Evening information: The 2022 Taobao Spring New Force Week Installment Interest-free Investment Rules were released; E-commerce companies are not allowed to refuse 7 days of unreasonable returns because the products have been opened; China Consumers Association: 52.3% of respondents were most impressed by the "Anchor Weiya's tax evasion" incident; Alibaba International Station's performance in the first week of the New Trade Festival was released: the scale of machinery category transactions has grown the fastest; Shopee's Dongguan Transport Warehouse was suspended...
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1. 2022 Taobao Spring New Force Week Installment Interest-free Investment Rules Release
According to reports on March 15, Taobao officially announced the "in installment interest-free" investment promotion rules for the 2022 Taobao Spring New Force Week on March 14. It is reported that Taobao and Huabei have launched Huabei installment interest subsidy activities, that is, sellers actively set up and carry out the Huabei installment fee, while consumers can participate in the Huabei installment activity with interest-free, and they can consume first and then repay the loan without bearing the installment fee. The official event will be from March 21, 2022 to March 24, 2022. Sellers will register from March 14, 2022 to March 24, 2022 and reviewed by the platform to participate in the event. (E-commerce News)
2. Douyin e-commerce special treatment of inferior flowers and old seedlings
On March 15th, today, Douyin e-commerce issued an announcement on the management of inferior flower old pile seedlings. In response to the feedback from a large number of consumers that the varieties of old pile seedlings such as roses and roses cannot be successfully cultivated or inconsistent with the varieties after cultivation, the Douyin platform will conduct special treatment of inferior flower old pile seedlings. Starting from now on, the platform will ban the old flower pile seedlings that cannot be cultivated or have different varieties in accordance with the "Merchant Violation Management Rules". At the same time, depending on the severity of the violation, it will take measures such as, but not limited to, closure of business, deduction of deposits, and clearance of stores. (E-commerce News)
3. E-commerce companies are not allowed to refuse to return goods for 7 days without reason because the product has been opened.
According to March 15, starting today, e-commerce operators are not allowed to reject consumers' request for "seven-day no-reason return" on the grounds that the product has been opened - this is clearly stipulated in the "Regulations of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in the Trial of Online Consumer Disputes Cases (I)" officially implemented today. Of course, the premise is that consumers must ensure that the product is intact and will not affect secondary sales. (E-commerce News)
4. Kuaishou E-commerce will start to manage orders that have not been shipped in January 2022 from now on
According to March 15th, Kuaishou E-commerce issued an announcement today stating that it will conduct special governance on unissued orders before January 31, 2022 from now on. Kuaishou E-commerce stated that if the merchant’s store has orders that exceed the time limit in January 2022 and has not completed the shipment, the shipment must be completed as soon as possible before March 30. Overdue payment will be punished according to the platform’s illegal management rules, and the order details will be found in the merchant’s backend. (E-commerce News)
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5. China Consumers Association: 52.3% of respondents were most impressed by the incident of "Anchor Weiya's tax evasion"
On March 15, the China Consumers Association released the results of the 2022 "Promoting Consumption Fairness" Consumer Rights Protection Year Theme results. Data shows that 60% of respondents in daily consumption said that their perception of fairness was generally good, but more than 60% of respondents had encountered unfair treatment, and the respondents' trust in online operators is lower than that of offline operators. In recent years, a series of consumer issues and hot topics have attracted consumers' attention or "complaints". In the field of Internet services, consumers strongly recommend strengthening supervision of investment and financial management, online payment or transfer, marriage and relationship, online games, online shopping, etc., which is worth paying attention to. (E-commerce News)
6. Black Cat Complaints Release Top Ten Consumption Chaos in 2021: The Problem of False Promotion in Live Streaming Products is Highlighted
March 15th news, today, Black Cat complaints released the top ten consumer chaos in 2021. Data from the Black Cat Complaint Platform shows that in 2021, the number of complaints with "live broadcast" as the keyword exceeded 70,000, an increase of about 3.5 times year-on-year, and problems such as false activities, product quality, false publicity, and price misleading are the most prominent. The Black Cat complaint also pointed out three cases, namely, Weiya was accused of selling counterfeit Supreme co-branded products; Lu Sao Pingrong was accused of selling counterfeit mobile phones; the Consumer Association's investigation results showed that about 1/3 of the live broadcast room were suspected of illegal and irregular. It is understood that relevant data show that as of December 2021, the number of e-commerce live broadcast users in my country was 464 million, accounting for 44.9% of the total netizens. (E-commerce News)
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7. Alibaba International Station's New Trade Festival's first week's performance is released: the scale of machinery category transactions has grown the fastest
According to the report on March 15, according to the report of the World Business, Alibaba International Station's annual "March New Trade Festival" is nearly half. The transaction data of the New Trade Festival in the first week showed that the three categories of machinery, home gardening, and consumer electronics have become the top three with the fastest growth in transaction scale of this year's New Trade Festival. Through the analysis of the fastest-growing categories on the first four New Trade Festival, health and outdoor categories, home intelligence, and new energy products are still high-growth categories that are loved by overseas buyers. Among them, the growth rate of electric multi-purpose bicycles reached 4366.7%. In addition, the overseas home intelligence trend has promoted the growth rate of bathroom smart mirror products to 67.5%. (E-commerce News)
8. Shopee Dongguan Transfer Warehouse is suspended
On March 15, Shopee issued a notice on its official website to suspend operation of Dongguan Transport Warehouse to cooperate with the government's epidemic control requirements in the region where Shopee's Dongguan warehouse is located and reduce the impact on seller's orders. It is understood that the packages that have been entered into the Dongguan warehouse of Shopee but have not been out of the warehouse will be kept in the warehouse and processed after the control is completed. (E-commerce News)
9. News says Amazon faces FTC inquiries due to confusion in subscription services
According to US media reports, sources said Amazon faces inquiry on the US Federal Trade Commission regarding user subscriptions. The report quoted internal documents as saying that the chaos in subscription services is not limited to Prime. Amazon has been worrying that its website user interface design will make consumers feel manipulated and subscribe to Prime services since at least 2017. In response, an Amazon spokesperson said that Prime's registration and cancellation process was "simple and transparent" and clearly showed users the options and their impact. (E-commerce News)
10. Coupang adjusts return policy because buyers abuse the unconditional return system
According to the Korean Daily, in order to reduce its cumulative losses and buyer after-sales troubles, South Korean e-commerce Coupang decided to change its refund policy. From March 13, items with damaged packaging and labels removed will no longer be returned. Previously, Coupang's unconditional return policy helped the company attract a large number of users. However, more and more consumers are beginning to abuse Coupang's refund system.
Last year, a consumer purchased an Apple laptop and initiated a return after 20 days of use. At that time, Coupang agreed to an unconditional refund despite his helplessness.
To prevent similar incidents from happening again, Coupang is releasing a series of measures to improve the return system. For example, when returning used cosmetics, you must submit the dermatologist's prescribed documents; electronic devices that are turned on at least once cannot be returned; clothing or accessories that have been removed from the label no longer meet the refund conditions.
So far, the platform's seller refund rate has been between 20% and 30%, and Coupang has been paying all refund fees. The release of this policy will help Coupang reduce its accumulated losses.
Recently, Coupang released its fourth quarter financial results as of December 31, 2021. In the quarter, Coupang's total net income increased by 34% year-on-year to $5.1 billion. Gross profit was US$806 million, an increase of 24% from the fourth quarter of 2020. Net loss was $405 million, compared with a net loss of $83 million in the fourth quarter of 2020. Adjusted EBITDA losses were $285 million, compared with $82 million in the fourth quarter of 2020. The fourth-quarter net loss and adjusted EBITDA included approximately US$130 million in incremental costs, mainly related to the intensification of the COVID-19 epidemic in South Korea. Operating losses rose to $396.6 million, compared with $130.9 million in the same period last year.
Coupang expects that the company's adjusted EBITDA total loss is less than US$400 million in the whole year of 2022. The adjusted EBITDA of the Product Commerce Department achieved profitability in the fourth quarter of 2022, while the adjusted EBITDA margin in the fourth quarter of 2021 was 2.6%. (E-commerce News)
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