Ecommerce Morning Briefing for October 12: Seven Ministries Tackle Auto Price Matching; TikTok Shop Traffic Nears Shopee

Item 1: Seven ministries including the Ministry of Commerce launch a "Five Excellence" initiative for quality e-commerce, targeting "auto price matching" and "guaranteed lowest price."

The Ministry of Commerce and six other central departments issued a notice on implementing the "Five Excellence" action for quality e-commerce, outlining 15 measures across five key areas: organizing e-commerce platforms to "promote excellence," supporting merchants to "create excellence," facilitating consumers to "choose excellence," guiding Silk Road e-commerce to "strive for excellence," and strengthening standards for "long-term protection." The notice calls for coordinated efforts to rectify disorderly and irrational competition, enhance supervision and enforcement in the e-commerce sector, and address unfair practices such as "auto price matching" and "nationwide lowest price" guarantees. It also mandates regulating platform commission structures and merchant rating systems to prevent squeezing quality merchants' margins, while cracking down on fraudulent activities like fake transactions and manipulated reviews. Additionally, a dialogue mechanism between e-commerce platforms and small- and medium-sized merchants will be established to resolve operational bottlenecks.

Item 2: SAMR advances review of Meituan's acquisition of Myitian amid fair competition push.

The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) held a briefing on the effectiveness of its simplified case review system for business concentrations, stating that it will continue to balance development and regulation. The agency will lawfully push forward the follow-up review of Meituan's acquisition of Myitian's equity, ensuring fair competition in the delivery aggregation platform market, safeguarding the legitimate rights of small merchants, delivery riders, and other stakeholders, and preventing "involution-style" competition. SAMR also indicated it will further explore the use of public hearing mechanisms to facilitate reviews of key cases, inviting broader public participation and oversight.

Item 3: IKEA's official Douyin flagship store to launch on October 11.

According to IKEA China's customer service center, IKEA's Douyin flagship store will officially go live on October 11, with delivery services covering 301 cities across China, offering 179 product categories and more than 6,500 home furnishing products.

Item 4: Pupu Kitchen hits over 2,200 daily orders per warehouse within a year of launch.

PUPU Supermarket's self-operated food delivery business, Pupu Kitchen, has reached an average of over 2,200 daily orders per warehouse after one year, accounting for roughly one-third of PUPU's retail warehouse daily orders. The initial investment in this venture has offset the group's profits this year, but it has since transitioned to refined operations, with the kitchen's breakeven point estimated at around 2,500 orders daily. Industry sources indicate that Meituan and Taobao Flash Delivery together handle about 700,000 daily food delivery orders in Fuzhou, meaning Pupu Kitchen now holds nearly 5% of that market.

Item 5: Fast Retailing forecasts 31.7% operating profit growth to ￥743.1 billion in FY2026.

Fast Retailing, parent of Uniqlo, reported guidance for fiscal year 2026 (ending August 31, 2026): revenue is projected at ￥3.9633 trillion, up 16.6% year-on-year, with operating profit of ￥743.1 billion, a 31.7% increase, marking a fifth consecutive record year, while net profit is set to hit an all-time high for the sixth straight year. By sales, Fast Retailing is poised to surpass H&M and become the world's second-largest apparel retailer, trailing only Inditex.

Item 6: East Buy responds to shrimp net weight controversy, citing thawing method non-compliant with national standards.

In response to recent disputes over "East Buy self-branded green shrimp shrinking in weight after thawing," the company issued a statement explaining that the "natural thawing" weighing method shown in the video does not align with the measurement standards required by current regulations. Furthermore, the shrimp in the video were not only free of ice glaze but also fully thawed, with internal moisture drained, conflicting with the rule that "the product itself remains in a frozen state," leading to discrepancies in the weighing results. East Buy noted that its green shrimp are produced without water-retention agents, making moisture loss more likely when fully thawed.

Item 7: TikTok Shop's September traffic in Southeast Asia hits 462 million visits, equivalent to 97.5% of Shopee.

Data on platform traffic across six Southeast Asian countries in September 2026 shows TikTok Shop recorded approximately 462 million visits, Shopee around 474 million, and Lazada about 67 million. TikTok Shop's overall traffic has reached 97.5% of Shopee's. In country-by-country comparisons, TikTok Shop has surpassed Shopee in Indonesia (142.82 million vs. 136.20 million), Vietnam (127.90 million vs. 118.50 million), Malaysia (58.55 million vs. 48.39 million), and the Philippines (67.49 million vs. 67.39 million). Shopee currently maintains a clear edge only in Thailand and Singapore.

Item 8: Shopee's international platform expands across Latin America: 150,000 Brazilian sellers can now reach Argentina and Mexico.

Shopee announced it will extend its cross-border selling program, Shopee International Platform (SIP), to over 150,000 local Brazilian sellers, enabling them to sell to consumers in Argentina and Mexico.

Item 9: Amazon opens its 10th French fulfillment center in Beauvais, set to create 1,000 jobs.

Amazon announced the official launch of its 10th fulfillment center in France, located in Beauvais, Oise department. The facility, representing an investment of over ?200 million, spans 110,000 square meters and features Amazon's proprietary robotics technology. It plans to create 1,000 permanent, long-term jobs and is scheduled to begin operations by the end of September 2026. After gradually scaling up, it will process and ship hundreds of thousands of packages daily, primarily serving French regions including ?le-de-France.

Item 10: Walmart opens its fifth automated e-commerce fulfillment center in California, enabling third-party sellers to access fulfillment services.

Walmart officially launched its fifth next-generation e-commerce fulfillment center in Stockton, California, with a building area of 900,000 square feet, primarily handling online orders from West Coast consumers. The center explicitly integrates Walmart Fulfillment Services, handling some fulfillment operations on behalf of third-party sellers.

Item 11: Newegg partners with Google to embed AI conversational shopping into Search and Gemini.

E-commerce platform Newegg announced a partnership with Google to integrate AI-powered shopping features into its product search and purchasing process. U.S. consumers can now browse and buy eligible Newegg products directly through Google Search's AI mode and the Gemini app, completing payment without leaving the platform.

Item 12: Yuanji Yun Jiao accelerates global expansion with over 60 overseas stores, overseas GMV up 97%.

The restaurant brand Yuanji Food is accelerating its global footprint, with over 60 overseas stores as of September 2026, spanning Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and the UK. Yuanji Yun Jiao opened its first Singapore store in late 2024 and now operates 47 outlets locally, making it the top Chinese chain restaurant brand by store count in Singapore. Thailand has 14 stores, while Malaysia and the UK each host flagship locations, with the London flagship in a prime business district generating over ￥40,000 in revenue on its opening day. According to its prospectus, GMV from stores outside mainland China reached ￥173 million in the first five months of this year, up 97% year-on-year.

That wraps up today's morning briefing. For more e-commerce insights, stay tuned to Ebrun audio updates.

This article was originally published on the official Ebrun website.