Attention merchants! On Double 11, Taobao product main images must not display prices; Simba's Kuaishou live streaming is banned, Gaotu's live streaming room announces suspension; Shuyi Shaoxiancao closes 1,605 stores in 90 days

Major Companies · Major Events

Alibaba

1. New Rule for Tmall Double 11: Prohibited to "Write Prices" in Main Product Images

On September 13, Taobao Tmall just released a new price management rule, merging the original "Taobao Platform Price Release Specification" and "Tmall Product Price Management Rules" into the "Taobao Platform Price Management Rules", defining the one-price, post-coupon price, and other price definitions. The new rule will officially take effect on September 20.

According to the rule, in order to enhance the accuracy of displaying post-coupon prices and discounted prices, post-coupon prices and discounted prices will include user personal assets such as Taobao coins and red envelopes in the discount calculation, and will be displayed on the product details page through system automatic calculation and real-time updates. To avoid misleading consumers and ensure price expression consistency, merchants are not allowed to express product prices on any product price display pages and materials that do not have the above capabilities, including the main product image.

However, expressions of promotions and price explanations are still allowed on the main image. For promotions, examples include "Gift worth xx yuan", "First x customers receive", "Customizable xx", "Spend 300 get 20 off", "Second item at 90% off", "Second item 9.9 yuan off", etc. Price explanations refer to box-packed products with 10 pieces per box, using the main image to express the price per piece; and case-packed products with 12 bottles per case, using the main image to express the price per bottle, and so on. In addition, explanations of payment scenarios for some special categories such as cars and offline payment scenarios for new retail are also allowed.

2. Alibaba Officially Included in Stock Connect, Effective from the 10th

On September 9, the Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange announced that Alibaba has officially been included in the Stock Connect, effective from September 10, 2024. This means that qualified investors from mainland China will be able to directly trade Alibaba's common stock. Alibaba had just completed a dual primary listing in Hong Kong at the end of August. According to a report from Morgan Stanley, in the long term, the proportion of southbound funds holding Alibaba shares may stabilize at over 10%. Goldman Sachs predicts that southbound funds will bring potential inflows of $15 billion to $16 billion to Alibaba.

In this adjustment of the Stock Connect target list, besides Alibaba, there are 33 stocks including SF Technology and Zhihang Auto Technology being added, while 33 stocks including Powerlong Real Estate, Shimao Group, and Oceanwide Holdings are being removed.

3. Jack Ma Posts on Alibaba's Intranet: Acknowledging Challenges, Encouraging Growth in Competition

September 10 is the anniversary of Alibaba's founding. Last year, during the 24th anniversary, Alibaba completed a series of important personnel transitions, with two Alibaba founding members, Joseph Tsai and Eddie Wu, respectively assuming the roles of Chairman of the Board and Group CEO. This year, Jack Ma posted on Alibaba's intranet, with a post of about a thousand words, reviewing what Alibaba has done before, acknowledging the current challenges, and encouraging Alibaba employees and the company to grow in competition, to complete the remaining 3/4 of the 102-year survival goal In his internal letter, he said, "In the 25 years, what I am most proud of is not how many companies we have founded, but how much change and value these companies have brought to society. I am proud not of how much money we have earned, or how high our market value is, but that even after making money, Alibaba people still have ideals, still have emotions and righteousness."

4. Taobao opens WeChat Pay for trial use gradually

According to a previous announcement by Taobao, starting from September 12th, Taobao officially started to gradually open WeChat Pay to all Taobao and Tmall merchants. In response to this, Taobao customer service stated that after merchants are opened in batches, WeChat Pay will be fully available on the consumer side. "Currently, we are promoting the gradual opening by merchants, while consumers are also gradually trying it out. Please be patient and wait. According to the progress, it is expected that all consumers can use WeChat Pay by the end of September." (36Kr)

5. Taobao launches Return Treasure service for merchants, expected to reduce costs by 20%

On September 12th, Taobao officially launched the Return Treasure service for all Taobao and Tmall merchants. After merchants join, as long as consumers place orders to purchase goods with the "Return Treasure" service mark, and apply for returns or exchanges in the merchant's order shipment, and finally successfully return or exchange the goods, consumers will receive the guarantee of free shipping for the first weight of the return or exchange.

It is reported that "Return Treasure" will reduce the return costs for merchants by at least 10%, and up to 30% in cost reduction. It is worth mentioning that Return Treasure does not affect the existing return and exchange rules of the goods. Whether the goods can be returned or exchanged still follows the original after-sales rules of the order; after merchants subscribe to Return Treasure, other products under the return package shipping scenario will no longer be charged repeatedly.

In addition, according to Taobao's calculations, after the launch of Return Treasure, it is expected to reduce the scale of merchants' costs by at least 2 billion yuan annually, and the comprehensive average reduction for merchants will reach 20%. At the same time, merchants will also enjoy exclusive service marks for Return Treasure, priority for event registration, traffic support, and other benefits, thereby improving purchase conversion rates.

ByteDance

1. Douyin E-commerce releases CORE methodology

On September 12th, Douyin E-commerce released a new CORE business methodology, where Cost vs Quality refers to price-optimized quality products, Omni-Content refers to all-domain content, Reach refers to marketing amplification, and Experience refers to experience enhancement.

This year, Douyin E-commerce further upgraded its traffic algorithm mechanism, and e-commerce content will be distributed in both the "content" and "transaction" traffic pools simultaneously. Doing well in all-domain content "O" will continue to stimulate user demand, break through the traffic ceiling, while doing well in "C", "R", "E" to improve transaction conversion, and meet user demands. CORE brings broader growth opportunities for businesses.

2. Douyin E-commerce updates traffic mechanism: Emphasizing vertical content, aiming to create 100 benchmarks

Recently, at the Douyin E-commerce Author Summit, Wei Wenwen, President of Douyin E-commerce, revealed that in the past year, Douyin E-commerce's GMV increased by 46% year-on-year, and the GMV of shelf scenes increased by 86%; there are over 2 million young e-commerce authors on the platform, over 7.53 million new e-commerce authors, over 27,000 MCN institutions, and the daily average live broadcast duration of e-commerce live streaming rooms increased by 33% The GMV of e-commerce authors with over ten million breaks year-on-year growth by 52%.

Wei Wenwen emphasized that Douyin e-commerce has upgraded its traffic mechanism, with "good content" becoming the primary productivity for business growth. The platform will create 100 authors with millions of fans, 100 live streams with over ten million views, and launch the "Anchor Training Camp Plan" for outstanding authors.

65% of Douyin e-commerce traffic is in vertical categories. This year, Douyin e-commerce introduced the "Expert Plan" to support authors in the pet, sports, digital, beauty, and alcohol industries, aiming to create 100 new benchmark vertical categories.

3. Douyin Local Life launches "Super Value Group" with billion-level traffic incentives for merchants

Douyin Local Life has launched the "Super Value Group" activity for catering and comprehensive category merchants. Merchants can receive daily billion-level traffic incentives across Douyin, as well as exclusive channel pages, super value group tags, and other traffic incentive rights. The deadline for enrollment, display, and traffic incentives is September 30, 2024.

Merchants can sign up for the platform activities in "Search Super Value Group" on Douyin's visitor platform, while service providers can log in to the Linke backstage to sign up for the platform activities in "Search Super Value Group" for merchants.

Tencent

1. Video Number releases new business growth incentive plan, merchants can receive traffic rewards for 3 consecutive months

Video Number has released a new business growth incentive plan, distributing e-commerce growth cards to eligible merchants in the form of e-commerce growth cards. The platform will issue 1000 points of traffic e-commerce growth cards to merchants on the 91st, 121st, and 151st days after the completion of the first sales order payment, allowing merchants to heat up their live streams.

New merchants who register for WeChat Mini Store or Video Number Mini Store from July 1 to October 31 this year, complete the first sales order payment within 90 days, and meet the conditions of valid payment GMV not less than 10,000 yuan, valid settlement GMV not less than 3,000 yuan, and valid sales order quantity not less than 50 orders within the specified period of 180 days after registration, will be eligible for incentives.

2. WeChat Palm Pay launches its first overseas site in Macau

On September 11, WeChat officially announced that the first overseas site for WeChat Palm Pay is in Macau. Over 60 shops and service points in StarWorld Hotel, Galaxy Macau, Broadway Macau, and Galaxy Art Center will be the first to access the Palm Pay verification and payment functions. Users who have activated mainland WeChat RMB wallet payment and Palm Pay will be able to conveniently consume.

WeChat Palm Pay uses "palm print + palm vein" recognition technology. Users need to register their palm on the face recognition device and associate it with their personal WeChat account. When making offline payments, users can scan their palm at the scanning area of the WeChat payment device, and complete the payment after device confirmation.

Kuaishou

1. Kuaishou's second quarter: Private domain time increases by 7% year-on-year, and local life GMV nearly triples year-on-year On September 13, Cheng Yixiao, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Kuaishou Technology, revealed at the Investor Day that as of the second quarter of this year, about 77% of Kuaishou's daily active users interact with creators in the following page and private domain scenes. The private domain time on Kuaishou increased by 7% year-on-year, the average number of double-blind private messages per person increased by 40% year-on-year, and the daily total interaction exceeded 10 billion times.

Xiao Gu, Senior Vice President of Kuaishou and head of the local life business unit, stated that in Q2, the monthly transaction user scale of Kuaishou's local life business increased by 2.8 times year-on-year, and GMV nearly tripled year-on-year.

2 Kuaishou E-commerce Launches Hourly Delivery Service

On September 10, Kuaishou E-commerce announced the launch of an hourly delivery service, currently supporting the purchase of Apple products. After logging into the Kuaishou APP, users can search for iPhone 16 to enter the exclusive reservation page. Starting from September 20, users can order iPhone 16 series products for hourly delivery in more than 300 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.

Meituan

1 Meituan Launches National Day Activity Recruitment with Million-level Subsidies and Billion-level Exposure

Meituan has launched a recruitment activity for National Day for four categories: hot pot, buffet, local cuisine, and fast food. Eligible merchants can receive million-level subsidies, and high-quality promotional products can enjoy priority display at the promotion venue, exclusive product labels, and additional resources in key channels. The recruitment period for this activity ends on September 19, and the activity runs from September 14 to October 7.

Hot pot, local cuisine, and fast food require a discount of ≤8% off the retail price, while the buffet requires a discount of ≤9.5% off the retail price. In addition, hot pot, local cuisine, and fast food require set menus for 2 people or 4 people, while the buffet is for a single buffet. The above-mentioned merchants must ensure that they are available for sale and redemption from September 14 to October 7.

2 Meituan APP Launches Navigation Function "Meituan Map"

Meituan APP has launched its self-developed Meituan Map, replacing the third-party map previously used in Meituan's taxi-hailing and bike-sharing businesses. A year ago, Meituan Map was launched on the rider side, and now Meituan consumers can also use the map service. However, the service entry is relatively deep at the moment, and users need to search in the search bar of the Meituan App, click on the word "Map" in the search results to see the map function with the Meituan logo.

3 Meituan Takeaway's Overseas Version Keeta Officially Launched in Saudi Arabia, Starting the First Step of International Expansion

At 11:00 am on September 9 (Saudi Arabia time), Meituan Takeaway's overseas version Keeta quietly launched in Saudi Arabia, marking the first international expansion outside of China. According to the Keeta official website, Keeta is an independent brand of the retail technology company Meituan, focusing on food and consumer goods delivery services in international markets, highlighting global positioning and local operations. Based on user preferences in various countries and regions around the world, it provides differentiated supply and customized delivery services. The official website also includes Keeta software downloads, merchant applications, delivery personnel applications, and other content (21 Finance)

Pinduoduo

1 Pinduoduo continues to promote the "100 billion reduction" plan

On September 12th, following the launch of the "100 billion reduction" series of policies, Pinduoduo received positive feedback from a large number of merchants. In order to continue helping merchants improve quality and efficiency, Pinduoduo has once again upgraded the merchant service fee refund exemption rights. The technical service fee for orders paid after use has been reduced from 1% to 0.6%, and it now covers all merchants. (36Kr)

2 Pinduoduo will fully launch "Product Promotion"

Ebrun learned from merchants that Pinduoduo will officially launch "Product Promotion" on September 14, 2024. At that time, the platform will push guidance pop-ups, allowing merchants to click on the pop-ups to view system-intelligent recommended solutions, and modify daily budget limits, bids, and reserved promotions.

When merchants click to confirm, they can manually upgrade from "Whole Site Promotion, Standard Promotion" to "Product Promotion"; if merchants do not operate or click to close, the system will start upgrading the background promotion function for merchants no later than September 22, 2024. In addition, if merchants have not created any promotions for Whole Site Promotion and Standard Promotion by September 14th, the system will automatically upgrade merchants to Product Promotion.

According to Ebrun's previous judgment, the main change brought by Product Promotion is that Pinduoduo will guide more paid promotions to the entire site's traffic resources, similar to the original "Whole Site Promotion".

JD.com

1 JD Group announces another round of salary increases: will achieve 20 salaries in two years

Following three consecutive rounds of salary increases at the beginning and middle of 2024, on September 13th, JD Group announced another round of salary increases: starting from October 1, 2024, JD Retail Group and functional systems will achieve 20 salaries in two years, and other departments will subsequently launch salary increase plans.

Cross-border E-commerce

1 Shopee implements seller assessment for fully managed sellers, low scores may be eliminated

Shopee's fully managed business saw rapid growth in the first half of the year, with the highest daily order volume increasing by 30 times. To promote the platform's healthy development and help high-quality sellers grow, Shopee will implement seller assessment rules. The assessment covers five dimensions: daily sales volume, new listings, prices, fulfillment, and quality, and sellers who have been approved for more than 90 days will undergo monthly assessments, with ratings released on the 5th of each month.

Ratings range from S, A, B, C, to N, with N representing new sellers. Sellers of different levels enjoy different rights, and sellers with good overall performance will receive benefits such as traffic support, while sellers with no data or a score of 0 will be eliminated. The assessment rules have begun trial implementation, with benefits and eliminations officially implemented on October 5th. Sellers can improve their scores and levels by focusing on the "Opportunity Products" page, among other methods.

2 Pinduoduo's cross-border platform Temu is testing the Poland site

The Temu Poland site has entered the testing phase and will be able to ship to markets in four countries including France, Germany, Italy, and Spain once officially launched. Previously, it was announced that European local stores have new benefits, with registration now open for merchants with European entities after the registration of merchants with U.S. entities Germany, Italy, France, and Spain will open on July 17 at 20:00, while the UK will open on July 26 at 16:00. This means that European businesses have the opportunity to contact the corresponding category operators in advance to whitelist and seize the first wave of traffic dividends.

3 Temu's sales growth in the US slowed to 37% YoY in August

Recently, a report released by Bank of America showed signs of slowing growth for Temu in the US market. According to BSM data, Temu's sales growth in the US in August slowed to 37% year-on-year, lower than the 45% in July, and significantly lower than the 99% growth in the second quarter of 2023. Analysts at Bank of America attributed the growth slowdown to the significant difference from the surge period last year and stable sales. Previously, Temu's market share had surged rapidly in 2023.

4 TikTok Shop Indonesia adjusts seller commissions

TikTok Shop Indonesia recently announced a new policy regarding the adjustment of seller commissions, which will officially take effect at 00:00 local time on September 16, 2024. Under the new policy, starting from September 1, TikTok Shop will implement differentiated commission rates for different types of sellers. For product subcategories with a market commission rate of 10%, TikTok Shop will provide a 20% commission discount, reducing the actual commission rate to 8%. This adjustment aims to balance the relationship between platform revenue and seller costs while maintaining platform competitiveness.

Things you may be interested in

1 Simba's Kuaishou account's live streaming function banned, 1 billion cash compensation unaffected

At 8:00 pm on September 11, Simba's Kuaishou account's live streaming function was banned. Currently, Simba's Douyin account's live streaming function has not been affected. Other anchors under Simba such as "Dandan" and "Shi Dapiaoliang" have not had their live streaming functions banned. Simba's customer service responded: "No specific reasons have been received yet, it is recommended to pay attention."

On the evening of September 10, Simba released a video stating that on the 11th at 8:00 pm, they will start live streaming with 1 billion funds to compensate for controversial products promoted by other anchors. Simba stated that they have selected 200 specialized assistants from 1680 assistants in Simba's selection for this project, and will truthfully answer all questions he can in the live stream.

On September 12, Simba's parent company, Simba Selection Group, responded that although Simba's account was banned, the compensation would still be carried out, but they did not disclose when Simba would be unblocked.

2 Losing nearly 60,000 followers in 3 months, Gaotu announces suspension of live streaming

On September 10, it was reported that the "Gaotu Jiapin" live streaming room announced a temporary suspension in various major fan groups. The announcement revealed that Gaotu Jiapin stated that the suspension was to enhance the content and service positioning of the live stream to bring a new experience and higher quality content, but did not disclose the specific time for resumption of broadcasting After investigation, Gaotu Jiapin has cleared all products from its Douyin live broadcast room and WeChat mini-program store. The latest Douyin live broadcast was during the Mid-Autumn Festival on September 4th to September 5th, and has not been updated since. As of the time of writing, Gaotu Jiapin has 2.449 million fans in its live broadcast room. (The Paper)

3 Shu Yi Shao Xiancao closes 1605 stores in 90 days

Recently, the new tea brand Shu Yi Shao Xiancao, positioned in the 15 yuan price range, has been reported to have closed a large number of stores, with even second-hand equipment from many franchisees facing sluggish sales. Data from the chain store monitoring platform JiHai Brand Monitoring shows that in the past 90 days, Shu Yi Shao Xiancao has opened 496 new stores and closed 1605 stores.

In response, Shu Yi Shao Xiancao stated that the closures were based on the new market situation. They are optimizing their stores and business operations, shifting from opening multiple stores to focusing on quality stores, targeting the lower-tier market, focusing on product structure adjustments and single-store model optimization, supporting franchisees to steadily improve store revenue and profitability. However, the industry is not optimistic about the offline store situation in the new tea beverage industry. Li Chengdong, founder of Dolphin Society, told reporters, "This year, the new tea beverage industry may close 20% to 30% of its stores." (Daily Economic News)

4 Beneunder expands to second overseas market with new store in Laos

Recently, Beneunder opened a new overseas store in Vientiane's Central Plaza in Laos. This is Beneunder's second overseas market after Singapore. The new store in Laos continues the brand's immersive outdoor style, focusing on the concept of "lightweight outdoors" in spatial design. In terms of products, it offers a full range of products for women, men, children, as well as a series of classic products including small black umbrellas, sun protection clothing, and foldable sunglasses.

5 Haidilao's barbecue brand lands in Hangzhou

Haidilao Group's first barbecue brand, "Yanqing Barbecue Shop," has landed in Hangzhou, with the first store located in Sanhua International Building in Shangcheng District, officially opening at the end of August. According to the person in charge of Yanqing's first store in Hangzhou, since the opening at the end of August, the business peak has been full almost every night, with waiting lists. The store's highlighted services such as hair washing and braiding have particularly attracted young female customers.

In addition, the Hangzhou store has set up a night bar mode. Currently, Yanqing's first store in Hangzhou operates from 10 am to 10 pm. As the store operations stabilize, the Hangzhou store will open a night bar mode, with a bar atmosphere starting around 9 pm, transitioning from a restaurant to a bar with music and lighting changes to create a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere. The store's operating hours will also be extended until around 3 am. The second store that Yanqing plans to open by West Lake in Hangzhou will also introduce a resident singer mode.

6 Chabaida continues to support franchise stores with material subsidies

Recently, Chabaida announced its 2024 franchise store subsidy plan, which shows that Chabaida will continue to support the development of franchise stores through material subsidies ChaBaiDao to provide millions in subsidies to support franchise stores in prime locations such as core business districts, regional business districts, tourist attractions, etc. The subsidy can reach up to 15% of the store's monthly raw material purchase amount. This policy will be in effect until the end of 2024.

Since the beginning of this year, ChaBaiDao has introduced multiple subsidy policies for franchisees, including material rebates, rent rebates, franchise fee waivers, and reduction in raw material prices. According to ChaBaiDao's mid-term performance announcement, as of June 30, 2024, the number of ChaBaiDao stores nationwide has increased to 8385, a year-on-year growth of 20.6%.

Japanese skincare brand TAKAMI announces closure of Tmall overseas flagship store

Recently, Japanese skincare brand TAKAMI announced the closure of its Tmall overseas flagship store on September 12th this year. As of 2 pm on September 9th, the store had 357,000 fans. The brand's Tmall official flagship store is still operating normally with 190,000 fans. Currently, the brand's WeChat mini-program official store and Douyin official flagship store are also operating normally.

TAKAMI brand was established in Tokyo, Japan in 1999. In December 2020, L'Oreal Group announced the acquisition of the TAKAMI brand.

Huaxizi enters the largest department store in Paris

Chinese beauty brand Huaxizi's counter officially opened in the largest and oldest department store in Paris, Samaritaine. Samaritaine, a landmark building in the city center, has a history of 154 years and is a cultural and economic symbol in the eyes of Parisians. Huaxizi, born in Hangzhou, China, became the first Chinese beauty brand to enter Samaritaine and currently the only Chinese makeup brand with a physical presence in Europe