E-commerce platforms should step up fight against fakes
The upcoming Double 11 shopping promotion will boost overseas brands' sales thanks to the country's strong consumption power, but online retail platforms should make more effort to fight counterfeit goods to ensure the sound development of the sector, analysts said.
Alibaba Group Holding's Tmall online shopping marketplace announced on October 20 that the upcoming shopping festival will include 98,000 retailers from across the world, including Costco, Macy's and German Pool.
The e-commerce platform also aims to sell goods to other places besides the Chinese mainland, such as Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The Double 11 event, held every year on November 11, also known as Singles' Day, was established by Alibaba in 2009.
Luxury brand Burberry's international flagship store on Tmall has joined this year's Double 11 shopping event, indicating that "famous brands are starting to take seriously domestic large e-commerce platforms," said Lu Zhenwang, founder of Shanghai Wanqing Commerce Consulting.
"Overseas brands like Burberry are rolling out new products instead of providing clearance sales for the upcoming shopping event. This shows that they consider the domestic online marketplace a key platform to popularize their products," he told the Global Times on Tuesday.
U.S. retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc announced on October 20 that it will open an international flagship store on jd.com.
In 2015, Chinese tourists' spending overseas hit $104.5 billion, up 16.6 percent year-on-year, according to a report released by the China Tourism Academy and bank card issuer UnionPay International.
Alibaba's Tmall online shopping platforms posted sales of 91.2 billion yuan ($13.5 billion) in the Double 11 shopping event in 2015, up 60 percent year-on-year, said a statement on the group's website.
U.S. second largest retailer Costco saw its Tmall store sell about 300 tons of mixed nuts and dried craneberries during last year's Double 11 shopping festival, with revenue hitting more than 22 million yuan, according to media reports.
China's online shopping market maintained steady growth in 2015, the China Internet Network Information Center said in a report in January. An estimated 413 million Chinese purchased goods online last year, up 14.3 percent year-on-year, said the report.
Due to the strong buying power of Chinese shoppers, foreign e-commerce platforms are also seeking opportunities to develop in the country.
On Friday, U.S. online retail giant Amazon announced plans to offer tailored Prime services for Chinese customers in a bid to deliver authentic goods to China from the U.S.
Experts suggested domestic e-commerce dealers step up efforts to crack down on fake goods on their platforms.
Luxury brands have close cooperation with foreign e-commerce dealers but only a few have entered China's online market, indicating that they may have concern about counterfeits, Lu said, adding that Chinese online vendors should try their best to fight against counterfeits.
In May, the International Anti-Counterfeit Coalition (IACC) suspended Alibaba's membership, mainly due to concerns by various IACC members.
