On the morning of April 15, the Tianyancha App showed that recently, Tianjin Bubble Mart Cultural Communication Co., Ltd. was fined 50,000 yuan by the Hangzhou Gongshu District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau for improper prize sales.
The specific reason is that the parties advertised that 4 or more goods purchased by a single consumer in the event would drop 100% of the limited New Year gift boxes, and they placed a total of 10 gifts in two places in the vending machine of Wanda Plaza, Gongshu District, Hangzhou, and did not inform the consumer of the number of prizes that could be given, and the consumer could not clearly know whether the gifts were sold out before and after the purchase, thus affecting the redemption of the prize sales activities.
According to the data, Tianjin Bubble Mart Culture Communication Co., Ltd. was established in November 2016 and is wholly owned by Beijing Bubble Mart Cultural and Creative Co., Ltd.
According to Bubble Mart's 2021 financial report, the sales revenue of Bubble Mart vending machines (robot stores) in 2021 was RMB4.698 billion, an increase of 42.9% year-on-year, accounting for 10.5% of total revenue. The gross profit margin of the robot store in 2021 is as high as 68.8%, and the gross profit margin in 2020 is 72.3%, which is the channel with the highest gross profit margin.
By the end of 2021, Bubble Mart has a total of 1870 robot stores. In 2021, Bubble Mart will open 510 new robot stores in Chinese mainland, from 1351 units at the end of 2020 to 1861 units at the end of 2021, in addition to 9 robot stores in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and overseas.
In addition to the illegal promotion of vending machines, the "Bubble Mart Box Pumping Machine" has also been fined for improper prize sales. On March 22, Tianjin Bubble Mart Culture Communication Co., Ltd. was fined 50,000 yuan by the Tianjin Binhai New Area Market Supervision and Administration Bureau for violating the Interim Regulations on Regulating Promotional Behavior for not publicizing the probability of winning the prize and the number of prizes in the sales process.
The penalty decision shows that Tianjin Bubble Mart Culture Communication Co., Ltd. sold "Premium Card 2.0" on the WeChat Mini Program "Bubble Mart Box Pumping Machine" at 0:00 on October 30, 2021.
According to the campaign rules, after purchasing a Privilege Card 2.0 activation, you can randomly obtain a "Limited" SP Exquisite Advocate Guardian Sprite or a "Special" SP Skateboard Junior Guardian Elf according to the probability. However, during the sales process, the company did not disclose the probability of winning the two bonuses and the number of prizes.
At 14:55 on November 1, 2021, Bubble Mart replaced a new product map on the product sales page, which reads "Limited Regular SP Exquisite Advocate Guardian Elf or Hidden SP Skateboard Junior Guardian Elf (Hidden Version Drop Probability is 2%)". During the period when the probability of winning the award was not marked, the company had sold 623 preferential cards and obtained actual sales of 373117 yuan, which violated the first paragraph of Article 13 of the Interim Provisions on Regulating Promotional Behavior.
Nandu reporter inquired about the specific content of the clause as follows: "Before the sale of prizes, operators shall clearly announce the types of awards, the conditions for participation, the method of participation, the time of the lottery, the method of drawing, the amount of the prize or the price of the prize, the name of the prize, the category of the prize, the number of prizes or the probability of winning, the time of redemption, the conditions for redemption, the method of redemption, the method of delivery of the prize, the conditions for abandoning the prize, the contact information of the organizer and its contact information, etc., which shall not be changed, shall not be attached, and shall not affect the redemption of prizes, except for those that are beneficial to consumers." ”
According to the financial report, the revenue of Bubble Mart box drawer increased from RMB466 million in 2020 to RMB898 million in 2021, an increase of 92.6% year-on-year. Online box drawers have become the heaviest business in Bubble Mart's online channels, with 2021 Bubble Mart online revenue of RMB1.879 billion, an increase of 97.4% year-on-year, of which box drawers accounted for nearly half of the total, at 47.8%.
Nandu reporters investigated and found that the improper prize sales of online blind boxes are not unique. Previously, nandu survey also found that there are also many blind box sales chaos on the e-commerce platform, such as the blind box of the mobile phone marked "100% winning". "The blind box of mobile phones has run counter to the original business model of the blind box. First of all, the probability of winning the mobile phone is artificially set by the merchant, if the real proportion does not match the label on the product page, it may constitute fraud. If there is such a big probability, you can buy a mobile phone at a price of tens of yuan, it is suspected of unfair competition," Liu Ying, a professor at the Law School of Jinan University and president of the Network and E-commerce Law Research Association of the Guangdong Law Society, previously pointed out to Nandu reporters that no matter from which point of view, the business model of mobile phone blind boxes is improper.
Pan Helin, co-director and researcher of the Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center of Zhejiang University's International United Business School, also pointed out. "Merchants need to meet certain requirements in carrying out prize sales, and it is necessary to clarify the prize information to ensure randomness with the process, the business information is not clear, and there is no process to ensure the probability of winning the lottery." Falsely claiming that 100% of the winning sales method induces users to buy is illegal against the Anti-Unfair Competition Law. ”
Written by: Nandu reporter Ma Ningning