Alibaba’s new Singles’ Day focus: protecting sellers from price wars

The e-commerce giant aims to root out ‘ineffective involution’ after Beijing warned against a race to the bottom in price and quality

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The Alibaba headquarters in Hangzhou, China. Photo: Bloomberg

Ann Caoin Hangzhou, China

Published: 6:00pm, 17 Oct 2024

Alibaba Group Holding has vowed to protect merchants on its Chinese shopping sites from excessive competition, as the e-commerce giant begins its annual Singles’ Day mega sales following warnings by Beijing to steer clear of unsustainable price wars.

Early efforts to improve the business environment for sellers on Taobao and Tmall, the country’s largest online marketplaces, have begun to bear fruit, and merchants can expect more beneficial measures during the major shopping festival, according to Alibaba’s domestic e-commerce unit.

“Our thinking is to eventually remove merchants from ‘ineffective involution’, and push them to provide high-quality services,” Zong Bu, the executive who oversees merchant service experience at Taobao and Tmall Group (TTG), said on Wednesday at a media event in Hangzhou, headquarters of Post owner Alibaba.

The word involution, which entered the Chinese cultural lexicon in recent years, describes shrinking opportunities in a highly competitive environment.

A Singles’ Day ad from Tmall in Beijing in 2023. Photo: Simon Song

“We hope that Singles’ Day is not only a joyful shopping festival, but also a fair and dynamic e-commerce ecosystem [that] brings sustainable growth to merchants. We hope that the entire e-commerce industry can return to the right track of development,” Zong said.

TTG has introduced a slew of measures over the past months to help merchants on its platforms.