On the day when the State Administration of Market Supervision fined Ali 65.438+082 billion yuan, Keke Holding Company (hereinafter referred to as Shell) unexpectedly grabbed the heat.
Yao Jinbo, CEO of 58 City, accused Shell, an old rival, of "choosing between two options" and called on the state to fine Shell 4 billion yuan.
Is this a malicious attack that competitors can't do, or is another big platform suspected of monopoly causing public anger?
Anti-monopoly against Internet platforms is in full swing. As the largest online real estate trading platform in China, Shell is also involved. In 2020, Shell GTV (total platform transaction) was 3.5 trillion, second only to Ali.
Wall Street found that Shell pushed for exclusive agreements in second-hand housing transactions, accounting for more than 50% in several first-and second-tier cities, and had pricing power, which was suspected of multiple monopoly elements.
On April 13, the General Administration of Market Supervision and other three departments convened a meeting of 34 Internet platforms, asking them to conduct self-examination and rectification, and whether there were monopolistic behaviors such as "two choices". Shells are also in it.
According to the punishment imposed on Ali by the General Administration of Market Supervision, "one of the two choices" is the key to being punished.
"Substitution" refers to exclusive agreements and exclusive agreements, which prohibit users from cooperating with other competitors. Similar to Ali, Shell has a "two-for-one", which they call a "VIP service agreement".
Many owners who have listed their houses on shells told Wall Street that they frequently received calls and WeChat from shell brokers (Chain Home, Deyou, etc.) shortly after listing. ) and asked to sign a VIP agreement.
Shanghai native Li Gang listed in the shell last June150,000 yuan property. After a few days, there were not many tenants, and the chain agent sent him a "VIP service agreement" on WeChat, saying that once he signed up as a VIP, he could get more exposure and top ranking.
The VIP version of the house sale entrustment agreement provided by Li Gang to Wall Street shows that "Party A entrusts Party B to sell the house exclusively". Owners may not trade or entrust others to sell their houses through intermediaries or agents, otherwise it will constitute a breach of contract.
"After I said that I didn't want to sign an exclusive agreement, the chain agent said that my house was great, the quality was not enough, and there were many tenants to choose, so as to urge me to sign an agreement." Li Gang told Wall Street what he had seen and heard.
Wang Wei, who listed Guangzhou real estate in Ke Holdings Inc, said that she received many calls from shell brokers asking her to sign an exclusive entrustment agreement.
"The broker's words are that 80% of the transactions in this area are shells, and there is no need to find an intermediary. If you don't sign an exclusive agreement, this suite will not be recommended first, and it is likely that it will not be sold for three months. " Wang Wei said that the intermediary caught the pain point of her urgent sale.
Sellers who agree to sign an exclusive agreement can get a very small deposit relative to the house price. If the shell sells the house within the promised time period, the seller needs to refund the deposit and pay the shell intermediary service fee.
"My150,000 yuan house, the shell promises to be sold in one month, and the deposit is about 4,000 yuan. In fact, the second-hand property market in Shanghai was very good at that time. I didn't agree to sign an exclusive agreement and sold it a few days later. " Li Gang said.
Other owners who are unwilling to sign an exclusive agreement will have their housing information restricted or even cut off. Cheng Ying, the owner of Guangzhou, refused to sign an exclusive agreement and the house was left idle for several weeks. When she was angry, she took it off the shelf, found a small intermediary store and talked about a buyer.
Just as the two sides were preparing to sign the contract, a dramatic scene happened. The buyer disclosed the listing information to Deyou (Shell Department) intermediary. The intermediary immediately sent a screenshot of the house that had been removed from the shelf. The price is still 654.38+0.75 million, but there are many price adjustment records: the recent price increase is 250,000.
The agent said to the buyer, "Look, this seller has no sincerity in selling the house. After you took a fancy to this house, he immediately rose by 250 thousand! "
But in fact, Cheng Ying has never adjusted the price. As expected, the buyer was stopped by Deyou and dragged to see other houses.
It should be a platform to promote the transaction, but the transaction was blocked because there was no exclusive agreement.
This exclusive agreement has existed since the predecessor of Shell, Chain Home. Around 20 16, Beijing and Shanghai interviewed Chain Home many times and asked them to stop their exclusive agency.
On April 20 17, Chain Home announced that it would suspend the VIP housing agency service nationwide.
But obviously, after the chain has been reborn as an empty shell, the exclusive agreement is still popular. Many intermediaries in Shanghai and Guangzhou told Wall Street that the VIP agreement still exists.
Moreover, a chain agent in Shanghai revealed that in the ACN cooperation mode of Shell, there is a "VIP party", that is, a small intermediary who signs an exclusive agreement with the owner, and can get a commission share of 10%.
In addition to the C-end seller, Shell also signed an exclusive distribution agreement with the cooperative intermediary. The contract between Shell and a small agency company shows that in the sales of new houses, if you choose to provide new house sales services only to Shell voluntarily, the commission ratio of * * * field projects will reach 85%, the commission ratio of exclusive projects will reach 80%, and the commission ratio will be 100%. Otherwise, the division will be reduced accordingly.
The insiders believe that this is to package the exclusive agreement as "voluntary".
Li, a partner of Shanghai Zhongxia Law Firm, believes that no matter what kind of packaging, "as long as it is a platform with a dominant market position, the behavior of requiring users to sign exclusive and exclusive agreements is' one of two'."
According to the Anti-Monopoly Law, judging whether a company has monopoly or not, the "two-in-one" monopoly agreement is one kind, depending on whether it has a dominant position in the "relevant market" and whether it has been abused.
Article 3 of the Anti-Monopoly Law Monopoly acts as stipulated in this Law include:
(a) the operator reached a monopoly agreement;
(two) the operator abuses the dominant position in the market;
(3) Concentration of business operators that have or may have the effect of eliminating or restricting competition.
Market dominance refers to the market position that an operator has in the relevant market that can control the price, quantity or other trading conditions of commodities, or can hinder or affect the ability of other operators to enter the relevant market.
Generally speaking, if the market share of the operator in the relevant market reaches 50%, it can be presumed that it has a dominant market position.
The definition of "relevant market" is the key.
The administrative penalty imposed on Alibaba by the State Administration of Market Supervision demonstrates in detail that Ali has a dominant market position in relevant markets and has been abused. Among them, the definition of "related market" is "China online retail platform service market", excluding offline retail.
There is still controversy in the industry about whether shells have achieved a dominant position in the market. The focus of the dispute is whether the market should be defined as a national market or a regional market.
According to national data, in 2020, the GTV (total platform transaction) of shell new houses was 1.38 trillion, accounting for 8% of the national new house transaction volume; The second-hand housing GTV is 1.94 trillion, accounting for about a quarter of the national second-hand housing market.
On this basis, one party, including Shell, believes that Shell's market share in the whole country is less than 50%, which does not constitute a monopoly.
On the other hand, whether shells constitute a monopoly depends on the market share of first-and second-tier cities, especially key cities.
"Real estate has a strong regionality. For example, in Beijing, the market share of second-hand housing shell institutions exceeds 50%. The distribution ratio of new housing market in Zhengzhou, Tianjin, Wuhan, Xi and Chengdu also exceeds 50%. Hu Jinghui, chief economist of Jing Hui think tank, talked about what he saw and heard on Wall Street.
According to the latest monthly online subscription statistics of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, in March of 2002 1 1627, while the other nine top ten institutions signed 4647 sets, accounting for 7 1% of the total. In addition, the sixth 2 1 century property also belongs to shells.
A Chengdu intermediary industry insider said that as early as 20 15, after the chain home acquired Chengdu Yicheng Real Estate, its market share reached 50%. From 20 19 to 2020, the market share of Shell in Chengdu will exceed 60%.
In fact, in the recent law enforcement, there have been related cases of regional market monopoly, which proves that the "related market" can be limited to a single city.
On April 12, Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Market Supervision issued a decision on administrative punishment, imposing a "two-in-one" monopoly on the English food and beverage delivery platform Paipai, and fined it1168,600 yuan.
"The scale and market share of food pies are very small. However, in this case, the' related market' is defined as China and Shanghai, and the' related commodity market' is defined as an online catering and distribution platform that provides English services, so it is determined that food cakes are monopolized. " Li said to him.
In addition, Meituan and Hungry were also found by the court to have monopolistic behaviors in Huai 'an, Jiangsu and Wenzhou, Zhejiang.
The basis of the judgment is that the monopolist uses its dominant position in the local area to force the merchants to sign a "cooperation commitment letter" and an exclusive agreement, otherwise the rate will be raised or even the store will be closed.
Li believes that for different industries and different types of markets, law enforcement departments will demonstrate and analyze according to specific characteristics. Shell is a national website, but it does not rule out that relevant departments will consider the special attributes of real estate transactions.
Only having a dominant market position but not abusing it is not enough to constitute a monopoly.
From the perspective of regional markets, shells are suspected of having a dominant market position in Shanghai, Guangzhou and other places, and there are abuses such as choosing one from the other and controlling prices.
An insider pointed out that the empty-shell exclusive agency seriously reduces the efficiency of real estate circulation, which easily leads to the illusion of scarcity of housing, and at the same time overhead the natural price game process between the two sides, giving the intermediary exclusive pricing power.
Shi Mei, the owner of Guangzhou, believes that even if there is no exclusive agreement, Shell is suspected of monopolizing its pricing power. She told Wall Street what she had learned. Once, she went to a large residential area of Z intermediary company. Only Aunt Li looks after the store in Z Company. She claimed that she had lived in a residential area for many years and was used to the business of old customers in the old street.
However, Aunt Li Can didn't provide many houses for Shi Mei. She said helplessly that the neighborhood entrusted her to put the dishes, and she provided a reference price. But in a blink of an eye, the shell app can provide a more considerable reference price, so that the owners can quickly switch to shells and no longer put them in Aunt Li's place. "I have been here for many years. How can those houses sell so high? It's outrageous. " Aunt Li said.
Shi Mei said that the price of seashells is generally more expensive than that of small intermediaries who do neighborhood business around them. "After the owner found that the shell can be expensive, he no longer entrusted a small intermediary."
The pricing power of shells in the market is not only reflected in the exclusive agreement with the owners, but also in its commission rate and channel rate.
In some key first-and second-tier cities, the Shell Department has "the ability to control the service price"-once the head position is obtained, it will start to improve the intermediary rate.
On 20 15, Chain Home began to expand Zhang Zhilu in Shanghai by acquiring Deyou. By 20 18, the market share exceeded 20%, ranking first among all intermediaries. On 2018 165438+1October16, Shanghai Chain Home announced that it would raise the agency rate of second-hand houses by 3%, breaking the original rate of 2% maintained in Shanghai for many years.
Since then, the second-tier provincial capital cities with deep shells have followed up with price increases. 20 19, 19 At the end of February, all stores in Zhengzhou Shell Department announced that the agency fee standard would be raised to 3%. Starting from February 18 this year, Chongqing Shell Department announced that the service fee would be adjusted to 1% for the seller and 2% for the buyer, while the seller was 0% and the buyer was 2% before.
The channel business of shells and new houses is tied together, which can also have pricing power for developers.
Since the fourth quarter of 20 18, the new housing market has been generally depressed, and many cities have raised the passage fee for shells. For example, in Beijing, before 20 17, the channel rate of new houses was below 1%, and it was raised to 2%-3% from 20 18, and some projects reached 5%-8% from 20 19, and the difficult projects reached 10% or more.
In Tianjin, because the new housing market was deserted in 20 19, the passage fee for shells was generally as high as 3 points or even 8 points, 10 points. In Hefei, shells almost monopolize the channel market of new houses. If the developer does not accept the high commission rate, customers may be washed away.
The crazy increase in passage fees forced the local government to take action. 20 19, 1 1, Tianjin Housing Construction Committee issued regulations requiring that the maximum commission point of Tianjin new house agency should not exceed 2.5%; In 65438+February, Anhui requested that the channel commission for new houses should not exceed 2%.
Many developers told Wall Street that the channel fees of shells in many cities, especially in third-and fourth-tier cities, are still very high, ranging from 8% to 15%.
Zhang Dawei, chief analyst of Zhongyuan Real Estate, believes that having pricing power is one of the signs of monopoly.
Lawyers pointed out that in the relevant market, "being able to control the price, quantity or other trading conditions of goods" and implementing these behaviors belong to abuse of market dominance, that is, monopoly.
After being publicly attacked by Yao Jinbo, Shell did not defend itself in the face of various public opinions.
In early February, the Anti-monopoly Guide of the Anti-monopoly Committee on Platform Economy was officially released, aiming at the platform economy.
At the subsequent investor communication meeting, Shell management responded to the impact of the Anti-Monopoly Guide and said, "Shell has just been established for more than two years, and its housing transaction market has reached 32-35 trillion yuan. Our market share is only 5.3% in 20 18, and it will reach 9. 1% in 20 19, and it will probably reach 10 in 2020.
The management indicated that the company met all the requirements of the anti-monopoly standards. Obviously, here they regard the "related market" as the national real estate trading market.
Regarding whether it is suspected of monopoly, whether the market share of key cities exceeds 50%, and whether there is a "two-choice" problem, Shell told Wall Street that it cannot respond at present.
Behind the silence of the shell is its complex feelings about monopoly. Monopoly is a double-edged sword for a platform like Shell.
Three years ago, Zuo Hui packaged the chain home, bought a number of small and medium-sized intermediaries, and put the shell together to tell the story of an industrial Internet to the capital market. This is the largest online housing transaction platform in China, ACN (Broker Cooperation Network) mode.
Compared with the net profit of 2.778 billion yuan in 2020, the share price of shells is really too expensive. Only its scale and flow story can support the high market value of the shell.
"In order to gain the recognition of capital, Shell must emphasize market share, so it has always adopted a strategy of high investment, which has led it to develop into a monopoly and strive for pricing power; On the other hand, shells don't want to hit the anti-monopoly' muzzle' and can only respond silently. " An insider of the real estate brokerage industry analyzed.
This has also become a place where shells are questioned by some investors. Investors are worried that the current shell can easily become the next antitrust platform.
In March, the first annual report after the listing of shells was released, and the market value of shells once returned to 500 billion yuan. However, due to recent concerns about anti-monopoly and other factors, the market value of the shell has dropped by 654.38+000 billion yuan in less than a month.
(Li Gang, Wang Wei, Cheng Ying and Shi Mei are pseudonyms)