China Fines Alibaba Over Pricing Violations

Alibaba has been fined by the Chinese government due to its selling prices by the third parties on Singles' Day event.

Latest Alibaba news is regarding the e-commerce giant being fined by China. According to the sources, the company has been fined $129,000 which is approximately 800,000 Yuan by the Zhejiang provinces based price bureau, the reason had been the violations made by third-party sellers during the promotions of the company’s e-commerce platforms.

‘Singles’ Day’ celebrated on November 11 every year has been the response of Chinese people to the western Valentine’s Day. Alibaba, doing what they do best, changed this into a shopping festival and that too, online. This began in 2009 and has evolved into one of the native festivals since then. This has same proportion of being famous as much as Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the US.

Last year’s event made the e-commerce giant earn the sale of more than $9 billion. And the company has made phrase “Double 11” its copyright which a reference to 11/11 date, this, as per the Alibaba news refers to status belonging to single people.

Alibaba reports that the e-commerce giant has been fined by the government; the fine was of 500,000 Yuan which is approximately $81,000. The reasons included the pricing done by third party sellers on Singles’ Day on the Tmall market place in the years of 2013 and 2014. Furthermore, the fine also included $48,000 which is approximately 300,000 Yuan, this time for the promotions of 2013 and 2015.

The Alibaba Group expressed that despite the fact the pricing has been managed by third parties, the e-commerce titan will make sure to strengthen and regulate the pricing rules with sellers so that the consumers can be protected.

The sales are aimed to be boosted and also the customers to be gained by the 27,000 vendors that have been featured on Singles’ Day shopping web sites by Alibaba. Some of them have argued that the corporate rivalry which has been turned into a cut-throat competition and discounts have overshadowed the benefits, if there are any.

There have been occasional difficulties seen by Alibaba when it comes to regulating the e-commerce empire that sprawls; this now includes online stores such as Tmall and Taobao.

Alibaba.com had been hit by a scandalous case back in 2011 when the sales staff has conspired with the criminals so they could deceive the foreign customers. It resulted in multiple arrests and also the resignation of David Wei who was the then Chief Executive.

More than fifth of this year, the shares belonging to Alibaba had been lost. This includes analysts having an eye on counterfeit goods that baba has been accused for and also with thirdparty earing lackluster.

Alibaba Focuses On More Indian e-Retailers As Snapdeal Buyout Fails

Alibaba is planning to invest more in India due to it being one of largest online retailers in the world.

Latest Alibaba news reports e-Commerce giant based in China has lost the Snapdeal buyout recently in India. The company aims to try out more in the region. It is looking for acquiring the Indian online retailors which have a mass customer attraction and loyalty as well as network consisting of robust merchants.

Any company that wishes to expand its horizon and experiment with more products and services and also has a positive customer care service is being looked by the e-commerce giant. An Alibaba representative said that "Alibaba Group's investment strategy focuses on three aspects of our business: increasing user acquisition and engagement, improving customer experience and expanding our products and services.”

The company has four offices in India and is looking to acquire some major e-commerce names in the country. The platform has provided a global market for medium and small enterprises. The company has also provided platform for selling goods, from chocolates to spices to tea.  Alibaba news reports that the representative expressed that the company’s investment approach also includes promoting the startups and young entrepreneurs that are working on innovative or problem solving products.

The founder of Alibaba, Jack Ma, when visited India in November 2014 had expressed the interest in investing more in India.  He said that he wishes to work with Indian entrepreneurs and Indian technologists so the relationship between the two nations builds up in a better way.

Ma is one of the richest people in China and also the most successful one as well. With the fortune of approx. $24 billion, the company stands out being established only in 1999.

One of the market insider said that the key strategy that Alibaba is following is to go global so that it can cooperate and enhance business with small enterprises across the world. It is in talks with many small e-commerce companies to create a large model based on e-commerce plan so that it can take on rivals like Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal.

India, being a populous country and also consisting of high rate of internet usage is one of the huge online retail market across the globe and is welcoming major investors around the world to invest in it. According to PwC, a consultancy firm, the sector based on e-commerce is going to increase by 34% in this year as compared to the last year.  

In January, a memo of understanding was signed by the e-commerce giant with CII which is an industry body. Last month, the company had pulled out of talks due to increased estimates with Snapdeal.