Chinese e-commerce giants accused of forcing sellers to offer sales

Liebo, a women’s apparel brand, has accused JD.com – the country’s second-largest e-commerce website after Alibaba – of forcing it to offer discounts to customers during the 618 shopping festival, a nationwide online shopping day launched by JD.com in 2010. JD allegedly blocked Liebo’s access to the platform by preventing the vendor from editing information, including stocks and prices. Then, without permission from Liebo, JD.com included the store in one of its promotional events in which vendors were obliged to offer 62 percent discounts on their products. As a result, the store received more orders than it could process, according to Tang Dafeng, Liebo’s founder. Mr Dafeng said that Liebo has temporarily shut down its store on JD.com, and lawyers have sent a letter on behalf of the company to the e-commerce giant. In response to these claims, JD.com affirmed that Liebo participated in the promotional event voluntarily. Liebo is not the only vendor to complain about unfair treatment from well-known e-commerce websites. LeTV, a tech conglomerate, said in a statement that despite a voluntary price cut, two major third-party e-commerce platforms still forced the company to lower prices further.