---
title: "Because of the Robbery Mentality, Some B2B E-commerce Platforms Are Defeated Before They Even Start"
description: "B2B e-commerce only emerged in 2015, yet by 2016 some platforms had already failed. The more aggressive they were, the faster they failed, and bad news keeps coming. From their actions, their failure is unsurprising. If the logic is wrong, defeat is inevitable. The root cause is the robbery mentality. There are two main forms of robbery: cross-regional channel stuffing with low-price promotions, and coercing distributors or allying with some to rob others. Such actions either provoke resistance from local distributors or lead to rapid collapse due to excessive spending. B2B platforms should change their approach before it's too late."
author: "刘春雄"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2016-05-25"
language: "en"
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markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/because-of-the-robbery-mentality-some-b2b-e-commerce-platforms-are-defea-87d6da6c.md"
original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/nxVphHzJ5bXxcJI3ssQDdA"
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---

# Because of the Robbery Mentality, Some B2B E-commerce Platforms Are Defeated Before They Even Start

> B2B e-commerce only emerged in 2015, yet by 2016 some platforms had already failed. The more aggressive they were, the faster they failed, and bad news keeps coming. From their actions, their failure is unsurprising. If the logic is wrong, defeat is inevitable. The root cause is the robbery mentality. There are two main forms of robbery: cross-regional channel stuffing with low-price promotions, and coercing distributors or allying with some to rob others. Such actions either provoke resistance from local distributors or lead to rapid collapse due to excessive spending. B2B platforms should change their approach before it's too late.

B2B e-commerce only emerged in 2015, yet by 2016 some platforms had already failed. The more aggressive they were, the faster they failed, and bad news keeps coming.
From their actions, their failure is unsurprising. If the logic is wrong, defeat is inevitable. The root cause is the robbery mentality.
From their behavior, robbery takes two main forms:
First, cross-regional channel stuffing with low-price platform promotions;
Second, coercing distributors, or allying with some distributors to rob others.
When B2B platforms engage in unjustified robbery, they either face resistance or beatings from local distributors due to channel stuffing, or they quickly run into problems because of excessive spending.
B2B platforms should change their approach early; perhaps there is still time.

**B2B Misreads C2C's Robbery Logic**
C2C only bears the name of robbery, while B2B actually practices it. C2C's robbery is fake, but B2B's is real.
Why is C2C falsely accused? Because from a transactional perspective, C2C does shorten the supply chain, eliminating the agent and retail links. Logically, this should reduce transaction costs. Of course, the high transaction fees on C2C platforms are another issue. At least when C2C platforms did not charge fees, they did save transaction costs.
Because they save transaction costs, they naturally divert traffic from agents and retailers. Some call this robbery, but it is just a metaphor, not actual robbery.
B2B platforms come in centralized and distributed forms. Centralized platforms like JD New通路 and Alibaba 1688 bypass the agent link, so low prices may be justified. Distributed platforms merely move offline traffic online without eliminating any distribution links. Unless they save on delivery costs, they have no right to rob. Moreover, current B2B platforms rarely implement unified warehousing and distribution, so they do not save transaction costs and have no right to rob.
If they have no right to low prices but still offer them, that is real robbery.

**B2B Robbery Tactics**
There are roughly two B2B robbery tactics. Let's first discuss channel stuffing.
To quickly promote a B2B platform, the most effective method is to slash prices on "essential products" (what I call hard currency). Because essential products best leverage the market. But platforms lack manufacturer resources and find it hard to gain cooperation, so channel stuffing becomes a real robbery. In the past, distributors also engaged in channel stuffing, but it was generally an "internal conflict" among manufacturers. Now, B2B platform channel stuffing easily becomes a "hostile conflict" where manufacturers and distributors unite against it. Hence, platforms get beaten by local distributors.
Since I started researching B2B, I never considered this "bad idea," but surprisingly many have thought and done it. I firmly distance myself from any platform that does this, because it will ultimately end badly.
The second tactic is "pull one, hit another."
Some platforms initially aim to rob all distributors, turning the platform into a regional "mini-Taobao" or "mini-Tmall," then charge all merchants. That is naive. Some platforms initially burn money heavily for this purpose. They soon discover that B2B burning money is crazy because wholesale volumes are huge. Also, since B2B involves merchants, there is no stickiness, so burning money is useless.
Later, some B2B platforms realize they cannot be enemies with all distributors, so they pull some distributors onto the platform and rob other merchants. Or they threaten distributors: if you don't cooperate, I'll bring other distributors to rob you. Many B2B platforms are doing this now.

**B2B Succeeds by Saving Money, Not by Burning Money**
I once said: In the past, people didn't believe Ma Yun; after his success, they believe him blindly. Both are diseases.
When C2C succeeds, people applying it to B2B cannot let go of C2C logic, or misunderstand and misapply it. "Robbery" was a joke in C2C, but it is truly applied to B2B.
B2B, especially distributed B2B, is originally about channel integration and optimization. It does not bypass any channel links, so its main function is to save money. Saving money is not easy; it requires hard, meticulous work, not just burning money.
Robbery or burning money goes against the original logic of B2B. That's why at the 2016 Spring Sugar Fair, I proposed the "Four No's" for B2B: no burning money, no price chaos, no subsidies, and no price chaos. Many disagreed. Some even said, "If B2B doesn't burn money, is it still e-commerce? If it doesn't rob, is it still internet thinking?"
C2C e-commerce's low prices have been widely criticized. Must B2B follow the same path?
In my view, if B2B enters the robbery logic, it is defeated before it even starts.

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