Chinese e-commerce company JD.com Inc. has accused rival Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. of taking advantage of its considerable market power to pressure merchants to withdraw from JD.com’s efforts to promote China’s massive Singles' Day online shopping extravaganza, the Wall Street Journal reported.
JD.com's complaint, which it filed with the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC) against Alibaba on Monday, Nov.2, highlighted the rising stakes in Singles' Day, the world's largest e-commerce sales event, which will take place on Nov. 11.
JD.com claims that Alibaba upset order in the e-commerce market by pressuring merchants to withdraw from JD.com's Singles' Day promotions.
An Alibaba spokesman, however, denied pressuring merchants regarding other platforms. "We win with customers and merchants because we provide a superior experience for users of our platforms," he said. "Alibaba welcomes competition as it benefits consumers, merchants and service providers."
In terms of transaction value, Alibaba is still the leader, with JD.com the second largest e-commerce company. JD Mall and Alibaba's TMall have been competing for brands to join their respective online shopping malls, which are the fastest-growing segment in the country's online retail market, posting 2.82 trillion yuan ($441 billion) in transaction volume last year.
In September, SAIC issued a new regulation that prohibits online retail platforms from preventing merchant participation in promotions on other platforms.
The report, however, said that it was not clear how the regulator will deal with JD.com's complaint.
Singles' Day or Double 11 is celebrated in China on Nov. 11. It started as a sort of anti-Valentine's Day, when single people celebrated their status.
In 2009, Alibaba turned it into the shopping bonanza and promoted it as a shopping day for single people to buy things to pamper themselves. Since then, other e-commerce companies started offering their own Singles' Day events.
Last year, Alibaba sold $9.34 billion worth of goods on Singles' Day, more than triple the $2.68 billion in sales revenue for all U.S. merchants combined last year on Cyber Monday, the e-commerce shopping event that takes place after the Thanksgiving holiday.
JD.com said it received over 14 million orders on the day last year, more than double the level in 2013, but it did not divulge its sales revenue for the festival.