China moves to curb delivery price wars, orders Lalamove changes
What's new: Draft rules would bar platforms from pushing subsidy costs onto merchants and drivers; comments run through July 17.
China's market regulator is tightening pressure on the delivery sector, proposing new curbs on food-delivery subsidy campaigns while requiring Lalamove to change pricing and driver-fee practices under antitrust rules. The State Administration for Market Regulation said fierce competition among platforms including Meituan, Alibaba's Taobao Shangou and JD.com had fueled price wars that hurt merchants, drivers and consumers. The draft rules would prohibit platforms from using traffic allocation to pressure merchants into subsidies and from making merchants or couriers absorb those costs. In a separate action, SAMR said Lalamove must stop using algorithms to drive freight prices to unreasonably low levels, refund 120 million yuan in alleged unreasonable driver charges and reduce commissions.