Alibaba, JD.com, or WeChat show that China is an indisputable e-commerce giant, capable of overcoming the coronavirus and remaining a world power.
China is the Emperor of eCommerce and there is the key for its economy to overcome almost any obstacle, in a convulsive streak like few others: first, the United States blocks it, and shortly after, a new strain of pneumonia – already widely known as Coronavirus – is it unleashes spreading throughout the world and leaving in its wake – in addition to infections and deaths – a narrative more typical of an apocalyptic film than a news program Youtube.
Few economies in the world are capable of withstanding a storm with such integrity that it does not look like it will subside in the most immediate term. With the largest population in the world, the role of a factory that supplies articles and components to the entire planet to more than one would be great, but this is not the case in China.
Coronavirus: strong but not enough to end China
Threat first, fear confirmed later, the coronavirus has hit China by having its epicenter there, and the shock wave of that blow is being felt worldwide. Activities in all fields suspended by paranoia that runs even faster than the virus itself, the world’s economies are taking a beating in the form of contagion for which most countries are not prepared.
The economic impact of the coronavirus
China, for its part, will survive and emerge stronger from the impasse: it has been emphatically demonstrated with the coronavirus that we need the Chinese industrial and economic muscle to function in practically the entire world.
A punch of reality that clears our eyes: it seems that we have not done quite well as soon as we have become accustomed to believing that Silicon Valley is the Mecca of entrepreneurship, nothing short of invincible and that the startups that are born in its bosom are the most competitive on the planet. Saying Silicon Valley, of course, is a way of referring to the United States as a whole.
This includes Seattle giants like Amazon and even Microsoft, especially after the success of its big data platform Azure and the profound transformation that Satya Nadella has led. Plus, we won’t be slow to add Walmart to the mix, because the world’s largest retailer is catapulting its supermarket division’s digital sales and multiplying its store technology.
And yes, the heart of innovation and tech entrepreneurship may be in North America, but all of this should not overwhelmingly lose perspective of who really rules e-commerce.
While, as we said above, China concentrates half of world internet sales, the United States has to settle for 20% of the total. Few would now dare to affirm that the combined momentum of the Asian giant’s three major technology hubs (located in Beijing, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou) cannot compete head-to-head with Silicon Valley in everything related to sales and electronic and mobile payments.
But new rules have been established!
China enacts new anti-monopoly rules for tech giants: the Antitrust has released new guidelines targeting Internet platforms, strengthening existing restrictions for Chinese tech giants. The new rules formalize a previous anti-monopoly bill and clarify a number of monopoly practices that are intended to the crackdown. The guidelines should put new pressure on the country’s major internet services.
Who comes within the viewfinder?
The new antitrust rules arriving for online payment platforms were announced in the draft on January 20 to be approved by February 19. The usual comments on the new legislation governing the activity of non-bank payment service providers must have been sufficient since they were defined.
Beijing is using an iron fist against the exploitation of operators’ dominant positions. As pressure on tech giants increases, directives for e-commerce sites and payment services become final, including e-commerce sites in Alibaba Group’s Taobao and Tmall online marketplaces or JD.com. The directives will also cover payment services such as Ant Group’s Alipay or Tencent Holding’s WeChat Pay.
The turning point of the Committee
The party’s Central Committee has long announced that the fintech giants would become the subject of multiple regulations. On the one hand, the law requires e-commerce payment platforms to dispose of financial products within the year. Then the directive requires that data relating to customers be given to all credit and financial institutions, making them flow into existing databases.
The situation for Alibaba & co. it is not the best. Now comes the Antitrust Authority which prohibits the exploitation of dominant positions and practices that violate competition.
In China more than everywhere else, e-commerce is developing so fast that it can become difficult for brands to understand this new way of selling. In addition to that, fashion is a sector that updates rapidly, and following these trends needs expertise, and more and more e-commerce platforms propose fashion goods to their customers. Master e-commerce will reinforce your brand awareness and your collection’s popularity. Source
