#Laogao E-commerce Newsletter# [E-commerce Morning News on September 18]

Morning news: Tencent adjusts WeChat external link content management specifications: One-to-one chat will access external links; JD.com 11.11 officially announced: 8 pm on October 31st; Cainiao will launch the "Global Shortcoming" merchant support plan; Grailed, a second-hand luxury goods trading platform, received US$60 million in Series B financing; Ministry of Commerce: Encourage the development of new business forms and new models such as "Internet + Elimination Products"...

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E-commerce newsletter

1. Tmall International initiated the establishment of Bird's Nest Quality Alliance

      September 17th news, today, Tmall International officially established the Bird's Nest Quality Alliance, and jointly built a platform for high-quality bird's nest grading standards with the technical team of the National Bird's Nest Standard Drafting Committee, Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Inspection and Quarantine Science and Technology, Swiss SGS Group and other professional institutions to jointly build a platform for high-quality bird's nest grading standards, promote authentic traceability, ingredient testing, factory inspection, etc. of overseas bird's nest brands, and select high-quality imported bird's nests for direct supply this year's Double 11. It is reported that at present, the world's top ten bird's nest brands such as the Thai light food bird's nest brand blumarine Yuchao, Hong Kong official bird's nest, Hong Kong Zhanji, and Thai royal ninest have joined the quality inspection plan of the quality alliance to supply bird's nest for this year's Double 11. (E-commerce News)

2. Tencent adjusts the content management specifications of WeChat external links: One-to-one chat will allow access to external links

      On September 17, Tencent issued a statement on the adjustment of the "WeChat External Link Content Management Specifications". The statement stated that on the premise of ensuring information security, users can access external links in one-to-one chat scenarios after upgrading the latest version of WeChat. At the same time, WeChat will set up an external link complaint portal, and users can report illegal and irregular external links. The platform will handle it in accordance with the corresponding rules and establish a credit rating for the management effectiveness of the external links to provide the platform. The statement also stated that under the guidance of the regulatory authorities, the external link management measures will be implemented in stages and steps, and the first phase will be implemented from September 17. (E-commerce News)

3. JD.com 11.11 officially announced: 8 pm on October 31st

      On September 17, JD.com officially announced today: JD.com will not stay up late on November 11 this year, pre-sale will be launched at 8 pm on October 20, and the "price" will be fully released at 8 pm on October 31. It is reported that in 2020, the "JD.com 11.11 Global Love Season" officially started on October 21, and lasted for 22 days on November 11, bringing consumers more than 200 million 50% off products and more than 300 million new products. (E-commerce News)

4. JD.com and First Financial News released the "2021 Employee Welfare Insight Report"

      On September 17, at the "2021 JD Digital Employee Experience Service Festival", First Financial and JD released the "2021 Employee Welfare Insight Report". The report points out that employees currently have a more general understanding and awareness of welfare, among which the perception of holiday welfare is the highest. At the same time, enterprises' attitude towards welfare has also developed from the "popularization stage" to the new stage of "focusing on experience improvement". Data shows that since the beginning of this year, enterprises have continued to increase their investment in employees' holiday benefits, and nearly 55% of enterprises' procurement budgets have increased by more than 20%. (E-commerce News)

Cross-border newsletter

5. Cainiao will launch the "Global Justin" merchant assistance program

      September 17th news, today, Zhang Wenxin, head of Cainiao’s global parcel network opening business, announced that it will launch the “Global Times” merchant assistance program to help Chinese merchants achieve cross-border parcel delivery to overseas consumers within a specified time. The plan mainly includes three aspects: building a global parcel network, subsidy and subsidy for some product lines and innovative technologies. It is worth mentioning that Alibaba released its first quarter financial report for fiscal year 2022 last month. Data shows that Alibaba Cainiao Logistics Service's revenue in the first quarter was RMB 11.601 billion, an increase of 50% over the same period in 2020, and Cainiao Bulu orders increased by 63% year-on-year. (E-commerce News)

6. Grailed, a second-hand luxury goods trading platform, received US$60 million in Series B financing

      On September 17, online second-hand luxury goods trading platform Grailed recently announced that it has completed a US$60 million Series B financing. Grailed CEO Arun Gupta said that this round of funds will be used to strengthen the platform's existing identity verification services, optimize payment structure, assist in commodity marketing and promote users to buy and sell on the website. It is understood that Grailed was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in New York. Since the A round of financing, the platform has almost doubled in size, with more than 7 million global users and more than 10,000 luxury and streetwear brands, more than 3 million listings, and a total value of goods reaches US$2 billion.

7. SoftBank sells 57 million shares of Korean e-commerce Coupang worth US$1.69 billion

      On September 17, according to Yonhap News Agency, a report released by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on the 16th local time showed that the Vision Fund, a subsidiary of Japan's SoftBank Group, sold 57 million Class A shares of Coupang at a price of US$29.685 per share on the 14th, with a transaction value of US$1.69 billion. The shares sold are equivalent to about 9% of SoftBank's shares. After the transaction is completed, SoftBank still holds 568,156,413 million shares of Coupang, and remains Coupang's largest shareholder. (E-commerce News)

8. Zara’s parent company: Online sales increased by 36% year-on-year in the first half of 2021

      On September 17, Zara's parent company Inditex Group recently released its financial report for the first half of the fiscal year. From February 1 to July 31, 2021, the group's revenue increased by 49% year-on-year to 11.94 billion euros; net profit recorded 1.273 billion euros, with a loss of 195 million euros in the same period last year. In the first half of the fiscal year, Inditex Group's online sales in local currencies increased by 36% year-on-year, up 137% compared with the same period in 2019. Among them, between August 1 and September 9, 2021, store and online sales denominated in local currencies increased by 22% year-on-year and 9% year-on-year. Inditex said it expects online sales to account for more than 25% of total sales in fiscal 2021. (E-commerce News)

Internet Information

9. Ministry of Commerce: Encourage the development of new business forms and models such as "Internet + old goods"

      According to September 18, the Ministry of Commerce recently issued a notice on further improving the current key tasks of promoting consumption in the business field. It proposes to strengthen green circular consumption. Promote the creation of green shopping malls and encourage the development of new business forms and models such as "Internet + old goods" and "Internet + recycling". Regions with conditions are encouraged to provide subsidies to residents who eliminate cars with national emission standards of National III and below and purchase new cars, eliminate old home appliances and furniture, and purchase green smart home appliances and environmentally friendly furniture. (Yibang Power News)

10. Tujia B&B report: Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day cross-provincial B&B orders account for more than 40%

      September 17th news, Tujia B&B recently released the 2021 Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day B&B Travel Trend Report. The report shows that orders for cross-provincial travel and homestays account for more than 40%. As the National Day Golden Week approaches, the trend of long-term travel will become more and more obvious. The average average customer price of a homestay during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday is about 636 yuan. More than 80% of users control the Mid-Autumn Festival visit to 2 days or less, and more than 53% of users stay in the homestay for only 1 day. During the Double Festival, Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu have the most travelers, and family and multi-person travel are the mainstream travel. Boutique inns, single-family villas, courtyard houses, duplex rooms, etc. are more popular among users. In addition, rural homestay bookings are very popular, with orders exceeding 35% on the National Day; popularity in the northwest region has increased sharply, and the orders for homestays in Kashgar soared 10 times year-on-year. (Yibang Power News)