Amazon intensified its crackdown on manipulation of customer reviews by closing 340 online stores operated by one of the platform’s largest Chinese retailers in the first half of this year.

Detail:

In a document filed to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Tiza Information Industry Corporation, the parent company of Shenzhen Youkeshu Technology Co warned its investors that company’s total revenue expects to drop by 40%-60% as Amazon suspended Youkeshu’s 340 onlines store for policy violations like fake customers’ review.

The affected stores, the operations of which Amazon had either banned or frozen, made up 30 per cent of Youkeshu’s total retail operations on the platform. As of the end of July 6, Amazon has frozen CNY130 million involving with the affected stores.

While Youkeshu also operates stores on other e-commerce sites including AliExpress, eBay, Wish, the company announced to expand investment on Amazon by piling up more stocks on the platform.

Established in 2008, privately held Youkeshu is a cross-border e-commerce store that sell a wide variety of products including electronic gadgets, toys and outdoors equipment on Amazon.

 As of the end of 2020, Youkeshu had a total of 1,135 online stores on Amazon in 2020, according to Tiza Information’s exchange filing with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

Context:

Since early May, product categories from some of the major Chinese electronic gadget sellers have been removed from Amazon’s online marketplace.

The affected Chinese electronic gadget, whose sales on Amazon exceed USD1 billion, includes RAVPower power banks, Taotronics earphones, VAVA cameras, Atmoko, Aukey, Austor, Homasy, Homitt, Homtech,

Dharmesh Mehta, vice-president of worldwide customer trust and partner support at Amazon, highlighted that Amazon had a zero-tolerance policy towards fake customer reviews.

“Recently, after a thorough investigation, we suspended a few well-known selling accounts because we found they were violating our clear and long-standing policy prohibiting reviews abuse.”

In April, 2019, Amazon exited China by closing its e-commerce marketplace business in the country.