On May 15th, during its first wave of cross-platform price comparison livestreams, JD.com's home appliance and furniture procurement livestream team encountered an issue: they were unable to access the concurrent "With Huis" livestream channel. The hosts attempted various methods, including switching software, but access remained blocked. Notably, access was successful when using other accounts.
The JD.com procurement personnel subsequently issued a public challenge to "With Huis," urging them to "refrain from using tactics like blocking JD.com to engage in underhanded maneuvers" and stating that "relying on geo-blocking for protection is ineffective."
A review of the livestreams confirmed that both JD.com's home appliance and furniture channel and "With Huis" were broadcasting live at the same time, focusing on home appliances with overlapping product selections but differing prices. The JD.com host claimed that access to the "With Huis" stream was blocked from the entire JD.com building, leading to suspicions that IP addresses were being restricted.
The JD.com host directly challenged the practice, stating that unilaterally blocking users from viewing a livestream constitutes违规行为. They called for "With Huis" to conduct business activities normally and not use blocking tactics to prevent JD.com from offering lower prices to consumers, adding that "relying on such information asymmetry to conduct business for traffic or profit is not sustainable."
JD.com's procurement team emphasized, "High prices are not the issue; the act of concealing high prices is. We welcome fair competition from peers on pricing." They announced later that afternoon that identical appliances would be sold on JD.com at 10-15% discounts.
In response to the allegations, an official customer service representative from Douyin stated, "There is no targeted regional blocking of the 'With Huis' livestream channel. Such claims are unfounded."
As of now, "With Huis" has not issued a public response to the matter.
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