EWhen it comes to the Chinese Internet, everyone has their own obsessions. At the moment, in Washington, we are dreaming of taking down TikTok or, at least, of snatching it from the clutches of Beijing by having it bought by American investors. In Paris, MPs are learning to pronounce the word “fast fashion”, without knowing what it really means, but with the designated target being the UFO Temu, this dazzlingly successful Chinese shopping site or its competitor Shein, more focused on the fashion. As usual, a law and additional taxes of dubious effectiveness should come out of the discussion.
In Washington and Paris, we will perhaps note with satisfaction that on the other side of the world, in South Korea, we share the same concern about the tidal wave of the Chinese Internet. The Minister of Economy and Finance, Choi Sang-mok, presented, on Wednesday March 13, a series of measures aimed at better regulating the practices of these actors.
The large platforms will have to have physical representations in the country, while Temu and Shein, despite their overwhelming success, are not present, and controls will be strengthened to avoid quality and counterfeiting problems which are developing in great speed.
Complete break
These measures, like what is happening in America or Europe, are supposed to protect the consumer, even against their will, as in France, but also hide a more prosaic concern. In just two years, says the daily Korea Economic Daily, the large Chinese platforms have destabilized the very powerful Korean e-commerce players, such as Coupang or Naver. As for the Americans, Amazon in the lead, they saw their market share reduced to 27% compared to 48% for the Chinese.
This global phenomenon raises economic, societal and political questions. The Temu model, for example, which is difficult to define, is based on very few staff and physical assets. Its activity is IT and marketing. The producers on its platform take care of the rest: manufacturing, storing, shipping… A total break with the Amazon or even Alibaba model.
The societal subject is that of addiction to low prices. With environmental, even moral, questions developing in the West about the harmful effects of overconsumption. Finally, politics is omnipresent. At a time when America is trying to decouple itself from China and draw its allies into this movement, the surprising success of Chinese Internet stars is destabilizing anti-Beijing rhetoric and awakening protectionist reflexes.