Singles' Day shopping festival was supposed to be a win-win moment for consumers, merchants, and platforms alike, but in recent years, some unscrupulous behaviors have tarnished this festive occasion.

This year's Singles' Day shopping festival saw a controversy stemming from Taobao 88VIP members' buy-more-save-more offers, embroiling the renowned brand Ralph Lauren in an awkward situation and exposing loopholes and drawbacks in Taobao's discount rules.

Become a "Bundle Tool"

This year's Singles' Day saw Taobao 88VIP members once again demonstrate their strong spending power and keen sense for promotional policies. However, unscrupulous behaviors such as "bundling for refunds" led to significant losses for well-known brands, with Ralph Lauren, an American luxury clothing brand, being the most prominent example.

On the final payment day of Singles' Day, Ralph Lauren's products on Taobao were snapped up in large quantities, but the truth behind this was bittersweet.

According to various feedback, many Taobao 88VIP members were not genuinely interested in purchasing Ralph Lauren's products but rather used them as a "bundling tool" to meet the buy-more-save-more conditions and obtain greater discounts.

During Singles' Day, Taobao introduced more generous buy-more-save-more policies for 88VIP members. For instance, they could enjoy discounts such as save RMB 240 on purchases over RMB 3,000 and save RMB 560 on purchases over RMB 7,000, which could be stacked with category and store coupons. These promotions attracted a large number of consumers to bundle their purchases but also fueled certain unscrupulous behaviors.

Taking Ralph Lauren as an example, its high-priced items, such as sweaters over RMB 2,000, bags over RMB 5,000, and coats over RMB 6,000, perfectly met the needs of 88VIP members for bundling, and since they did not participate in the cross-store buy-more-save-more activities of RMB 300 off RMB 50, Ralph Lauren became the preferred bundling choice for many 88VIP members. Additionally, Ralph Lauren's fast refund process, where consumers often apply for refunds immediately after payment with minimal store intervention, allowed consumers to easily enjoy buy-more-save-more benefits.

However, this behavior led to a large number of returns at Ralph Lauren's store, occupying inventory and causing significant economic losses.

In fact, Ralph Lauren is not the first brand to become a "bundling tool." In previous Singles' Days, multiple well-known brands have encountered similar situations. Due to various reasons, these brands left a negative impression on consumers, making them a choice for buy-more-save-more refunds during Singles' Day.

For instance, Quanmian Times was criticized for a commercial that made fun of women removing makeup, prompting many consumers to choose the brand for bundling as a form of protest.

Furthermore, stores owned by online celebrities and influencers also suffered significant losses due to being used for bundling. Zhang Dayi's Taobao store, known for its influence, was frequently used as the preferred choice for buy-more-save-more refunds by consumers during previous Singles' Days and 618 sales due to perceived moral issues. Although merchants specifically created "exclusive bundling links" to prevent such behaviors, the effect was minimal.

Stores used by Taobao 88VIP members for buy-more-save-more refunds faced high return rates and inflated sales figures after a brief surge in traffic. For merchants, excessive bundling meant higher return rates and more complex after-sales processes, increasing operational costs and potentially damaging store reputation. Simultaneously, it harmed consumers' long-term interests as merchants' losses could eventually be passed on to consumers through price increases or reduced service quality.

Who Benefits the Most?

With the maturing e-commerce market and increasing costs for acquiring traffic, major platforms have begun seeking refined operations to enhance user engagement and repeat purchase rates. The rise of competitors like JD.com PLUS and VIPShop Super VIP has forced Taobao to introduce more attractive membership systems to retain high-quality users.

Taobao launched the 88VIP membership program in 2018, initially offering shopping discounts and joint memberships. Over the following years, 88VIP membership benefits continuously expanded, covering multiple services within the Alibaba ecosystem, such as Youku, Ele.me, and Taopiaopiao. Especially in recent years, 88VIP membership benefits have been continuously upgraded, including unlimited returns with shipping covered and large consumption vouchers. Data shows that as of the end of June this year, the number of Taobao 88VIP members exceeded 42 million, making it the largest paid e-commerce membership in China.

88VIP members are generally characterized by "three highs": high spending, high repeat purchase rates, and high purchasing power. According to Taobao's data, from the pre-sale launch on October 14th to 24:00 on the 31st, the number of 88VIP members placing orders increased by over 60% year-on-year compared to the same period last year, with per capita spending increasing by over 30% year-on-year. Especially in high-end brand sales, the contribution of 88VIP members was particularly evident.

Some believe that the buy-more-save-more refund behavior of 88VIP members may indeed bring significant traffic and sales boosts in the short term. Especially during major sales events like Singles' Day and 618, the high spending power and repeat purchase rates of 88VIP members become a crucial driver for the platform's sales explosion. Even if some orders are eventually returned, the high transaction volume in the short term still helps boost the platform's GMV and attract more brands.

Simultaneously, buy-more-save-more refund behavior increases 88VIP members' participation in the platform's promotional activities, creating the impression that shopping on Taobao offers more benefits, thereby fostering long-term dependence on the platform's promotional mechanisms and consolidating user engagement.

However, the long-term drawbacks of Taobao 88VIP members' buy-more-save-more refund behavior may be felt by the e-commerce industry, returning merchants, even selling merchants, and 88VIP members themselves.

At the macro level, Taobao 88VIP members' buy-more-save-more refund behavior has an inevitable negative impact on the healthy development of the e-commerce industry.

This behavior of stimulating consumption through buy-more-save-more deals and refunds distorts the industry's value orientation, causing platforms and merchants to focus on short-term promotional tactics while neglecting the enhancement of core competencies such as product and service quality, which is detrimental to the sustainable development of the entire industry.

For merchants frequently encountering returns, this is a heavy blow. Returns not only signify sales failures but may also affect store ratings and reputation. In e-commerce platforms' search algorithms, store ratings are one of the critical factors influencing product display rankings. Frequent returns can lead to lower store rankings, reduced exposure, and subsequent impact on future sales performance, creating a vicious cycle.

According to Ifeng Finance, due to surging return rates, a once profitable Taobao women's clothing store with annual sales exceeding RMB 20 million had to painfully close during Singles' Day, leaving the store owner, Lin Dong, nearly RMB 2 million in debt.

For selling merchants participating in 88VIP members' buy-more-save-more activities, while they can enjoy traffic and sales brought by the platform in the short term, low-price sales due to discounts may compress profit margins, placing pressure on normal operations. In the long run, buy-more-save-more refund behavior may complicate merchants' inventory management, increasing the risk of overstock and unsold goods.

For 88VIP members themselves, this "wool-pulling" behavior seemingly allows them to enjoy buy-more-save-more benefits, but excessive bundling may lead them to purchase items they originally didn't need, resulting in resource waste. Furthermore, frequent returns may foster poor consumption habits, causing members to overly focus on price while ignoring the value of the products themselves. In the long run, this buy-more-save-more refund behavior may prompt platforms and merchants to reduce product or service quality to balance costs, ultimately harming members' shopping experience and interests.

While Taobao 88VIP members' buy-more-save-more refund behavior brings certain "benefits" to the Taobao platform, merchants, and members in the short term, in the long run, it may negatively impact the healthy development of the e-commerce industry, the stable operation of merchants, and members' personal reputations.

The industry expects Taobao to announce more official governance measures and severely punish such behaviors. Such actions run counter to Alibaba's values, ultimately harming merchants, users, the industry, and Alibaba itself.