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SINGAPORE – Online shoppers here commonly face unfair practices from e-commerce sellers, such as limited-time discounts that turn out to be fake, according to a survey released by the Singapore Competition and Consumers Commission (CCCS) on Thursday (September 10). ). .
The survey was conducted by the economic consultancy Frontier Economics as part of a market study on the e-commerce landscape in Singapore. It found that roughly two-thirds of consumers had encountered such practices on online platforms over a three-month period.
False claims related to discounts or benefits, limited-time offers and a shortage of goods or services were the top three complaints, according to an online survey of 650 people conducted between November and December last year.
Such deceptive advertising practices have been addressed in price transparency guidelines that will take effect from November 1, the CCCS noted in its 97-page report.
The guidelines will establish how the agency will interpret and enforce consumer protection laws in the future.
The survey also sought opinions from e-commerce industry players and platform providers on the functioning of the ecosystem during the five-month study.
No major competition issues were identified, the CCCS said in a statement Thursday. However, the findings have led him to propose updates to the competition guidelines to bring greater clarity to companies operating in the digital space.
One of those updates would be to take into account data control in the way the commission assesses the market power of an online platform.
On the consumer protection front, he noted that e-commerce platforms generally have measures in place to protect buyers from unscrupulous sellers, such as prepaid protection schemes.
Industry members have also highlighted the challenges they face in policing their platforms, the CCCS report said, and one characterizes it as a “cat and mouse” game where errant marketers constantly find new ways to evade. detection of unfair practices.
Still, the findings from the consumer survey suggest that more can be done to foster a fair trading environment on e-commerce platforms in Singapore, the CCCS said, adding that it will work with industry to promote good practice and education. consumer.
The survey also looked at factors that consumers consider when choosing which e-commerce platform to use. It found that features like price and ease of use ranked high, while data protection was less of a factor for consumers.
Nearly six in 10 respondents indicated that they would continue to use a platform even if it was collecting personal data from text messages, personal information, browsing data, contacts and location information without explicit permission, the commission said.
DATA IS POWER
E-commerce platforms competing in multiple market segments are becoming more prevalent in Singapore and Southeast Asia, which may make anti-competitive behavior more likely, the CCCS said.
He saw the rise of “super apps”, with companies like Grab offering a range of services, including electronic payments, marketplaces, transportation services and food delivery, within a single mobile app.
These e-commerce platforms could leverage their market power from one segment to another by enforcing exclusivity agreements and granting preferential treatment to their own products and services.
This could be a problem if it hurts competition, the CCCS said, although the study found little evidence of such conduct by e-commerce players in Singapore so far.
Access to and use of data is also something that the report highlighted as a key consideration in the e-commerce industry.
The importance of data is likely to increase over time, the CCCS noted, as it becomes increasingly intertwined with artificial intelligence and algorithms.
“Data could increasingly become a key input, given the growing importance of data in informing the business strategy of an e-commerce platform,” according to the report.
A dominant company’s refusal to provide a competitor with access to data may constitute abusive conduct, he said.
While the study found CCCS’s existing competition framework to be robust enough to address most competition issues that may arise, it said it will update its guidelines to bring more clarity and relevance to companies operating in the digital space. .
The full report is available on their website.
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