E-commerce Morning Briefing for September 28: China and the U.S. Reach Agreement on $30 Billion in Reciprocal Tariff Reductions; Taobao's National Day Extravaganza Launches on September 27

News 1: Taobao and Tmall's National Day Extravaganza kicks off on September 27, featuring official discounts layered with cross-store full reduction.

Running from September 27 through October 7, the event centers on official direct discounts (10%-20% off, no minimum spend required) combined with a cross-store full reduction of 30 yuan on every 200 yuan spent. Additional benefits include stacking national subsidies, category coupons, and platform red packets. Members of 88VIP enjoy an extra 5% discount and price protection, with a focus on in-stock products across all categories.

News 2: Douyin Life Services' Mid-Autumn and National Day outlook: scenic spot group-buy orders up over 52% year-on-year.

Data released by Douyin Life Services for the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day consumption forecast shows a 41% year-on-year increase in tourism-related content on the platform, while group-buy orders for scenic spots surged over 52%. Orders for "reunion dinner" related services jumped over 105%, DIY workshop group-buy orders grew more than 19-fold, and sales for pure-play small group tours rose over 161%. Local consumption and short-distance travel are clearly heating up.

News 3: Douyin E-commerce's 2026 Double 11 merchant recruitment begins, with the core gameplay of a 15% official discount.

Douyin E-commerce's 2026 Double 11 is set to run from October to November 11, structured across three phases. The core gameplay continues with "one-item direct reduction" and a 15% official discount. Merchant registration opened on September 14. The platform will allocate resources toward high-quality product assortments and content seeding, streamlining the promotional tactics.

News 4: JD.com's POP store health rating traffic light system begins on September 28.

JD.com's "red, yellow, and green light" health rating rule for POP stores is entering its implementation transition period, with phased lighting starting September 28. Stores are classified into green, yellow, and red tiers based on their health scores. Yellow-light stores will see traffic reduced by 50%, while red-light stores will have traffic completely cut off. Merchants can restore their ratings by completing rectification tasks, and low scores are automatically cleared once the record expires.

News 5: Taotian's "Origin Preferred" program covers over 100,000 merchants, with a follow-up "Preferred Store" label.

At the main event of the 2026 China Farmers' Harvest Festival, the Taotian Group announced agricultural support initiatives, including the "Origin Preferred" plan featuring AI-based benefits for farmers and subsidies at the billion-yuan level. The program has already covered over 100,000 merchants, and a "Preferred Store" label will be introduced later to enhance the quality and traceability of agricultural specialty products.

News 6: Online mooncake consumption shifts as personal use outpaces gifting for the first time.

This Mid-Autumn Festival, the online mooncake consumption structure has seen a clear shift: personal consumption accounted for 50.4%, surpassing gifting consumption for the first time at 42.5%. The industry's overall market size remains stable at around 30 billion yuan, with sales of low-GI, fruit-and-vegetable, and new-style filled mooncakes rising online. Personal-use consumption has become the new main driver.

News 7: China and the U.S. reach a consensus on $30 billion in reciprocal tariff reductions, benefiting light industry consumer goods.

On September 26, China and the U.S. reached an agreement on a $30 billion reciprocal tariff reduction arrangement, with each side reducing tariffs on $30 billion worth of non-sensitive goods. The U.S. list includes consumer goods such as small appliances, toys, holiday decorations, and child car safety seats. The relevant HS codes and effective dates are yet to be officially announced. The exemption for small packages under $800 remains suspended.

News 8: The EU's Green Claims Directive takes full effect on September 27, cracking down on greenwashing.

The EU's Directive (EU 2024/825) on empowering consumers for the green transition applies in full from September 27, 2025. Generic green claims such as "environmentally friendly" or "climate neutral" without supporting evidence, as well as unverified eco-labels, must be removed from product titles, selling points, detail pages, and advertisements. The obligations apply with no turnover threshold and no exemptions.

News 9: TikTok Shop Europe's "Pilot Program" gears up for Black Friday, covering 13 countries.

At TikTok Shop's European cross-border merchant conference, the company unveiled the "Pilot Program," mobilizing billion-level support resources and covering 13 key European regions with tiered incentives to help sellers prepare for Black Friday. Cross-border sales for Europe and the UK will be fully integrated on October 19, enabling seamless product flow between the EU and UK markets.

News 10: Amazon MCF discounts increase to 25%, and independent sites can display the Prime badge.

Amazon has raised the preferred pricing discount for Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) to save 15%-25% over the first six months. Independent sites fulfilled through MCF can display the Prime badge at no additional cost. The global warehousing and distribution network has expanded to eight countries, and compliance testing can now cover multiple countries in a single test, reducing the costs of repeated testing for multi-site European operations.

News 11: Google and Shopify integrate UCP for native checkout, with AI Mode enabled by default.

The Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), jointly developed by Google and Shopify, is now natively available for checkout in Google Search's AI Mode and the Gemini App. Shopify merchants can sell directly within AI-powered search results without redirects. Since January 2025, orders from AI-driven search on Shopify have grown 11-fold.

News 12: Russia's Ozon intensifies account bans on Chinese sellers as risk controls tighten.

Ozon, a leading Russian e-commerce platform, has been carrying out mass account suspensions for Chinese Global sellers since September 14, triggered by some sellers failing to configure shipping methods according to backend requirements. The suspension period has been extended from 24 hours to up to one month, with some affiliated warehouses also facing restrictions, sharply increasing compliance risks for careless, high-volume selling practices.

That concludes today's morning briefing. For more e-commerce knowledge and insights, stay tuned to Ebrun's audio content.

This article was originally published on Ebrun's official website.