Tmall Crisis

Thousands of small merchandisers waged war Tuesday night against larger companies on tmall.com, after the platform announced that it would raise its service fees fivefold on Monday.

Zhang Wan¹ has the story.

 
On Tuesday night, thousands of small merchants "attacked" Tmall, China's biggest business-to-consumer platform, with a flood of traffic and fake orders that crippled many of its individual sites.

The protest came in response to a recent decision by Tmall, a subsidiary of the Alibaba Group, to charge higher annual fees to merchants.

Tmall said on Monday that merchants have to pay an advance deposit of at least 50,000 yuan to protect against contract violations². The new rules also raise the fee for technical services from 6,000 Yuan to 30,000 or 60,000 yuan for various Tmall merchants.

Under the new policy, larger businesses will barely be affected³, as the fees take up only a small part of their sales. Medium and small traders however, may feel a financial pinch.

Zhang Yong, president of Tmall, says the company hopes to encourage businesses to conduct self-inspections to improve their service.

"We've upgraded our service system. Most people are focusing on the fact that we've raised the annual fees, but the most important thing is that we've established business standards. As long as the merchants meet annual transaction volume targets and provide a better service, they will get their money back. Definitely, we want to cooperate with the qualified⁴ businesses, because what we pursue are service and quality, which are also the customers' requirements."

Zhang explains that small-sized businesses have the option of entering the Taobao Marketplace, or taobao.com, a consumer-to-consumer platform that does not charge service fees at all.

But one of Tmall's small sellers, Chen Xiaobei, who has tried to call the service hotline to express his complaints, says that small businesses would not accept Zhang's solution.

"What we've got is half an hour of music and the words saying that they've written down our suggestions and will hand them in. We can't make our voices heard through the normal channels, so we did the only thing that we can do."

Tmall approved the entry of businesses regardless of size when it first opened in order to secure rapid expansion. But customers have repeatedly complained about cases of fraud and the sale of counterfeit⁵ products, demanding that the company take action. But experts suggest that measures should be taken gradually; otherwise merchants as well as the e-commerce industry as a whole will suffer. Expert Fan Feng gives his opinion.

"Tmall's decision went beyond my expectations. In an interest community, how to make regulations and who has the right to make them really matters. Should one stake holder⁶ decide everything?"

The company's new regulations are believed to be part of wider efforts to bring order to its online shopping platform. But how can small and medium sized businesses be protected? And what about the interests of larger merchants who have been affected by this war?

At the moment, China's online shopping market is in the middle of a transformation⁷ from the chaos⁸ of good and fake products being sold side by side, to a mature market achieved through brand building. The current trend being pursued is to establish an e-commerce platform built on integrity, but devising regulations which are suitable to merchants of all sizes and scale is the true test of those setting the rules.

For CRI, I'm Zhang Wan.

1 wan   

(wide area network)广域网

参考例句：

• The shared connection can be an Ethernet,wireless LAN,or wireless WAN connection.提供共享的网络连接可以是以太网、无线局域网或无线广域网。

2 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

3 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

4 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

5 counterfeit   

vt.伪造，仿造；adj.伪造的，假冒的

参考例句：

• It is a crime to counterfeit money.伪造货币是犯罪行为。
• The painting looked old but was a recent counterfeit.这幅画看上去年代久远，实际是最近的一幅赝品。

6 holder   

n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物

参考例句：

• The holder of the office of chairman is reponsible for arranging meetings.担任主席职位的人负责安排会议。
• That runner is the holder of the world record for the hundred-yard dash.那位运动员是一百码赛跑世界纪录的保持者。

7 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

8 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。