China News Service, Beijing, April 28 (Liu Liang) On the 28th, the China Consumers Association released the "Analysis of Complaints Accepted by the National Consumers Association in the First Quarter of 2021-Special Analysis of Bad Marketing Practices".

According to statistics on complaints received by the National Consumers' Association, in the first quarter of 2021, the National Consumers' Association accepted 271,107 consumer complaints and resolved 207,310, with a complaint resolution rate of 76.47%, saving consumers an economic loss of 317.49 million yuan.

　　The China Consumers Association pointed out that according to the nature of the complaint, in the first quarter of 2021, after-sales service, contract problems and quality problems ranked the top three, accounting for 33.29%, 24.94% and 18.20% respectively.

At the same time, among all complaints, there were 125,326 complaints about commodities, accounting for 46.23% of the total complaints, and 131,750 complaints about services, accounting for 48.58% of the total complaints.

　　It is worth noting that the China Consumers Association also specifically "named" ten bad marketing methods such as "fake" promotions, false discounts, confused metering, oversold coupons difficult to exchange, oversold coupons difficult to exchange, etc., to induce consumers Of vigilance.

(1) "Fake" promotions and false discounts

　　One is to use full reduction to attract orders.

Some take-out platform merchants use various "full reduction" banners to attract consumers' attention and place orders. Actually, to participate in full reduction activities, they have to give up discounts and special dishes, and the latter are often hot-selling dishes.

The second is to promote "seckill" to create "extra value" discounts.

Some e-commerce platforms or online stores carry out activities such as "seckill", or mark limited-time "clearance price", "discount price", and "sale price", etc., which seem to have substantial discounts, but the actual "seckill" price is less profitable than usual.

The third is to impose restrictions on fulfilling promises.

Some business operators carry out the activities of "free 1 for 3 orders" and "full free for 3 orders", but they attach various conditions when cashing out to induce consumers to consume again.

In addition, some brick-and-mortar store merchants bid low prices and charge high prices, causing disputes.

(2) Confusing measurement tricks

　　The first is that the operators take improper measures to make the product insufficient; the second is that it is shoddy, and some falsely claim that the "handled products" and "defective products" are genuine; the third is that in online shopping, some businesses confuse the measurement Units "inch" and "inch", sales of TV sets have shrunk in size, or there are phenomena such as product configuration degradation.

(3) Oversold coupons are difficult to redeem

　　Some catering, hotel and other operators oversell group purchase coupons, package coupons, housing coupons and other funds withdrawn at low prices.

However, the oversale situation and the restrictions on the use of coupons were not clearly notified when consumers purchased.

Due to the fact that there are very few redemption places reserved, consumers have tried many times to make an appointment for redemption, and operators have no corresponding compensation mechanism, which has caused strong dissatisfaction.

There are also some online merchants who deliberately oversell and then cut orders in the name of being out of stock, infringing on the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.

　(4) Bargaining Jizanla Head

　　In order to expand the promotion effect, increase popularity, stimulate consumption, and induce consumers to forward links and pictures, some businesses sell or give away products or services at low prices by checking in every day, collecting friends' likes, and inviting friends to "bargain".

When consumers participate as required and meet the requirements of the event to redeem prizes, the operators refuse to redeem for various reasons, causing consumer disputes.

Such marketing methods are widely used in the fields of catering, ticketing, education and training, for example, check-in to send courses, check-in cash back, collect likes for free cash back, friends help bargaining, etc.

　(5) Low-price promotion hides risks

　　One is that some merchants attract consumers to shop at low prices in the form of "0 yuan purchase," "0 yuan learning," and "one yuan purchase", and actually provide consumers with loans or installment payments.

The second is that some merchants use the forms of "recharge as much as you want" and "high cash rebate" to induce consumers to recharge a lot.

Third, some online merchants or TV shopping merchants use the cash on delivery method to express unknowing goods to consumers and defraud the payment.

　(6) Brainwashing marketing to induce consumption

　　Brainwashing propaganda is the use of the media or salesmen to repeatedly promote the same or the same content to the target group. Some of the content is simple and crude, or even vulgar, which is offensive.

There are two main types of brainwashing advertising: one is brainwashing advertising, mainly TV shopping and repetitive advertising.

The second is that some operators attract consumers through free experience and low-cost experience, and then conduct “brainwashing” propaganda to consumers during the experience service process, allowing them to purchase high-priced products or services.

Mainly exist in health care products, beauty salons, fitness, insurance, education and training, photography, tourism and other industries.

(7) Inducing consumers to trade privately

　　First, merchants on some online shopping platforms use customer service chats to lure consumers into private transactions, resulting in consumer insecurity after sales.

Second, some micro-businesses add consumer friends through social platforms or chat groups to induce consumers to make private transactions.

The third is that some micro-businesses publish promotional advertisements on social platforms to lure consumers into unknown websites or add WeChat transactions.

(8) "Probability" marketing exploits human weakness

　　In the sales process, operators use the psychology of curiosity and award-winning mentality to stimulate consumers' desire to buy through probabilities and algorithms.

For example, blind box economy, online game lottery, etc.

First, the scope of blind boxes continues to expand, involving various types of toys, communication products, catering, air tickets, online games, live animals, etc. Some consumers are indulging in blind box products and over-consuming.

In order to collect a complete set of products, some consumers repeatedly buy blind boxes, which cost a lot; some consumers buy blind boxes whose contents do not match the publicity; some consumers find that the products have quality problems after unpacking, and some have been Taken apart.

Second, some online game players continue to recharge in order to draw prizes from the central instrument.

Third, some merchants draw a lottery on shopping vouchers, but they actually sell low-quality and high-priced goods, and some have not cashed out the prizes.

Fourth, some businesses use consumer data to increase the probability of winning or the amount of winning of inactive users through technical means to stimulate consumption.

　(9) Confusing "deposit" and "deposit"

　　The deposit is prepaid and can be refunded at any time.

The deposit is a legal concept. The "deposit principle" provides guarantees for the establishment of the contract and the performance of the contract, which restricts both parties to the transaction. If the consumer breaches the contract, the operator may not refund the deposit, and the operator should double the deposit if he breaches the contract. .

Some operators deliberately confuse "deposit" and "deposit", so that consumers think it is a deposit when they prepay, but what they actually write is a deposit, resulting in damage to consumers' rights and interests.

Such disputes are common in automobile consumption disputes.

In addition, various expenses such as outbound fees and insurance premiums are often encountered in automobile disputes.

The amount of "science" contained in automobile products is getting higher and higher, and automobile manufacturers are obtaining more and more data from consumers. The information advantage is more obvious, and consumers are more vulnerable. After disputes arise, they are often in a disadvantageous position.

　　(10) Selling prohibited or unusable products

　　Some online businesses sell special equipment for eavesdropping and photographing such as pinhole cameras, as well as obsolete goods, prohibited products, and prohibited live animals.

Some businesses only care about sales, do not inform the scope and ways of the correct use of goods and services, and do not consider the purchaser's situation, resulting in consumers not being able to use related goods and services normally.

　　Regarding the aforementioned new bad marketing tricks, the China Consumers Association suggests that marketing activities should be legal and compliant.

Operators should abide by the law, strengthen the compliance review of marketing activities, use laws and regulations as the bottom line, attract consumers through creativity, impress consumers through services, and win consumers through quality; consumers must also be calm and rational when consuming. "Need" consumption, do what you can.

　　In addition, the China Consumers Association expressed the hope that relevant government departments will strengthen research on countermeasures, promptly stop and investigate and punish bad marketing behaviors, and maintain the order of market competition.

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