On April 10, the National Bureau of Statistics released March economic data: the national Producer Price Index (PPI) turned positive for the first time after 41 consecutive months of decline. This indicates a recovery at the production end, suggesting industrial enterprises are beginning to see better days. On the same day, the "Internet Platform Price Behavior Rules" officially came into effect. A day earlier, three departments, including the State Administration for Market Regulation, jointly held a guidance meeting, requiring platform enterprises to effectively standardize subsidy practices and resolutely curb vicious price competition.
These developments point to a noteworthy economic signal: the most difficult period may have passed, but new pressures are emerging. Within the March data, a concerning comparison stands out: while the PPI increased by 1.0% month-on-month, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell by 0.7% month-on-month. Simply put, the "flour" at the production end has become more expensive, while the "bread" at the consumption end is still getting cheaper. This inversion is likely to squeeze the profit margins of intermediary merchants, especially small-scale operations like street stalls, family-run shops, and small supermarkets that survive on minimal delivery fees and slim profits. The question arises whether cost changes can be smoothly transmitted from the production end to the consumption end. If not, once merchants can no longer sustain operations, employment will suffer, the economy will face pressure, and consumers will not benefit either.
Objectively, there are multiple reasons for the decline in CPI, including weaker consumer willingness and seasonal factors. However, it is also evident that increasingly intense "subsidy wars" and "all-network low-price" campaigns among platforms in recent years have significantly lowered the price levels of related goods and services, exacerbating the predicament for merchants who lose money on each sale. Precisely because of this, internet platforms have become the critical "valve." To ensure the smooth transmission of price signals and cost pressures, close attention must be paid to platform enterprises.
Why? Firstly, because platforms have an extensive influence. They aggregate "bread buyers" while controlling the "bread-selling shops." Platforms like Douyin, Taobao, Pinduoduo, JD.com, Meituan, Ctrip, and Didi boast hundreds of millions of users and tens of millions of merchants. A single rule change or algorithm adjustment by a platform can alter the profitability of millions of businesses and directly affect the bills of hundreds of millions of consumers.
Secondly, because platforms intervene directly in pricing. Not only do they set operational rules, but some platforms even use threats like traffic restrictions or search ranking demotions to force merchants to participate in price reduction promotions. Without lowering prices, merchants lose visibility; if the price cuts are insufficient, they risk being pushed out.
Thirdly, because platform operations are highly opaque. Complex promotion rules, automatically selected recurring payments, and unavoidable bundled services fuel suspicions of "big data price discrimination" and complaints about incomprehensible algorithms. In essence, platforms hold the ultimate authority over pricing, keeping both merchants and consumers in the dark.
Certainly, macroeconomic factors such as insufficient demand and weak income expectations also impact the CPI, and platforms are not the sole responsible party. However, platform behavior is a crucial link that urgently requires regulation and adjustment. This is precisely what the "Internet Platform Price Behavior Rules" aim to achieve. The rules protect merchants' autonomous pricing rights, prohibiting platforms from forcing price reductions through measures like traffic limiting or ranking demotions. They specify clear pricing rules, requiring that delivery fees, service charges, and promotion terms are all disclosed transparently. Additionally, they mandate that automatic renewals and password-free payments must be easy to cancel, with advance notification required before deductions.
These provisions return pricing initiative to merchants, giving them the opportunity to adjust prices reasonably based on costs, while also protecting consumer rights, ensuring every expense is clear and understandable. Admittedly, the effectiveness of the rules will take time to evaluate. Uncertainties remain, such as whether platforms will find more covert ways to circumvent regulation, whether merchants will dare to exercise true pricing autonomy, and whether consumers will accept price normalizations. Nonetheless, at a time when the PPI has just turned positive and the foundation for economic recovery is still not solid, the rules need to guide the market in the right direction, striving to ensure merchants have profits, consumers have trust, and platform competition shifts from "subsidy battles" to serving the real economy and safeguarding employment and livelihoods.
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