Chinese domestic appliance makers said today some of the country’s top e-commerce platforms are hurting their industry and consumers by forcing them to pick sides in the fierce e-commerce competition.
“[S]ome platforms are using their own advantageous [market position] to make unreasonable demands on home appliance makers and other merchants,” the China Household Electrical Appliances Association (CHEAA) said in a strong-worded statement.
The CHEAA brought up the case of one of its members, Galanz, a domestic appliance maker, who said it became a victim of Alibaba’s uncompetitive behavior. Galanz said Alibaba’s Tmall diverted search traffic away from its products after it signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Pinduoduo, one of Tmall’s rivals.
The idea here is that sellers will get punished if they open stores or increase sales on other channels.
“If this problem is left unchecked, it will eventually hurt the Chinese home appliance manufacturing industry and will inevitably harm the interests of consumers,” CHEAA’s statement read. It called on the manufacturers to strongly voice their opposition to such practices.