E-commerce "return only" dilemma and way out
In this Internet era, e-commerce has undoubtedly become a new engine for economic development. Just when the e-commerce industry is in full swing, a trend of "return and exchange only" has also quietly emerged, bringing heavy pressure and losses to many e-commerce sellers. How is this trend raging? And how do we respond? Let's find out.
The term "return or exchange only" originated from a provision of the Consumer Rights Protection Law, which aims to protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. According to the regulations, consumers can return or exchange goods without reason within 7 days of receiving the goods. This regulation was undoubtedly introduced to protect the rights and interests of consumers, but it was soon exploited by some dishonest buyers, who began to abuse this right and return a large number of goods to sellers.
This kind of behavior has brought huge losses to e-commerce sellers. Taking clothing products as an example, it is difficult to sell a piece of clothing to others after it has been tried on, which is undoubtedly a major loss for sellers. What's more, some buyers simply use the goods for a period of time and then return them, which is a blatant infringement of the seller's rights.
In the face of the ravages of "return and exchange only", e-commerce platforms and sellers are also actively responding. Some large e-commerce platforms have begun to increase the punishment of "return and exchange only", restricting and blocking the accounts of those buyers who abuse their rights. The platform is also constantly optimizing the return process to make returns more transparent and avoid disputes.
E-commerce sellers are also taking their own countermeasures. Some sellers began to clearly state in the product description that they do not accept "return or exchange only" as a warning to buyers. There are also sellers who choose to increase the price of goods in order to pass on the losses caused by "return only". More sellers are improving the quality of service and striving to satisfy buyers, thereby reducing the occurrence of "return only".
Faced with the dilemma of "return only", we cannot stop there. The e-commerce industry needs the cooperation of the government, platforms and sellers to jointly create a benign development environment. The government should further improve the relevant laws and regulations, clarify the boundaries of "return and exchange only", and protect the legitimate rights and interests of sellers. Platforms need to increase penalties for violations and maintain market order. Sellers should also improve their service quality, influence buyers with a sincere attitude, and jointly build an honest e-commerce ecosystem.
Only by working together can the e-commerce industry truly get out of the haze of "return only" and usher in a new round of take-off. Let us look forward to the fact that in the near future, the e-commerce industry will be full of new vitality and vitality and contribute more to economic development.
The deterioration of the e-commerce business environment has intensified
At a time when the e-commerce industry is suffering from the impact of "return and exchange only", the deterioration of the business environment is even worse, leaving many e-commerce sellers in a dilemma. What are the factors that have led to the deterioration of the e-commerce business environment? Let's disassemble them one by one.
The first is the rising commission fee of the e-commerce platform. In the case of shrimp skin, in May 2023, the platform increased the maximum commission rate for sellers to 6.5%, which is nearly 1 percentage point higher than before. For some small and micro e-commerce sellers, this is undoubtedly a heavy burden.
In addition to the rise in platform commission fees, the fierce competition of homogeneity is also a major factor leading to the deterioration of the business environment. Due to the low entry barrier, the e-commerce industry has attracted a large number of sellers to join, making homogeneous products flooded. In order to win limited market share, sellers have to fall into endless price wars, further compressing their profit margins.
The rise in raw material prices and the increase in labor costs have also made the living environment of e-commerce sellers worse. Taking food e-commerce as an example, due to the high prices of raw materials, production costs continue to rise, and profit margins are further compressed. The increase in labor costs has caused many e-commerce sellers to fall into the dilemma of labor shortage.
In the face of the deterioration of the business environment, e-commerce sellers are also actively seeking a way out. Some leading sellers have begun to transform to branding, by shaping their own brand image, in order to stand out in the tide of homogenization. They are also actively expanding offline channels to achieve coordinated development of online and offline.
For most small and medium-sized e-commerce sellers, the road to transformation is not smooth. They lack sufficient capital and manpower investment, and it is difficult to complete the brand transformation in a short period of time. They can only continue to struggle in the tide of homogenization, hoping to survive in the face of adversity with their own efforts.
The deterioration of the e-commerce business environment has become a thorny problem, which requires the joint efforts of the government, platforms and sellers to find a breakthrough. The government should introduce relevant policies to provide support for small and medium-sized e-commerce sellers; The platform needs to reasonably control the commission rate to create a good development environment for sellers; And sellers should also actively transform and upgrade to improve their competitiveness. Only by working together can the e-commerce industry truly get out of the haze of deterioration of the business environment.