Discount E-Commerce Firm Vipshop Fined $464,000 for Anti-Competitive Behavior

What’s new: China’s market regulator said Monday it has fined Vipshop Holdings Ltd. 3 million yuan ($464,000) for unfair competition.

The State Administration for Market Regulation said (link in Chinese) the discount e-commerce company exploited information gleaned from merchants’ websites, search engines and other online sources to manipulate consumer behavior to benefit itself.

What’s the background: The large fine comes as China steps up a campaign to crack down on monopolistic behavior by some of its biggest internet companies that are using their market dominance to suppress smaller rivals.

One of the most widely cited cases has seen a number of e-commerce companies accuse sector leader Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. of forcing merchants to exclusively sell on its own platforms, or risk being locked out if they try to peddle their wares elsewhere.

Announcement of the fine came a day after the market regulator published new guidelines designed to prevent platform operators from abusing their dominant market positions. Late last month, the central bank published a draft rule that aims to “strengthen anti-monopoly measures in the payments field” — a move seen as taking aim at the dominance in electronic payments held by the duopoly of Alibaba’s Alipay and Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s WeChat Pay.

Related: In Depth: China Applies Closer Scrutiny to Sprawling Tech Acquisitions

Quick Takes are condensed versions of China-related stories for fast news you can use. To read the full Caixin article in Chinese, click here.

Contact reporter Yang Ge (geyang@caixin.com)

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