Risk of sellers leaving e-commerce platforms due to cost pressure
Recently, e-commerce platforms Shopee and TikTok Shop announced the application of increased floor fees for sellers from April 1.
The fee increase from both platforms puts many sellers in a difficult position, especially small stores or businesses with low profit margins.
Shopee e-commerce platform adjusts fees for regular shops, accordingly the maximum floor fee - called a fixed fee - from 4% to the highest of 10%. Most industries currently subject to a fee of 3 - 4% will be 7 - 9%.
Meanwhile, TikTok Shop also raised the commission for regular stalls from 1 - 3% to 1 - 4%, while genuine stalls from 1.5 - 5.78% to 1.21 - 7.7%.
Mr. Tran Trung - a household retailer (Hanoi) - said that items sold on Shopee are charged a fee of 1 - 4% depending on the type, now they are about to increase to 1.5 - 9.5%. For TikTok Shop, the maximum payable rate is 4%.
'We are forced to adjust selling prices to cover costs, which will affect customers' purchasing power. If costs continue to increase without a reasonable support policy, I may have to switch to another business direction, said Mr. Trung.
Sharing the same view, Mr. Vu Duc Lam (Hanoi) commented that many customers at this time have taken advantage of buying reserves before April 1 to enjoy preferential prices, which could cause purchasing power to decrease sharply in the following month.
shopee also cut some free support packages and applied fixed fees for drop-off. This increases costs, while customers are used to the previous shipping support policy, Mr. Lam shared.
Increasing fees must go hand in hand with quality
Talking to PV of Lao Dong Newspaper, Dr. Nguyen Minh Phong - former Head of Economic Research Department, Hanoi Institute for Socio-Economic Development Research - commented that increasing fees is inevitable in the operation of e-commerce platforms.
"The principle is that any service on the market must have a cost, and this fee is unlikely to be fixed over time but must be adjusted according to market situation' ' ', said Dr. Nguyen Minh Phong.
Dr. Nguyen Minh Phong further analyzed: ''The increase in fees for e-commerce can cause higher prices of goods, making buyers more expensive and reducing demand. But if fees increase with better services and a more convenient shopping experience, the negative impact may not be significant.
'In short, increasing fees must go hand in hand with improving quality to ensure harmonious benefits among stakeholders'', Dr. Nguyen Minh Phong emphasized.
Experts also commented that, to ensure sustainable development, e-commerce platforms need to carefully calculate the applicable fees, and at the same time have appropriate support policies to maintain a stable and fair e-commerce ecosystem for both sellers and buyers.
