The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
China’s State Administration for Market Regulation announced Thursday it is investigating e-commerce platform Vipshop for “suspected unfair competition”.
The company has since responded with a message on its official Weibo account saying it will “actively cooperate with the regulatory authorities on this investigation”.
This probe into Vipshop is a continuation of an ongoing crackdown on anti-competitive practices among Chinese e-commerce players. Vipshop, together with market leaders, Alibaba’s Tmall and JD.com, were each fined 500,000 yuan ($77,000) in December for improper pricing conduct.
With consumers tightening their belts in China, the battle between global fast fashion brands and local high street giants has intensified.
Investors are bracing for a steep slowdown in luxury sales when luxury companies report their first quarter results, reflecting lacklustre Chinese demand.
The French beauty giant’s two latest deals are part of a wider M&A push by global players to capture a larger slice of the China market, targeting buzzy high-end brands that offer products with distinctive Chinese elements.
Post-Covid spend by US tourists in Europe has surged past 2019 levels. Chinese travellers, by contrast, have largely favoured domestic and regional destinations like Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.