46 BEIJING REVIEW MARCH 26, 2020 http://www.bjreview.com
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How Do We Make Good Use
Of Big Data in Commerce?
M
any businesses offer membership
cards to clients, promising that they
will enjoy discounts, and the more they
use the cards, the bigger the discounts will be.
This is a common practice to attract and retain
regular customers. By providing Tuality prod-
ucts or services at reasonable prices, businesses
can indeed achieve this goal.
However, in recent years, consumers trying
to book flights or hotels on certain websites
have discovered that prices were actually higher
for freTuent users than for newcomers. They
found that they could pay less by opening up
a new account rather than using an old one.
Unfortunately, these businesses are using in-
formation gathered through big data on clients’
preferences and purchasing habits to take
advantage of them, which amounts to targeted
price discrimination.
There have been numerous cases of over-
charging based on big data on various shopping
platforms in recent years. However, since it’s
difĶ cult to collect sufĶ cient evidence to accuse
these businesses, only a small number of con-
sumers have chosen to take them on. Thus, big
data, which is supposed to beneĶ t the public, is
helping some businesses cheat consumers.
Big data itself is not a bad thing, especially
since it is playing an increasingly important
role in social life and economic growth. It can
serve as a basic resource and tool. But since it
is being used to overcharge freTuent clients,
the public has expressed anger. It’s a myopic
behavior that will eventually drive away custom-
ers. Instead, big data should be used to improve
businesses’ services and products by strength-
ening supervision and punishment so that this
new technology can play its due role in Internet
commerce.Digging out Surchase habits
Yang Zhaokui (Workers’ Daily): In recent
years, there have been freTuent cases of
businesses taking advantage of regular
clients using big data. For the most part,
businesses deny the accusation. They usually
claim that they offer discounts or favorable
prices to newcomers.
It’s not easy for regular clients to find out
whether they are paying more for a commod-
ity than newcomers and even more difĶ cult to
collect evidence. There must be explicit laws
and regulations to judge whether regular clients
have been overcharged.
This shameless act is a commercial trick
based on personal information acTuired
through big data. Scratch the surface and you’ll
Ķ nd that some businesses are abusing clients’
personal information, breaching their right to
fair trade.
Yan Yiling (www.cnhubei.com): Once
regular clients realize that they are being
overcharged, they will not accept it. It’s true
that by taking advantage of big data personal
information, businesses can make more prof-
its. But consumers are not fools. Big data is a
result of rapid Internet development. It helps
expand businesses and improve services, butit should never be used as a tool to overcharge
regular clients. Businesses should make better
use of big data, instead of using it to play tricks
on regular clients. Consumers will not toler-
ate these illegalities and these businesses will
eventually pay a big price if they keep being so
short-sighted.
Chu Xudong (www.rednet.cn): A grow-
ing number of businesses are using big data as
information and profit sources. Big data cov-
ers clients’ personal information, such as their
purchasing habits and preferences. Every con-
sumer is transparent the moment they jump on
the Internet.
If properly used, big data can help to raise
productivity and efficiency in daily life, but if
not, it can be used to make proĶ ts by impairing
consumers’ rights. The merits of big data can-
not be denied just because it is being abused by
some businesses. After all, big data is playing an
unrivaled role in promoting economic growth
and improving social efĶ ciency.
It’s urgent to stop the misuse of big data by
stepping up supervision. Market and network
supervisory authorities need to join hands in this
effort. The illegal use of big data should be se-
verely punished. Advanced technology should
be more widely used to supervise big data use.More regulations needed
Shi Hongju (www.southcn.com): Usually, if
clients have VIP cards for a store, they will enjoy
more conveniences and discounts than ordi-
nary customers. But if stores overcharge regular
clients and VIP card holders, consumers will
ultimately reject these businesses.
Usually, regular clients buy a product or
service that is clearly priced on online shops
through various apps. They think that they have
enjoyed a discount. This kind of psychology
speeds up their decision to buy something. If
they know that newcomers can enjoy bigger
discounts, they will probably not use their old
accounts to order commodities. Thus, shops
manage to overcharge regular clients through
information asymmetry.
Even worse, these businesses are usu-
ally the ones with an edge in technology
and information acTuiring, so they can easily