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Ben Jiang

As China’s annual “618” shopping festival – one of the country’s biggest online retail events – gathers momentum, Beijing’s market regulator on Thursday summoned major e-commerce platforms over a series of marketing malpractices, marking the latest effort by authorities to curb so-called involution-style competition.
The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Market Supervision and Administration said it had called in representatives from Alibaba Group Holding’s Taobao and Tmall, JD.com, Pinduoduo, Douyin and RedNote. The agency outlined a series of violations in a notice published on its WeChat account.
Among the issues identified were misleading advertising practices, including “billion-yuan subsidy” campaigns in which actual spending fell short of advertised amounts. The regulator said it had ordered the companies to rectify the problems.
The Beijing agency’s probe came as China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) said on Thursday that it had summoned several online travel agencies, including Ctrip and Meituan, over alleged misconduct such as improper marketing of train-ticketing services and the illegal collection of user data.
SAMR said it had urged the companies to comply with laws and regulations, protect consumer rights and avoid unfair competition.
Ctrip and Meituan did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The moves by both state and Beijing market regulators come as Chinese authorities step up scrutiny of some of the country’s largest internet platforms in an effort to curb excessive competition and restore market order.
In its notice on Thursday, the Beijing regulator also flagged concerns over inadequate disclosure of promotional rules and failures to properly display merchant information.

The move follows a meeting last month in which the Beijing regulator summoned more than a dozen internet platforms and warned them against engaging in involution-style competition during the 618 shopping festival.
The term has increasingly been used by Chinese policymakers to describe excessive and often destructive rivalry that erodes profitability and market order.
In a separate development on Thursday, China’s postal regulator launched an investigation into courier company J&T Express over its safety practices. Authorities alleged that the company had failed to adequately oversee safety management across affiliated entities and had not implemented unified safety measures as required.
The regulator urged platforms to “deeply recognise the harm of involution-style competition” and shift away from subsidy battles and price wars towards competition based on innovation and service quality.
It added that it would continue monitoring and addressing involutionary practices to maintain normal market order.
Alibaba, JD.com, Pinduoduo parent PDD Holdings, ByteDance, which owns Douyin, and RedNote did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
The probe could help address involutionary competition to a certain degree, but would not completely solve the issue, according to Li Chengdong, founder and chief analyst at Beijing-based e-commerce consultancy Dolphin.
Li said the regulation could help prevent platform companies from passing competitive pressure on to merchants and brand vendors, creating a vicious cycle.
But “the root cause [of involution] is oversupply, so platform companies have had to use low-price campaigns to attract orders from price-sensitive consumers. That’s the market environment they are operating in”, he said.


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As 618 shopping frenzy grows, Beijing warns e-commerce giants over price-war tactics

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Officials summoned Alibaba, JD.com, Pinduoduo, Douyin and RedNote over marketing practices, underscoring official concern about subsidy wars


Officials summoned Alibaba, JD.com, Pinduoduo, Douyin and RedNote over marketing practices, underscoring official concern about subsidy wars.


As 618 shopping frenzy grows, Beijing warns e-commerce giants over price-war tactics

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Officials summoned Alibaba, JD.com, Pinduoduo, Douyin and RedNote over marketing practices, underscoring official concern about subsidy wars

Officials summoned Alibaba, JD.com, Pinduoduo, Douyin and RedNote over marketing practices, underscoring official concern about subsidy wars