Recently, the Internet celebrity cat cup was banned by the whole network because of the Internet rumor of creating a "Paris homework book", and 40 million fans returned to zero overnight. On the Internet, the discussion about whether the cat is wronged or not and whether the punishment is severe continues. There is information that behind the Internet rumors created by Maoyi, it was ultimately to bring goods, and the price of its short video was 550,000 yuan. If you take into account the current policy trend of the government departments for online live broadcasting, it can be said that the cat cup is not wronged, but self-destructive.
Since the beginning of 2024, the behavior of Internet celebrity anchors with goods. The relevant departments have been strengthening management, and recently, the live broadcast e-commerce industry has ushered in new regulations.
On April 9, the Information Office of the State Council held a regular policy briefing, at which the State Administration for Market Regulation and other departments introduced the relevant situation of the "Regulations on the Implementation of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests" (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations"). Among them, the "Regulations" mentioned special provisions on new fields and new issues such as prepaid consumption, live streaming, "one old and one small", "overlord clause", "swiping orders and speculating on credit", "big data killing", automatic renewal, compulsory tie-in sales, and other new issues.
The "Regulations" point out that it is necessary to improve the mechanisms of pre-settlement of consumer disputes, administrative mediation, and diversified solutions, so as to resolve more disputes at the source and eliminate them in the bud. Strengthen social supervision and credit constraints, give better play to the role of consumers and consumer associations, and at the same time clearly oppose the abuse of rights and malicious rights protection. Platforms are prohibited from "swiping orders and speculating on credit", "forced tie-ins", and "big data killing", standardizing "automatic renewal", and ensuring "return without reason".
On the afternoon of April 12, the Zhejiang Provincial Market Supervision Bureau also held a special deployment meeting, which pointed out that it is necessary to improve the position, enhance awareness, and accurately grasp the importance of the special governance of online live marketing violations of laws and regulations, emphasizing the need to make real efforts and seek practical results, and comprehensively promote the tasks of the special governance of online live broadcast marketing violations of laws and regulations. It is required to work together and answer the same questions, and strive to build a special governance work pattern for violations of laws and regulations in online livestreaming marketing.
Since Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province is the representative city of China's live broadcast e-commerce, this deployment meeting of the Zhejiang Provincial Market Supervision Bureau is also considered to be another important meeting in the supervision process of live broadcast e-commerce.
In the past year, there have been frequent chaos in live streaming, and the rectification of the industry is urgent, and the government has repeatedly taken action to solve related problems. Obviously, in 2024, the era of barbaric growth of live streaming is coming to an accelerated end.
Standardize prepaid consumption and differentiated pricing
New regulatory changes are taking place. It is worth noting that the "Regulations" elevate the relevant content in the normative document "Measures for the Administration of Online Live Streaming Marketing" to a statutory obligation, clarifying that "everyone is responsible" for platforms, live broadcast rooms and anchors.
The "Regulations" clearly state that live streaming must clearly state "who is bringing goods" and "whose goods are bringing", and "everyone is responsible" for platforms, live broadcast rooms and anchors. This is the premise and bottom line of marketing. In terms of strengthening information disclosure, where business operators provide goods and services through means such as the internet, television, telephone, mail order, etc., they shall prominently indicate or explain their true names and marks on their homepages, video screens, voices, catalogs, and so forth. Where other business operators actually provide goods and services, they shall also provide consumers with information such as the business operator's name, business address, and contact information.
In terms of consumer dispute resolution mechanisms, in the event of a consumer dispute, the livestream platform operator shall, upon the request of the consumer, provide relevant information such as the livestream room operator and livestream marketers, as well as relevant business activity records, and other necessary information, and the "three-nos" product often does not have the name, address, or contact information of the operator, and the platform shall strictly implement identity verification and daily management responsibilities, and actively assist consumers in protecting their rights in the event of a consumer dispute, so as to effectively improve the after-sales experience.
Regulating prepaid consumption is also a key focus of the "Regulations" legislation. The Regulations point out that in terms of regulating marketing behavior, if the live broadcast content published by live broadcast room operators and live broadcast marketers constitutes commercial advertisements, they shall perform the obligations of advertising publishers, advertising agents or advertising spokespersons in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Advertising Law. In recent years, all kinds of chaos in prepaid consumption have become a source of annoyance for the people and a blockage for assured consumption. The "Regulations" set up special penalties for prepaid consumption, which are clearly punished by the relevant administrative departments; those who run away after the advance fee is collected will also be included in the list of the untrustworthy with serious violations in accordance with the law.
In addition, the "Regulations" also stipulate that it is forbidden to "swipe orders and speculate on credit". Some business operators have harmed fair competition and fair trade by "liking in batches", "planting grass in a false way", "fictitious evaluations", "cashback on positive reviews", and "deleting negative reviews"; The Regulations prohibit "forced tie-ins". Some operators scan QR codes to pay for compulsory registration, online booking bundled vouchers and other behaviors, infringing on consumers' right to make their own choices.
In terms of price and renewal, the Regulations stipulate that operators shall not use technical means to compel or indirectly compel consumers to purchase goods and receive services. Where proprietors provide goods and services through methods such as collocation or combination, they shall draw the attention of consumers in a conspicuous manner. The "Regulations" prohibit "big data killing", and stipulate that business operators shall not set different prices or charging standards for the same goods and services under the same transaction conditions without the knowledge of consumers. This is the first time that the mainland has regulated differentiated pricing in administrative regulations.
In terms of regulating "automatic renewal", the Regulations stipulate that the relevant business operators shall draw the attention of consumers in a conspicuous manner twice before consumers receive services and before automatic extension and automatic renewal, and shall also provide consumers with a conspicuous and simple option to cancel or change at any time.
In terms of returns and exchanges, the Regulations protect "no reason for returns". Seven-day no-reason returns have become the standard for online shopping, but there are still some merchants who shirk them for various reasons; it is stipulated that business operators shall not limit the scope of statutory no-reason returns; and for goods that are not applicable to no-reason returns, they shall be marked in a conspicuous manner, prompting consumers to confirm at the time of purchase, and shall not be used as an option for consumers to agree by default. At the same time, without the consumer's confirmation, the return of goods without reason shall not be refused.
Regulating the behavior of anchors is the core
Behind the introduction of the new regulations on live broadcast e-commerce, while the live broadcast e-commerce ecology is developing rapidly, various chaos has also emerged. One of the sources of chaos is that the behavior of Internet celebrity anchors is easy to get out of control, and they often do whatever it takes for traffic.
In fact, in the past five years, the scale of the live broadcast e-commerce market has increased by 10.5 times. As early as May 2020, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the State Administration for Market Supervision, and the National Audit Bureau jointly issued an announcement to include Internet marketers in China's new top ten professions, becoming an emerging profession certified by the state, and officially included in the National Occupational Classification Dictionary.
As a key player in the world of live streaming, Internet marketers have occupations such as product selectors, live salesmen, video creators, and platform administrators. With a justifiable "reputation", live broadcast platforms, live broadcast institutions and some head anchors have developed rapidly with policy platforms.
Entering 2024, major live broadcast platforms will continue to make efforts. On February 20, 2024, Taobao established a new live broadcast e-commerce company to provide one-stop hosting services to help novice anchors, celebrities, KOLs, etc., with the main goal of incubating new anchors. According to reports, the company is operated by the Taotian live broadcast operation team, not with the goal of making profits, with the incubation of new anchors as the main driving force, and the flexible cooperation model of guaranteed or profit sharing with the anchors.
Douyin e-commerce announced that it will take "price power" as its highest priority task in 2024, following Pinduoduo, Alibaba, and JD.com, and clearly elevating "low price" to its core strategy. According to a later report, Douyin e-commerce has also set a total turnover (GMV) target of more than 3 trillion yuan in 2024. In March this year, Douyin e-commerce also launched the "Douyin Mall Version" APP, which is the first time that Douyin has launched a comprehensive independent e-commerce platform.
However, at the same time, the increase in complaints and reports related to the live broadcast e-commerce industry is as high as 47.1 times, which is significantly higher than that of traditional e-commerce, and the development and regulation are still unbalanced. It is difficult for consumers to provide evidence, and problems such as false marketing, mismatched goods, and difficulty in returning goods frequently occur.
On the whole, the live broadcast industry is an emerging thing, and it is still in the stage of exploration and summary, and there is indeed a lack of corresponding regulatory standards and implementation methods.
Looking back on the past 2023, the chaos of the savage growth of the live broadcast industry is also constantly occurring. Li Jiaqi, Crazy Brother Yang, Simba and other head anchors have fallen into a public opinion storm.
Last year's Double 11, the dispute over the "floor price agreement" of the head anchor broke out. Li Jiaqi was shouted on suspicion of "choosing one of the two", and Brother Yang angrily criticized Li Jiaqi for "price monopoly", and then Brother Yang's company was exposed to the existence of an insurance agreement...... Li Jiaqi, the head anchor with goods, experienced the price event of "Huaxizi eyebrow pencil is more than 980 per gram and you can buy two grams of gold". Last year, the female apprentice of Crazy Brother Yang "Yellow of the Traffic Light" was named by the China Consumers Association as a vulgar case of bringing goods. Kuaishou's first brother Simba caused controversy because of Mousse mattresses in last year's Double 11 delivery.
In February 2024, Dongfang Selection's products about shrimp were reported by Wang Hai, a professional anti-counterfeiter. The quality and safety standards of food sold on live-streaming e-commerce platforms should not be underestimated.
The rectification of the live broadcast industry is urgent. It is foreseeable that with the continuous emergence of relevant regulatory policies in 2024, the gradual implementation of policies will play a guiding role in the development of the entire live broadcast industry. This is also revealing an important message to the market - starting from 2024, the era of savage growth of live streaming is coming to an accelerated end.
For those streamers who are only traffic-oriented, if they can't grasp the spirit of the new policy in time, then their anchor career is likely to be like a cat and begin to enter the countdown.
(This article was first published on Titanium Media APP, author | Liu Dafang, editor - Fang Yu)
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