Quick News

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba created about 40.82 million jobs last year via its expansive retail ecosystem, up 10.9 per cent year-on-year, a recent report showed.
 The company’s various e-commerce platforms, including Taobao and Tmall, provided about 15.58 million jobs for online retailers in 2018, according to a report from Renmin University of China.
 Apparel and textiles, daily necessities and home appliances were the top three retail items that offered the most jobs.
 Alibaba’s booming online retail service also helped boost demand for professionals in upstream and downstream sectors like R&D, design, manufacturing and logistics, totalling about 25.24 million jobs.
 In a bid to help disadvantaged groups find jobs, the company provided training programmes through its learning platform “Taobao University”.
 Yang Weiguo, a professor with Renmin University who led the research, said e-commerce platforms including Alibaba have played an important role in stabilising and boosting employment. |– China Daily 

Japan’s FTC starts probe into shopping websites
The Fair Trade Commission in Japan has launched an investigation on major online shopping mall operators for any abuse of their advantageous positions over sellers using their platforms.
 The commission will look into trade practices between the platform and seller sides through an online questionnaire of sellers on online malls. It also plans to hold hearings with both sides, if necessary. Companies subject to the investigation include Amazon Japan GK, a local unit of US e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc, as well as Rakuten Inc and Yahoo Japan Corp.
 The investigation is part of the Japanese antitrust watchdog’s broader probe of global information technology giants including Google Inc, Amazon.com, Facebook Inc and Apple Inc.
The watchdog is also conducting a survey of developers of apps for Google, Apple and other smartphones.
The antimonopoly law prohibits the abuse of advantageous positions in trade relations. However, a survey by the industry ministry last autumn revealed that more than 80 per cent of small businesses selling products on online malls have experienced unilateral contract changes detrimental to their interests.
Amazon Japan is facing criticism over its recently revealed plan to demand sellers on its website provide customers with reward points worth at least 1 per cent of purchases. – The Yomiuri Shimbun