The National Development and Reform Commission finds that the e-commerce price war has fraudulent consumer behavior

On August 14th, JD.com CEO Liu Qiangdong took the lead on Weibo, saying that JD’s large appliances had “zero margin within three years”. All major appliances guarantee that they will be 10% cheaper than GOME Suning chain stores and will send staff to Suning’s GOME stores. And directly to the United States, Suning delineated as an opponent.

Since then, Suning and Gome have responded, and Sun Bin, Yi Ning’s executive vice president Li Bin, responded at 4 pm. “All prices of Suning Tesco's products must be lower than Jingdong. Any netizen found that Suning Tesco's price is higher than Jingdong and will immediately adjust the price and pay.” He Yangqing, the vice president, stated his intention to join the price war at 10 o'clock in the evening and said that “Gome does not evade any form of price war. Starting from 9:00 on August 15th, GOME's online mall will be 5% lower than Jingdong Mall.”

This move caused widespread public opinion. However, a number of media reports later confirmed that the so-called price war of e-commerce is "lightning thunder does not rain," "flicker consumers."

Three-way investigation team was sent for investigation

After the incident took place and caused great concern from all walks of life, the relevant departments dispatched three working groups to investigate the three companies.

Yesterday, the National Development and Reform Commission was still learning the price war situation from several home appliance manufacturers.

The NDRC's investigation of the three major e-commerce companies in the "price war" in the main problems are that the fictional original price is the promotional price higher than the original price, did not fulfill the price commitment and the actual physical business, but in the shop shows no stock, fraud consumer.

In accordance with the relevant laws and regulations in China, the so-called original product price is the lowest price for product trading within 7 days before the sales promotion. According to the survey conducted by relevant departments, there is a behavior that the e-commerce vendor has a fictitious original price during the price war, that is, the actual sales price is higher than The lowest price in the previous 7 days.

In addition, Jingdong CEO Liu Qiang Dong once said on Weibo that all major appliances will maintain zero gross margin in the next three years.

However, the relevant departments spot-checked 15 kinds of products and showed that the gross profit margin of these products was as low as 4%, with a maximum of 22.43%. Even after the promotion, the highest gross profit rate reached 10%.

Specific conclusions and fines have not yet been determined

In addition, some e-commerce companies promised to sell goods at a low price, but they had no goods in the online shop, but the actual survey results showed that the warehouse of the business actually had inventory.

In addition, some e-commerce products are sold exclusively, while others do not. Therefore, it is impossible to compare whether their previous price promises to be the lowest price.

There will not be any concrete conclusion in this matter within a short period of time. According to the investigation procedure, such procedures as hearings and notifications will also be required. There are no specific conclusions and fines yet. However, relevant departments have indicated that they will act according to law.

The relevant government officials mentioned above stated that normal market competition should be encouraged, but online sales must also meet the specifications and consumers cannot be defrauded.

data

Price supervision bureau

The price supervision bureau, short for price supervision and inspection and anti-monopoly bureau of the National Development and Reform Commission, was renamed by the price supervision and inspection department of the National Development and Reform Commission on July 1 last year.

Its main functions include: investigating and punishing price and charging violations by various central government departments, provincial people's governments and departments, central enterprises, and social organizations; coordinating inter-provincial price, charging illegal cases, and investigating major price and charging illegal cases. Responsible for anti-price monopoly law enforcement work, investigate, identify and handle major price monopoly actions and cases.

The four "crimes" in the "price war"

1, fictitious original price

That is, the promotional price is higher than the original price. All three home appliance merchants have fictitious original price behavior, which means that the actual sales price is higher than the lowest price in the previous 7 days.

2. Failure to perform the "zero margin" commitment

Jingdong has said that all major appliances will maintain zero gross margin in the next three years. However, the relevant departments spot-checked that some products even reached the highest gross profit rate after the promotion of 10%.

3, indicate that there is no actual goods

Many users report that the stock is out of stock. Some e-commerce companies promised to sell goods at a low price, but they have no goods in the online store, and actual survey results show that the warehouses of the stores actually have stock.

4, coincident goods less

In the price war, the overlap of the products of several merchants is very low. Some e-commerce products are sold exclusively, others do not. Therefore, it is impossible to compare whether their previous price promises to be the lowest price.

Relevant rules

Article 14 of the "Price Law" shall not have the following acts of unfair prices:

(1) Collaborate with one another to manipulate market prices and harm the legitimate rights and interests of other business operators or consumers;

(2) In order to eliminate competitors, or to monopolize the market, in order to reduce the price of goods such as live goods, seasonal goods, and backlogs in accordance with the law, to dump at prices below cost, disrupt normal production and business order, damage national interests or other operations The legitimate rights and interests of the person;

(3) to fabricate or spread price information, drive up prices, and push up prices of commodities;

(4) Using false or misleading price means to induce consumers or other business operators to conduct transactions with them;

(5) to provide the same goods or services and impose price discrimination on other operators with equal trading conditions;

(6) Taking or selling commodities or providing services, such as raising the level or depressing the level, to increase or depress the price in disguised form.

Lawyer

Lawyer: It is difficult to judge the fine amount

Zhao Yunting, a partner and lawyer of Shanghai Dabang Law Firm, told reporters yesterday that from the perspective of administrative power, the NDRC has the right to investigate and fine the price fraud so as to guarantee the rights and interests of consumers.

He believes that the previous price wars of Jingdong, Gome, and Suning were too full, for example, the sale of zero gross margins was theoretically impossible. “The commercial propaganda must guarantee the minimum authenticity. This matter also reminds all the merchants that hype propaganda may overreach the law. At present, the entire business environment in China is not very honest. Through this survey, it is beneficial to alert the merchants.” You Yunting said.

As for the possible amount of punishment, You Yunting believes that this case is complicated and it is not easy to judge the specific amount and the fine amount. Because on the one hand, these household appliance manufacturers did not actually implement the promotion, but on the other hand, these home appliance merchants also confirmed their commitments on certain commodities. Therefore, it is difficult to determine the specific amount of each household. The final fine may be Several hundred thousand yuan.

In accordance with Article 7 of the "Provisions on Administrative Penalties for Price Violations" implemented in 2010, "If false or misleading prices are used to induce consumers or other business operators to conduct transactions with them, they shall be ordered to make corrections and the illegal gains shall be confiscated. And impose fines less than five times the illegal income; if there is no illegal income, a fine of between 50,000 yuan and 500,000 yuan shall be imposed; if the circumstances are serious, the enterprise shall be ordered to suspend business for rectification, or the business administration authority shall revoke the business license."

review

The Ministry of Commerce once uttered a voice on the electricity business war

For this vigorous e-commerce price war, the Ministry of Commerce is the first government regulator to declare its position.

On August 16, Shen Danyang, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, said that the Ministry of Commerce has noticed that individual large-scale e-commerce companies are competing to adopt price cuts to carry out sales activities, as well as the heated market discussions and concerns of consumers and suppliers. . The Ministry of Commerce will continue to pay attention to the progress of this matter. Judging whether this "price war" is illegal or not requires the basis of laws and regulations.

At present, the legal provisions related to price reduction and promotion include the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, the Anti-Monopoly Law and the Price Law, and the price of the competent authorities, law enforcement agencies of industry and commerce and other law enforcement entities can only be concluded after investigation and evidence collection.

On August 17, Wang Desheng, deputy director of the Department of Circulation and Development of the Ministry of Commerce stated that the rights, responsibilities and obligations of all parties involved in e-commerce transactions must be refined and supplemented in related standards in addition to the relevant regulations. "Standards for Business Marketing Operations" and other standards have been included in the development plan.

In order to meet the needs of the development of e-commerce and online shopping, the Ministry of Commerce will intensify the formulation of standards in this area in the future. For example, the “On-line Store Credit Evaluation Index”, “Network Group Management Enterprise Management Standard”, and “Network Group Purchase Enterprise” have been included in the plan. Credit Evaluation System and E-commerce Marketing Operation Specification.