JD.com, Alibaba warned to cool it
Print Edition
A Chinese regulator has tried to cool a brewing war of words between Alibaba Group and JD.com, the country’s top-two e-commerce firms, after they accused each other of foul play.
The intervention comes as the long-time rivals jostle to win over customers ahead of China’s biggest shopping day of the year, November 11 Singles Day, also known as Double Eleven. The stakes are high: Last year, Alibaba logged US$9.3 billion in transactions on its platforms.
Zhang Mao, head of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, urged players in China’s booming online shopping sector to safeguard market order and fair competition. He called on them to “not use malicious marketing methods to engage in competition” in November 11 sales that could be even bigger this year.
“With Double Eleven approaching, JD.com and Alibaba have clashed many times. There is gunsmoke everywhere on the e-commerce battlefield,” Xinhua news agency quoted Zhang as saying.
JD.com, China’s No.2 e-commerce firm, shot the first barb in the latest bout on Tuesday, lodging a complaint with the SAIC against its bigger rival for “forcing merchants” to exclusively choose its site for promotional activities — something Alibaba denies. JD.com then said on Thursday the SAIC had formally accepted the complaint.
Under a regulation that took effect on October 1, e-commerce platforms are forbidden from limiting or barring their merchants from participating in promotions on other platforms.
Alibaba fired back that its smaller rival was “panicking.”
An Alibaba spokesman added that JD.com had itself been censured by authorities multiple times, while an Alibaba-linked microblog said JD.com’s allegation was like “a chicken accusing a duck of monopolizing the surface of the lake.”
In the next salvo, JD.com yesterday said it had filed a separate lawsuit against Alibaba’s Tmall shopping site for what it said was false advertising over its same-day delivery capabilities in Beijing.
Actually, only residents in certain parts of the city are able to enjoy the service, and only on items ordered before a certain time of the day. Many people still have to wait until the next day to get their packages, said JD.com.
Haidian District People’s Court in Beijing yesterday said it had accepted the lawsuit.
Alibaba declined to comment specifically on the suit.
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