The Minister of State Administration for Industry and Commerce, Zhang Mao, said that e-commerce providers have to take “key responsibility” for the sale of counterfeit goods, and promote “credibility and integrity” on their respective sites. He added that government regulators plan to increase supervision over the industry and propose new legislative bills focused on that aim.

Earlier this year, the Ministry published a report indicating that only 37 percent of goods sold on Taobao.com, Alibaba’s popular e-commerce platform, were genuine, as compared to 59 percent for other major online shopping platforms. Following the release of the report, Alibaba’s CEO, Jack Ma, met with Minister Zhang publicly to refute the findings.

Despite Ma’s assurance, Zhang maintains more needs to be done. “The reason why there are so many market violations is that the cost of breaking the rules is too low,” he said, adding the market will fundamentally improve if online retailers face harsher penalties.

To suggest China’s online retail industry has been booming would be something of an understatement. The industry enjoyed a 50 percent rise in sales in 2014, amounting to RMB 2.79 trillion (about US $450 billion), representing 10 percent of the country’s total retail sales.

The post Feud Between Taobao and the Government Over Counterfeit Goods Heats Up appeared first on The Nanfang.

While its competition is still just talking about it, online retailer Alibaba is using remotely-controlled drones to deliver packages by air to its customers.

Alibaba offered air deliveries by drone within an hour to customers in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou from February 4 to 6. The catch? You had to order a certain brand of tea. There was one other restriction too: each city was restricted to just 50 deliveries a day.

The airspace in China is tightly controlled and mostly reserved for military use. Last year, civilian air travel in the east of China was restricted as airports were shut down to allow military air drills.

Having found its “open sesame” to China’s locked skies, Alibaba beat out international competitor Amazon, which was planning to make similar deliveries using unmanned drones until US authorities stepped in.

Although the notoriety of Alibaba is still soaring from its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, the drone delivery campaign comes at an awkward time. Last week, government regulators criticized Alibaba for “illegal” acts, such as allowing counterfeit goods to be sold on its site, something to which CEO Jack Ma angrily denounced in a rare display of defiance against authority.

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Alibaba is now using Apple’s handy Touch ID function on newer iPhones to allow payments via the e-commerce giant’s Alipay system.

To make payments via Alipay, China’s largest online payments system akin to PayPal in the United States, users simply need to scan their fingerprint using the phone’s built in sensor. The feature comes with Alipay 8.4 but is only available on iPhone models that have Touch ID, which includes the iPhone 5S models or the newest iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

Alipay has assured consumers that all fingerprint information will be stored in the phone, and not uploaded and shared with third-parties.

Apple is also rumored to be working with Alipay on enabling Apple Pay in China.

Photos: Kuaixun, Techweb

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Chinese online payment system Alipay is spreading its wings far beyond China. The popular payment platform is now available down under.

The Alipay subsidiary, appropriately titled Alipay Australia, follows the recent launch of the company’s ePay Payment Program in the US, reports China Daily.

In conjunction with the Australian Postal Department, Alipay will provide access at 4,400 Australian stores and outlets. The local presence will give Australian consumers access to TMall and Taobao, and facilitate cross-border e-commerce. The joint agreement is expected to help Australian companies quickly expand into Chinese markets.

According to Forbes, Alipay is the largest mobile payment processor in the world, clearing approximately 80 million transactions per day, and processed US $780 billion worth of transactions in the year ended June 30.

Alipay is owned by Alibaba, which listed this year on the New York Stock Exchange.

Photo: China Daily

The post Alipay Launches in Australia as it Continues Its Global March appeared first on The Nanfang.

Taobao is the granddaddy of online shopping in China, and was instrumental in making Singles’ Day (November 11) into the biggest retail shopping day of the year. And while Taobao has been noteworthy for offering an wide assortment of oddities for sale that range from virtual girlfriends, mourners for rent, and stuff you never knew you needed to buy, it seems that absolutely everything is available for a price on Taobao—even the Taobao models themselves.

Models are categorized on their Taobao page into several groups and styles such as nationality and location or by sub-categories like “cute“, “sexy“, “sweet“, “schoolgirl“, “office lady“, and “ethnic“.

Each page lists their height, weight, and professional experience along with a multitude of photographs. And if you’re the type of lurker who will peruse models’ pages without any intent of hiring them for a job, there’s still a way you can help out. Models’ pages also have a section for comments and fans, which also differentiates them.

With each page looking like an individual entry into a social network hub, it’s not hard to think of the Taobao model page as a virtual Facebook made up of preening, pouting girls with an enormous wardrobe but without pictures of the food they ate last night.

So now you know: if you’re in the market for a model, you can find one in China’s greatest online mall.

[h/t reddit]

Photos: Taobao

The post Taobao: Where You Can Truly Buy Everything, Even Hot Female Models appeared first on The Nanfang.

The traditional way to celebrate Singles’ Day is to eat four youzi (fried doughsticks) and a meat bun, which represents the dot between month and day.

David Beckham met with Jack Ma last week to develop a Singles’ Day promotion. Headlines have been flying around about China’s famous “Single’s Day”, with some comparing it to Black Friday for shopping in the United States. But what exactly is Singles’ Day? And why is it so important that Jack Ma is willing to pay David Beckham to promote it?

“Singles’ Day” is something of a mash-up of Chinese superstition and Western consumerism. The holiday takes its name from the date, November 11, and is most often represented as 11/11. Visually, the date represents a bunch of sticks in a line, which gives it its Chinese name, “Bare Sticks Festival”, or 光棍节. Although there are many theories explaining the origin of Singles’ Day, the most common one is that it was concocted by lonely university students to celebrate being single and relieve themselves of the pressures of getting married and raising a family.

Chinese numerology places importance on certain dates that sound like something else. For example, January 3, 2014 (2014/1/3), is significant because it sounds close to, “Love you for the rest of my life, and the end of my years.”

While the holiday was conceived as a celebration of singlehood, November 11 has slowly gained traction as another holiday for couples to celebrate their “couplehood”. It is now commonplace for couples to reserve the date for their weddings.

Singles’ Day was eventually added to the many dates “Chinese Valentine’s Day” is celebrated, including the traditional western Valentine’s Day on February 14, White Day on March 14 when women are expected to give gifts to their partners, Qixi Festival/Girls Day/Seven Sisters Festival on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, and now Singles’ Day.

Singles’ Day has quickly become a lucrative commercial opportunity for retailers. Although singles have no one to buy gifts for, except presumably themselves, couples have each other. Taobao was the first online retailer to create Singles’ Day promotions, and it was soon copied by several other online retailers who all offer games and the promise of cash rewards or discounts. It has become so popular that many retailers now strategically remove their best selling items on Singles Day to help get rid of unwanted stock.

Photo: Chinaface, nipic, pchouse

The post Singles’ Day Grows from Humble Beginnings to Massive Shopping Bonanza appeared first on The Nanfang.

As The Nanfang reported previously, Chinese customers will be able to order goods from Amazon’s US, German, Spanish, French, and Italian stores and have them shipped to China. Perhaps most impressive though, Amazon claims that through partnerships with EMS and UPS, international orders will arrive at your front door in as little as three days.

The plan comes on the heels of popular American megastore Costco getting in on China’s e-commerce market. Through a partnership with Alibaba, the company will ship their popular oversized products to Chinese homes, coincidentally, also in as little as three days.

Amazon is hoping to capitalize on China’s appetite for international goods, as well as the common belief that goods manufactured elsewhere are better, and in some cases, safer (see tainted milk scandal, etc.) than their Chinese equivalent.

Despite increasing competition, China’s e-commerce market continues to grow at a ferocious pace. It is anticipated that by 2015, the market will be worth $540 billion. By 2020, China’s e-commerce market is projected to be worth more than that of the US, UK, France, Germany, and Japan combined.

Whether Amazon’s Chinese expansion will work remains to be seen. They no doubt have the infrastructure to compete with Alibaba and Jingdong, but then, arguably so too does eBay, Walmart, and Best Buy, all of whom have failed miserably in China.

The post Order from US Amazon, Have It Arrive 3 Days Later in China appeared first on The Nanfang.

Costco received over 10,000 orders on the first two days of opening (October 12-14) at its Hangzhou headquarters, including orders for three tons of Kirkland nuts, and 1.5 tons of dried cranberries.

To give you an idea of what Chinese shoppers are interested in, here are the top five recommendations:

1. Kirkland Extra Fancy Unsalted Mixed Nuts; 1130g, RMB 129

2. Starbucks Italian-Style Instant Coffee; 3.3g x 24 bags, RMB 139

3.  Ocean Spray Original Dried Cranberries “Craisins”; 1360g, RMB 59

4. Pure cotton pyjama jumper for girls aged 4 years-old; RMB 85, two-for-one special, SOLD OUT

5. Kirkland Extra Virgin Olive Oil; 2L, RMB 119

Costco’s emergence in China’s e-commerce market comes at a busy time for the country’s online retailers. Amazon China recently announced that its consumers will be able to directly order and receive shipments from its US website, while e-commerce giant Alibaba recently launched an initial public offering on the US stock market.

Photos: iCEO, Hexun

The post Costco Opens in China, and No Membership Fees! appeared first on The Nanfang.

Amazon has also announced it is building an international headquarters, warehouse, and distribution center in the new Shanghai Free Trade Zone, meaning Amazon customers in China will be able to buy the same things Americans can at the same price (with some additional shipping costs).

According to Wang Peng, general manager of the Asia E-Pay Company, delivery will take seven to ten days. Wang also said eager customers can begin placing orders sometime in the fourth quarter of this year.

With e-commerce being one of the things that immensely helps expats in China, this news should make life a great deal more convenient for anyone that needs to buy a three wolf moon T-shirt, a slanket that makes you look like Superman or Wonder Woman, or maybe a set of Chinese finger traps that one can’t seem to find around here.

Photo: People’s Daily Online

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