China calls for better e-commerce quality as online sales grow 4.4%

Key Facts

China's State Administration for Market Regulation called on e-commerce platforms to strengthen their responsibility for the quality of products and services at a meeting in Beijing announced on Wednesday evening. Participants included Taotian, JD and Pinduoduo, according to the administration's statement, in a move addressing quality management and consumer rights protection. The meeting called for完善 quality management systems and stricter oversight responsibilities throughout the chain. The move comes in a market where online retail sales of goods and services reached 15,147.1 billion yuan in January–September 2026, up 4.4% from a year earlier, according to China's National Bureau of Statistics. The regulator called for implementing existing guidelines and this year's task list, and strengthening platforms' responsibility for the products and services offered through them.

The administration identified the continued emergence of counterfeit and substandard products, goods that do not match their descriptions and misleading advertising among quality problems in e-commerce. In its statement on the meeting, it said that "problems such as counterfeit and substandard products, goods that do not match their descriptions, and false advertising still occur from time to time." It urged platforms to increase information transparency and tighten oversight of product quality. Its demands included strengthening after-sales services to support the handling of consumer problems after purchases are completed. It also called for more effective protection of consumer rights as part of the quality responsibilities the meeting set out for platforms.

China's Commerce Ministry plan to improve e-commerce quality includes requirements covering how products are displayed and marketed, alongside quality management within platforms. The plan calls for product quality, service reputation and credit information to guide product displays, recommendations and marketing activities. It also targets disorderly competition practices, including automated price matching and requirements to offer the lowest price online. It also includes regulating platforms' commission rules and assessments of merchants operating on them. The ministry called on platforms to publish commitments, action plans and reports on quality governance, and to "voluntarily accept public oversight," according to the text of the plan.

Chinese consumption data provide context for the scale of commercial activity covered by the quality improvement demands. Retail sales of consumer goods reached about 4,243.3 billion yuan in September 2026, according to China's National Bureau of Statistics. Those sales rose 1.1% from the same month a year earlier. Online retail sales of goods and services grew 4.4% year on year in January–September. Alongside platforms' domestic operations, the Commerce Ministry plan covers platforms expanding outside China, calling on them to establish dual checks on brands and quality and a system to trace products to their source.

For Alibaba, the regulatory move follows a decline in profit in the quarter ended June 2026, according to results announced by the group. Net profit fell to 10,444 million yuan from 42,382 million yuan in the quarter ended June 2025. Net profit declined 75% year on year, while the operating margin fell to 6% from 14% in the comparable period. The group also announced the completion of a new share offering in Hong Kong worth 80 billion Hong Kong dollars on 26 August 2026. In the history of regulatory oversight of the company, China imposed an antitrust fine of 18 billion yuan on Alibaba, according to a timeline published by Reuters. The regulator later announced that Alibaba had completed its rectification measures.

Steps called for in the Commerce Ministry plan include establishing a chief quality officer position at e-commerce platforms. The ministry calls for building systematic quality management systems and improving assessments of online service quality. The State Administration for Market Regulation meeting proposed exploring the preparation and publication of reports on platforms' quality governance indicators. The initiative adds to the ministry's demand that platforms publicly disclose their action plans and quality management reports. The plan also includes strengthening guidance and regulation of platforms during sales seasons, including the upcoming Singles' Day season.