What: Alibaba fined for forcing department store InTime to exclusively use its e-commerce platform.

Why it is important: This move is part of a larger probe with political origins, however, it seriously questions Alibaba’s omnichannel strategy

Alibaba has been fined USD 76.464 due to monopolistic practices with department stores Intime, which it acquired between 2014 and 2017 for more than USD 3,3 bn. By forcing the 27-large department stores chain to exclusively use Alibaba for e-commerce and live streaming operations, Alibaba was considered faulty by Chinese Authorities. Since this was a key point of the e-commerce giant to acquire the department store chain, these questions, in the long run, the relevance of this strategy.

Alibaba hit with anti-monopoly probe in China