Bottom line: LeTV’s fledgling e-commerce business could rise quickly but may also experience growing pains that bring negative publicity, as media start to tire of the company’s constant hype and its fortunes start to stagnate.
LeTV jumps into e-commerce
Online video sensation LeTV(Shenzhen: 300104) has never been one to do anything quietly, and that’s true once more with its sudden jump into the hotly contested e-commerce space. In its usual high-profile fashion, LeTV has sent out emails to reporters detailing its huge success with a recent e-commerce promotion, and also its launch of a US e-commerce site.
But the media weren’t giving to much ink to LeTV’s hype, and instead focused on negative reports of logistical problems connected to its recent promotion on September 19. Such problems don’t come as a huge surprise for an e-commerce newcomer like LeTV, which is far better known for its online video service than Inernet shopping. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: A new audit reveals how widespread counterfeit goods are on Chinese e-commerce sites, which will remain a major risk for site operators and their shareholders.
Taobao slammed in piracy audit
A new audit from State Administration For Industry and Commerce (SAIC) is showing just how pervasive fake goods are on the Chinese Internet, underscoring the huge risk that consumers face when purchasing online. The results underscore the huge risk to e-commerce firms as well, since many of China’s top names including Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) and JD.com (Nasdaq: JD) operate so-called “open platforms” that are simply online marketplaces where third-party merchants can sell their goods. Such merchants are notoriously hard to police, and these latest results show that they frequently offer fake and substandard products to buyers. Read Full Post…
