3. Tortuous rules of the Double-11 shopping frenzy

Social influence index: 100.2

The Double-11 shopping festival in 2020 opened earlier than previous years. Since late October, online retailers launched various sales promotions with almost tortuous rules for discounts. Many customers found themselves overwhelmed by all kinds of price-break discounts, shopping allowances, red envelopes, and rules concerning paying the balance, so much so that some believed that one needed to compete in a mathematics Olympiad to prepare for understanding the discount rules for the Double-11 shopping carnival.

In addition to bad shopping experience, many consumers found they were given varied prices for the same products in regard to services, which is commonly seen in online shopping platforms as a way of induced transactions.

Public opinion analysis shows that many have called for more supervision efforts on new business models of online shopping and E-commerce platforms, so that consumers' lawful rights can be better protected.