Here are some good new ecommerce books for this summer 2021 selected by Sig Euland from Practical Ecommerce on Amazon. There are titles on cryptocurrency, customer experience, fulfillment, leadership, social media marketing, startup strategies, and building an online course.

1. Ignore Your Customers (and They’ll Go Away): The Simple Playbook for Delivering the Ultimate Customer Service Experience by Micah Solomon

“Ignore Your Customers (and They’ll Go Away)” presents a step-by-step guide to building winning customer service culture to transform your company. Follow stories from innovative and successful companies, including Amazon and The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, and learn what it takes to turn routine customer interaction into lifelong engagement and loyalty.
Paperback $19.99; Kindle $9.49.

2. Masters of Scale: Surprising Truths from the World’s Most Successful Entrepreneurs by Reid Hoffman, June Cohen, and Deron Triff

In “Masters of Scale,” LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman teams up with the executive producers of the “Masters of Scale” podcast to offer hard-fought lessons from iconic companies and disruptive startups. Taken from more than 100 interviews, this book offers collective insights distilled into a set of counterintuitive principles. Learn to find a winning idea and turn it into a scalable venture. Kindle $13.99.

3. The Future of Money: How the Digital Revolution Is Transforming Currencies and Finance by Eswar S. Prasad

“The Future of Money” follows the current state of money and the impact of disruptive digital currencies. Explore the positive developments, such as greater efficiencies and improved access, and learn how to guard against the dangers of what’s to come.
Hardcover $35.00.

4. Million Dollar Micro Business: How to Turn Your Expertise Into a Digital Online Course by Tina Tower

“Million Dollar Micro Business” is a step-by-step guide for creating an online course. From ideation to launch and growth, identify what you can teach and develop into a course. Learn to build a digital learning website, market and launch your new course to the right audience, and scale your platform through automation.
Paperback $21.99.

5. Launch: How to Sell Almost Anything Online, Build a Business You Love, and Live the Life of Your Dreams by Jeff Walker

This is an updated and expanded version of the best-selling “Launch,” a guide for starting new products and businesses. This new edition features chapters on applying social media in your launches, live-streaming to deliver content, and using paid traffic and advertising.
Kindle $12.99; Hardcover $23.99.

6. The Startup Growth Book: 50+ Proven Ways to Scale Your Business Without a Marketing Budget by Andrew Lee Miller

“The Startup Growth Book” teaches entrepreneurs and marketers how to build sustainable, scalable growth, channel by channel, with no advertising. Learn how to scale organically using multiple channels, such as email, organic search, social media, and more. Drive your growth without outsourcing to an agency or a third-party marketing team.
Paperback $19.95

7. Social Media Marketing: Guaranteed Strategies To Mastering, & Dominating Any Platform For Your Brand by Jonathan S. Walker

“Social Media Marketing” is a resource for anyone who has little-to-no social media presence. Learn how to grow an interactive follower base organically. Get proven strategies for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat. Increase interaction of your followers. Monetize and maximize profits from your social media platforms.
Paperback $15.99.

8. The Sea We Swim In: How Stories Work in a Data-Driven World by Frank Rose

Building on insights from cognitive psychology and neuroscience, “The Sea We Swim In” shows how to see the world in narrative terms. Learn how a story can help you establish a brand identity and turn consumers into fans.
Kindle $12.99; Hardcover $21.95.

9. Customer Experience Excellence: Six Strategies to Deliver Exceptional Growth in 90 Days by Tim Knight and David Conway

“Customer Experience Excellence” is a guide to creating a successful customer experience platform. Drawing on the research of the global consulting group KPMG, the book details the winning systems of companies that have produced authentic customer communication systems at scale.
Paperback $25.95; Kindle $25.95.

10. Fast Fulfillment: The Machine That Changed Retailing by Sanchoy Das

“Fast Fulfillment” explores the ins and outs of the delivery side of online businesses. Learn the secrets of fast fulfillment, and design a plan for your own disruptive innovation.
Kindle $13.49.

11. Leadership for Founders: Seven Habits to Lead You and Your Team to Success by Fiona Macaulay

“Leadership for Founders” provides proven practices on how to be a leader who fosters innovation, attracts the right talent, and retains customers. Launching a new project is difficult when the long-term survival rate is so low. Explore these best practices to ensure success for you, your team, and your organization. Paperback $19.95.

12. Decisively Digital: From Creating a Culture to Designing Strategy by Alexander Loth

“Decisively Digital” explores how to survive and thrive in an increasingly digital world. Learn how to establish a digital culture and realize the benefits of modern work for your employees. Take advantage of analytics, big data, and cloud computing. Explore how digital innovation can drive your business results. Paperback $25.00; Kindle $15.00.

Ecommerce warehouses are often not environmentally friendly.

• They consume vast amounts of energy.
• Many pose hazards to their employees.
• Material handling equipment, lighting, heating, air conditioning create emissions, some of them toxic.
• Warehouses are also noisy. Machinery in warehouses creates noise pollution. Machines, forklifts, and conveyors produce high-intensity sounds that are not only a nuisance but also a health and safety risk.
• Warehouses can generate much waste, largely from product returns.

Emissions. Toxic warehouse emissions are largely related to the facility’s size, layout and design, inventory levels, and equipment. Primary culprits include:

• Exhaust fumes from picking-up and drop-off of goods,
• Idling of materials-handling equipment such as forklifts,
• Chemical emissions or toxic gases from manufacturing or assembly processes,
• Bad ventilation, particularly in winter,
• Poor maintenance of heating and air conditioning systems.

A recent DHL whitepaper (PDF), “ECO-mmerce: How online retail can build the sustainable supply chain of tomorrow,” addressed warehouse health and safety. The paper points out that “to improve the environmental performance within warehouses, logistics companies are increasingly turning to environmentally friendly material-handling technology, such as forklifts with newer, more efficient batteries and chargers. Companies are also increasing the speed of loading trucks and delivery vehicles. This helps to reduce the dwell time of trucks at distribution centers, reducing their emissions.”

Noise. The degree to which noise can impact humans ranges from levels that interfere with understanding speech (annoyance and nuisance) to levels that cause adverse health effects (hearing loss and psychological effects). Variables include intensity, frequency, and pattern of noise as well as the nature of work that exposes the individual to the noise source.

The normal human ear can detect sounds between 0 dB to 140 dB (decibels). Long-term exposure to noise levels above 75 dB seriously hampers individuals’ hearing and affects their physical and psychological wellbeing. Anything over 120dB can cause discomfort or pain.

A very loud work area can make it nearly impossible to hear alerts, alarms, and co-workers. Many noise regulations impose mitigation measures — such as sound walls and other soundproofing techniques — if noise reaches a defined level. Hearing protection is a must in workplaces where loudness levels and exposure times exceed the allowable standards.

The sounds from mechanical vibrations can expose staff to permanent and debilitating health effects. An acoustic consultant can measure noise and vibration and recommend mitigation steps.

Waste. Companies that minimize warehouse waste avoid environmental damage while improving health and safety among employees. There’s often no greater source of warehouse waste than product returns.

According to the DHL paper, “Returns are a significant source of waste. Retailers and logistics companies are accelerating the scale of recycling and sustainable packaging in their ecommerce operations. Containers and packaging make up a major portion of municipal solid waste in the U.S., amounting to 82.2 million tons in 2018, according to the most recent data from the EPA. At the same time, thanks in part to the growing use of recycled materials, the recycling rate of packaging and containers was 53.9%, up from 49.4% in 2017. Packaging systems must be designed with care, using the least amount of materials and energy, maximizing recycled content, and increasing the potential for reuse.”

Engineering and Design

Companies commissioning new warehouses and distribution centers are using facility-specific carbon footprint calculations. Engineers and architects can configure energy-efficient and low-CO2-emitting processes for material handling systems and storage technologies. They compare the environmental impact of various structures and machines and advise on sustainable heating and cooling solutions.

Every aspect of a building impacts the total energy that drives CO2 emissions. A zero-energy facility produces enough renewable energy to meet its own annual energy consumption requirements. This is the objective that global organizations wish to achieve.

E-commerce merchants are literally at the mercy of the digital checkout systems tied to their web stores. For retailers, what happens on the other side of the “pay” button is critical to avoiding denied approvals. Online sellers cannot survive without a strong checkout page.

The process can be a dizzying integration of numerous moving parts. Authentication, currency conversions, and approval rates all must work together to ensure a quick and complete transaction so merchants can bring their business to the next level.

How fast money moves in a transitioning digital economy is a sign of efficiency and health. So what does it mean when $18 trillion in U.S. business-to-business payments takes days to clear and land in bank accounts?

For merchants, it means lost efficiency and lost time to put cash to work. For consumers, such delays mean they do not have access to funds that many of them need right now. For both parties, it also means failed transactions.

This process is changing slowly. The payment system that runs much of the online transactions is 40 years old. Some investors have taken notice. A new behind-the-scenes payment system is slowly taking over.

Developed by The Clearing House, RTP (Real-Time Payments) is backed by major U.S. banks and has been adopted by nearly 40 percent of large enterprises in the U.S.

RTP represents the new frontier for payments and will likely become the new standard. Already, more than one-third (36 percent) of large enterprises in the U.S. use Real-Time Payments, which was launched in 2017 in the United States. However, beyond U.S. borders, RTP is in much bigger use.

RTP’s prominence is likely to expand. Levvel Research’s “2021 Real-Time Payments Market Report,” showed that 66 percent of companies in the U.S. indicate they are likely to adopt RTP in the next two years. The technology has already gained momentum in other countries.

RTP is a big step to speeding up and modernizing payments, accounting, and money movement. RTP enables financial institutions and businesses to send and receive payments in real time. The process is much faster than checks, ACH, or wires, which can take up to three days to clear.

Other than speed, RTP differs from the way B2B payments are made today in that it enables three new processes.

• Better data to drive better insights.

With non-RTP transactions, vendors, at best, may see their clients’ payments post to their bank account. RTP enables data to transfer with the payment, so companies get visibility into invoices, dates, purchase orders, and more.

This gives companies an advantage in responding to customer needs and has potential to improve their finance function and decision-making.

• Continuous availability.

RTP is always available. This provides merchants with more flexibility than traditional banking hours that constrain non-RTP payments.

• The mitigated risk of payment failure.

RTP payments are irrevocable. Payment instructions are not sent unless there are sufficient funds. This reduces the risk of payment exceptions.

From a merchant’s viewpoint, three levels of optimization are needed for a seamless checkout experience. They are improvements to checkout, integration, and issuer responses.

They can provide a customer with the most seamless experience, increasing the likelihood of completing a purchase. This also will make it easy for merchants to keep track of their transactions and get the most from their shoppers.

• Checkout optimization reduces the number of steps a consumer needs to take when paying for goods online. Fewer steps mean less frustration and fewer abandoned baskets.
• Integration optimization means not making consumers insert their credit card details into a website they do not trust. So ensuring a payment gateway that is properly configured and integrated into the checkout process with the same look and feel as the rest of the experience is critical.

That optimization should include the authorization process and structured data that informs merchants about their business transactions. This way, merchants can quickly identify where any declines come from in the processing chain, what the reason for it is, and oversee the smooth flow of transactions.

• Issuer optimization is the final cog in the payment wheel. Once payment has passed through the gateway and the acquirer, the final decision on whether to authorize a transaction ultimately sits with the issuer.

What happens on the other side of the pay button is critical. A maze of steps must execute without glitches to complete transactions successfully. Even if a customer commits to a purchase, enters the details, and clicks the pay button, the order will not necessarily be successful, as all sorts of variables such as authorization rates come into play here.

Multiple parties are involved in every transaction. Each has the power to cause a transaction to fail and impact a merchant’s approval rates. That is why it is so vital that merchants work with a payments partner that looks after this process for them.

RTP is inevitable because the speed of business and economies is only getting faster. Companies cited immediate access to funds as the most appealing benefit of RTP. Also, 76 percent of companies believe RTP will provide them with a competitive advantage.

As more companies adopt, others will, too, in order to stay competitive. In addition to RTP, the Federal Reserve is forging ahead with its real-time payment system, FedNow, which is expected in 2023 or 2024.

For consumers, real-time payments will mean instant access to funds with no more waiting for checks to clear. For some consumers who live paycheck to paycheck, that could reduce the need for expensive, short-term loans or reduce chances of bank overdrafts.

In addition, RTP will speed up operational requirements of foundational back-office processes like accounts receivable and accounts payable, potentially leading to lower costs. It goes without saying that these savings can result in increased incremental value for their customers.

The Eastern Caribbean has created its own form of digital currency meant to help speed transactions and serve people without bank accounts.

According to The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, its “DCash” is the first such blockchain-based currency introduced by any of the world’s currency unions, though some individual nations have similar existing systems.

It became available Wednesday, March 31, in a year-long pilot programme in four island nations: St. Lucia, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, and St. Kitts and Nevis.

DCash was created by Barbados-based fintech company Bitt in partnership with the central bank. Unlike cryptocurrencies, it is issued by an official central bank and has a fixed value, tied to the existing Eastern Caribbean dollar used across much of the region.

The system allows users even without bank accounts – but with a smartphone – to use a downloaded app and make payments via a QR code. Those without bank accounts would go to a previously approved agent or nonbanking financial institution who would verify a person’s information and then approve a DCash wallet.

That person would then go to a supermarket or other store and give the cashier physical cash which would then be deposited as digital currency in their wallet, Bitt spokesman Chris Burnett told The Associated Press.

In addition, there are limits on the amount of money people can send via DCash, there are no plans for now of integrating credit cards and interest does not apply to the digital currency.

The project comes more than two months after the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Swedish Riksbank, and the Swiss National Bank created a group to study whether they should issue digital currencies.

The Swedish central bank already has commissioned a pilot program. Meanwhile, China rolled out a digital currency in four cities in April 2020 as part of a pilot program that has since expanded to more than two dozen cities.

While many in the Eastern Caribbean cheered the historic move, some experts worry that digital currency issued by smaller countries could end up being used as a conduit for illicit activities, including terrorism financing and money laundering.

But that skepticism is waning as more central banks get into the act, and as central banks around the world face the inevitability of the declining use of physical cash.

The Bahamas last year became the first country to roll out its digital currency nationwide, and that the Marshall Islands is considering its own cryptocurrency. For smaller countries, “there is more at stake” in part because many people remain unbanked.

Officials said that the digital currency will be available in Anguilla, Dominica, Montserrat and St. Vincent and the Grenadines – which form part of the eight island economies under the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank – by September at the latest.

The project aims to see a 50 per cent reduction in the use of physical cash by 2025. It’s safer, faster and cheaper.

Central Bank Governor Timothy NJ Antoine said he envisions farmers, fishermen, small business owners, single mothers and people without bank accounts, among others, using the digital currency.

Antoine said it is harder to steal digital cash and said it’s a safe way to make payments while avoiding contact during the pandemic.

Source: Associated Press

Last June Apple announced their plan to release App Tracking Transparency (ATT) privacy enhancement feature in the fall.

ATT requires apps to get a consumer’s authorization before tracking them or the devices they are using.

The contentious changes were negatively received by Facebook and much of the ad industry led Apple to delay the move until early this year. Apple said in January that the changes would finally arrive in early spring.

The iPhone maker attaches a unique code to each device, known as Identification for Advertisers, or IDFA. Advertisers can use this tag to monitor what users do in apps and how they interact with ad campaigns.

This new framework, called App Tracking Transparency, or ATT, is more compliant with the strict data-protection rules that have recently appeared in Europe but advertisers complain it will make it harder for them to track how successful their campaigns are.

App developers will now have to get users to explicitly opt into being tracked in this way, before being able to access the IDFA. Ray Wang, principal analyst and founder at Constellation Research, told the E-Commerce Times that “at least 40 percent of consumers will say no.”

Large advertisers will be able to work with App Tracking Transparency, but small and medium sized businesses “will find it harder to succeed in digital marketing and targeting campaigns.

Facebook contends that publishers should expect ad revenue to decline once this feature is rolled out and noted that publisher revenue on its Audience Network fell by more than 50 percent when personalization was removed from mobile app ad install campaigns.

Google will not display Apple’s ATT prompt or use IDFA on its apps available on iOS and acknowledged publishers’ ad revenues might be impacted.

The global advertising industry formed the Partnership for Responsible Addressable Media (PRAM) last August, in response to Apple’s ATT plans.

PRAM “is a joint-industry initiative to advance and protect critical functionalities like measurement and attribution for digital media and advertising, while safeguarding privacy and improving the consumer experience” according to the American Association of Advertising Agencies’ website.

PRAM has about 400 members, including retail giants and advertising industry companies. It wrote an open letter to Apple in September requesting an urgent meeting to discuss issues arising from the introduction of the ATT as “we believe the proposed changes could have a negative impact on both consumers and businesses.”

Personal data will become a property right when consumers have rights over their data, said Ray Wang. Once that happens, consent can be brokered.

“One solution may be for Apple to broker consent and the value exchange; I as the consumer could agree to be tracked for say, $2 a month,” Wang suggested. “Advertisers can pay me, or they will need to find more compelling value exchange models to secure personalization data.”

Nike appears to have found a more compelling value exchange model. Users like Nike’s app, which has begun implementing the ATT framework “because it helps their athletic goals and performance,” Miller noted. Nike likes it because the data shared with partners is clear and transparent, and the user is in control of opting in and out. “It’s a win-win dynamic.”

Constellation Research is helping companies to organize their feedback to Apple on how to further improve its SKAdNetwork API that helps advertisers evaluate the success of ad campaigns while maintaining user privacy.

The Treasury, the UK’s economic and finance ministry, is exploring options for an online sales tax. With this measure, it wants to shift the balance between spending online and in physical stores.

There’s a massive boost in ecommerce in the United Kingdom but the corona pandemic has accelerated the closure of retail outlets across the country. This has led to the Treasury weighing the options to introduce an online sales tax.

But not everyone is looking forward to this measure. The British Retail Consortium for example, says it would high omnichannel players and that it would result in higher costs for shoppers, at a time the British economy is already weak.

A Treasury spokesman said: “We want to see thriving high streets, which is why we’ve spent tens of billions of pounds supporting shops throughout the pandemic and are supporting town centers through the changes online shopping brings. Our business rates review call for evidence included questions on whether we should shift the balance between online and physical shops by introducing an online sales tax. We’re considering responses now.”

According to The Guardian, several big retailers, including Tesco, are in favor of an online sales tax.

Last year, 46 percent more money was spent online in the United Kingdom compared with a year earlier. Ecommerce now accounts for about 30 percent of overall retail sales in the UK, up from about 20 percent a year ago.

Visa Inc. announced today the availability of a new benefit for its Visa consumer credit accountholders in the U.S.

Consumers with Visa Infinite, Visa Signature or Visa Traditional credit cards can now enroll and take advantage of a complimentary offer and discounts on products and services from NortonLifeLock, a global leader in consumer Cyber Safety.

“The past year has brought tremendous change in the way people are using their Visa credit cards and associated benefits,” said Brian Cole, head of product, NA, Visa. “Our new benefits with NortonLifeLock address some of the most requested benefits among our U.S. accountholders, and will help bring value to Visa accountholders every day, from anywhere they may be.”

ID Navigator Powered by NortonLifeLock is now available to consumers with Visa Infinite, Visa Signature or Visa Traditional credit cards. Identity theft protection benefits ranked #3 in customer preference out of 46 benefits tested in a Visa U.S. Credit Benefit Research study (2020). LifeLock is a leader in identity theft protection, making it a top priority addition to Visa’s card benefits platform. Accountholders can take advantage of complimentary Dark Web Monitoring, One-Bureau Credit Monitoring Alerts, Stolen Wallet Assist, and Restoration Assist features. Accountholders can use the LifeLock Identity app to help manage their account and alerts. Accountholders will also have access to special offers on more robust identity theft offerings that include restoration features such as the LifeLock Million Dollar Protection™ Package.

“Taking steps to be more informed about potential threats to your identity is one of the most important things you can do to help secure your financial and digital life,” said Robert Clarkson, chief commercial officer, NortonLifeLock. “We look forward to helping provide resources and tools that Visa accountholders need to stay vigilant as it furthers our vision to protect and empower consumers to take control of their digital lives.”

This updated offering of account benefits is part of Visa’s commitment to providing credit benefits that are designed to deliver meaningful value and meet evolving consumer needs and expectations.

The beginning of the year is the time to write about trends and forecasts.

OK, what can we expect in 2021 as far as ecommerce is concerned?

The main point here is that the ecommerce world is becoming increasingly competitive.

No matter how mature your ecommerce store is right now, if you don’t keep up with ecommerce trends, you’ll risk falling drastically behind.

1. Online Sales Growth is Unstoppable

Online shopping is one of the most popular online activities. The sales are projected to increase from 1.3 trillion in 2014 to 4.5 trillion in 2021 (Statista, 2019). That’s a massive figure. It would mean a threefold growth over a 7-year span.

2. The Future of Ecommerce After COVID-19

Experts predict that the impact of the coronavirus will not just be a short-term boost to ecommerce but one that’s here to stay, even after COVID-19. This is because people will get comfortable with the comfort and convenience it offers and the benefits of contactless payments, both of which are likely to cause a permanent behavioral shift towards digital purchases.

Market analysts say that the ecommerce industry will be the biggest beneficiaries of the coronavirus pandemic. Penetration rates, which are currently at 15 percent, are expected to increase to 25 percent by 2025 (MarketWatch, 2020). That marks a 67 percent increase in five years.

3. Mobile Shopping is Growing

By the end of 2021, 73% of ecommerce sales will take place on a mobile device (Statista, 2019). Improving the ecommerce experience for mobile customers can be a huge opportunity for businesses to tap into.

As trust in online shopping is increasing, consumers feel more comfortable shopping on mobile devices than ever before. Especially when it comes to Millenials and Gen Z who have grown up surrounded by computers and the internet.

4. Young Consumers Will Change the Business Landscape

Even though this shift to online shopping is seen across consumers of all ages, it’s mostly the younger generation that’s responsible for this ecommerce trend.

Survey results show that 67 percent young consumers aged 18 to 34 are spending more money purchasing items online now than before the pandemic (Shopify, 2020).

Сonsider increasing your social media marketing efforts. More than half of young consumers who buy from independent brands discover them via social media—more than any other age group.

5. Evolving Role of Social Media in Ecommerce

With the introduction of the “Buy” button on Facebook, and Instagram Checkout, platforms like Shopify, TikTok, social media is playing a significant role in the world of ecommerce.

This is a great opportunity for brands to start thinking about how to improve their position on social media, which is a great platform for brands to get discovered.

TikTok has been working on incorporating ecommerce elements and its latest efforts include testing a new feature that will allow users to include shoppable links in their profiles or videos.

That’s why brands need to adopt a shopping-focused approach to their social media strategy.

6. Environmental Topics Influence Buyers

Half of digital consumers say that environmental concerns impact their purchasing decisions.

Online businesses need to step in and make sure that their practices are environmentally friendly.

7. The Desire To Shop With Independent Businesses

A growing number of consumers are also becoming more open towards purchasing from independent businesses. 57 percent say they’re willing to shop with new brands for the first time (Shopify, 2020).

8. Augmented Reality Transforms How We Shop

By 2022 over 120,000 stores will be using Augmented Reality (AR) technologies, offering a much richer buying experience (Prnewswire, 2018).

One of the main concerns that people have when shopping online is the inability to see the product firsthand. AR technology helps bridge this gap and enable online shoppers to better visualize the products that they are interested in.

Some ecommerce brands have already started to experiment with AR, which will help them stand out from the competition.

9. Personalization is the Future

More than 50% of shoppers say that a personalized online experience is important (Bazaarvoice, 2018). Personalizing the online shopping experience is the key to keeping customers satisfied. This could include the personalization of messages that go out via email, or by providing the right information to the interested consumer group.

By offering personalized customer communications, providing relevant discounts, and engaging with customers through, for instance, video content, will help deliver a better shopping experience and strengthen the bond with your customers.

10. Visual Commerce Is on the Rise

Visual commerce is the next generation of normal static visuals. Visual commerce takes it one step further by incorporating other types of visuals such as consumer-generated media, interactive content, engaging videos, and as previously mentioned, augmented reality.

Visual commerce is slowly but surely becoming an integral of ecommerce, as shown by the growth of the deep-learning technology behind it. This includes the image-recognition market, which is set to grow from $20.19 billion in 2018 to $81.88 billion by 2026 (MarketWatch, 2020).

To sum it all up, with the advancement in technology and changes in consumer behavior, you need to keep an eye out for these ecommerce trends in 2020. Whichever ecommerce trend you decide to adopt, do it with the aim of improving the shopping experience for your customers, and building a long-lasting relationship with them.

Reiters

China has launched an antitrust investigation into Alibaba Group and will summon the tech giant’s Ant Group affiliate to meet in coming days, regulators said this Thursday, in the latest blow for Jack Ma’s e-commerce and fintech empire.

The probe is part of an accelerating crackdown on anticompetitive behaviour in China’s booming internet space, and the latest setback for Ma, the 56-year-old former school teacher who founded Alibaba and became China’s most famous entrepreneur.

It follows China’s dramatic suspension last month of Ant’s planned $37 billion initial public offering, which had been on track to be the world’s largest, just two days before its shares were due to begin trading in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

In a strongly worded editorial, the ruling Communist Party’s People’s Daily said if “monopoly is tolerated, and companies are allowed to expand in a disorderly and barbarian manner, the industry won’t develop in a healthy, and sustainable way.”

Shares in Alibaba fell nearly 9% in Hong Kong, their lowest since July, while rivals Meituan and JD.com both fell more than 2%.

Alibaba’s U.S. stock tumbled 13% in its largest one-day drop since its debut on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014.

Regulators have warned Alibaba about the so-called “choosing one from two” practice under which merchants are required to sign exclusive cooperation pacts preventing them from offering products on rival platforms.

ONE FROM TWO

Ma has kept out of the public eye since a late October forum in Shanghai where he blasted China’s regulatory system, accusing it of stifling innovation in a speech that stung officials and set off a chain of events that led to the shelving of Ant’s IPO.

The practice of requiring a merchant to sell exclusively on one platform, which Alibaba had defended in the past, has long been a source of friction.

In a lawsuit last year, home appliance manufacturer Galanz accused Alibaba of penalising it for refusing to stop selling goods on rival platform Pinduoduo. The case was resolved. In an ongoing case, JD.com accused Alibaba’s Tmall of restricting vendors from trading with it by signing exclusive deals.

BRACE FOR SCRUTINY

After years of largely hands-off treatment of e-commerce, Beijing has made its antitrust intentions clear.

Last month, it issued draft rules aimed at preventing monopolistic behaviour by internet firms, and the Politburo this month vowed to strengthen anti-monopoly efforts in 2021 and rein in “disorderly capital expansion.”

China also warned internet giants this month to brace for increased scrutiny, as it slapped fines and announced probes into mergers involving Alibaba and Tencent Holdings.

Liu Xu, a researcher at the National Strategy Institute of Tsinghua University and a long-time advocate for antitrust enforcement, said he expected other tech platforms to face scrutiny.

“Chinese internet firms had enjoyed unprecedented growth with light regulation for years,” a regulatory source said, declining to be named given the sensitivity of the matter.

“The latest regulatory moves against them have sent out a clear message that the golden time for many of them has ended and there’s no company in China that can be too big to fail.”

Regulators have also become uncomfortable with parts of Ant’s sprawling empire, chiefly its credit business that contributed close to 40% of first-half revenue. Days before Ant’s planned listing, regulators told Ma and two top executives that its online lending business would face tighter scrutiny, sources told Reuters.

Warmest thoughts and best wishes for a cheer filled season and a very happy and healthy New Year!

May your days be merry and bright.

Merry Christmas!