Instead they are using chinese apps that have similar functions, most of them are actually better than the ones that we are using. In China the phone is the gateway to all the everyday functions, without it, it would be hard to survive here. :P After being here for a month, it is not hard to draw a conclusion that online marketing has become a neccessity.

 

This week (and last week) we have a visit from the Global office, Malgorzata from Poland. Last week Justine, Ansel and I had a meeting wiith her about what online is doing here in China. We talked about the different online campaigns that have been done here. At the end we had a very insightful discussion about global vs. local and differences in culture. I absolutely love discussing subjects like this and I got a whole new perspective afer talking to Malgorzata. It is a constant struggle to find a balance between being local and global when you have a big company like Oriflame.

 

My individual project has evolved during the time here. I started off the projects with a rather clear direction, but as time have progressed, it has taken some interesting turns. Next week I will try to schedule a meeting with Regine, the marketing manager, and Justine to continue on with the discussion that I started with Malgorzata. Being able to read chinese means that I am able to intergrate into the chinese lifestyle. At the same time, I am looking at my experience here through the eyes of a Swede. A good combination!