Luxury brand Saint Laurent has implemented a regional purchase restriction on Yingfeng Street in Hangzhou, following that, Italian brand Miu Miu has also been found to have “order restrictions” on at least 3 streets in Hangzhou.
Recently, netizens have reported that Miu Miu, a brand under the Prada Group, is subject to regional purchase restrictions. A reporter from The Paper tested over 30 addresses and found that some products in their official flagship store on Taobao are restricted for purchase in at least 3 streets in Hangzhou, including Yingfeng Street in Xiaoshan District, Xixing Street in Binjiang District, and Si Jiqing Street in Shangcheng District.
When the reporter attempted to place orders in the aforementioned streets, the order page displayed: “The item you are purchasing is not available for purchase in the supported area, and you cannot make a purchase at the moment.” Trying to log in with another account yielded the same result, as addresses from residential communities, street offices, community health service centers, and commercial buildings were also unable to make purchases. However, orders could be placed normally in other areas of Hangzhou.
According to a report by Economic Daily, several industry insiders revealed that the 3 streets where Miu Miu placed restrictions are core areas for live-streaming e-commerce in Hangzhou. Yingfeng Street is home to many top live-streaming influencers and large MCN agencies; Xixing Street gathers a large number of small and medium-sized live-streaming parks; and Si Jiqing Street is also an important area for the layout of live-streaming e-commerce and influencer economy.
The reason for the restrictions is the emergence of a large number of malicious return behaviors such as “wear and return” and “counterfeit for refund” in these areas. An industry insider in the luxury e-commerce sector stated that within a 3-month period, users in Yingfeng Street placed orders exceeding 1 million RMB, with a return rate of over 90%. The implicit losses from logistics, quality inspection, packaging, etc., exceeded 20,000 RMB. One of the largest “buyers” placed nearly tens of millions in orders for luxury goods within 2 years, only to return them all in the end. Additionally, there were 4 users with purchase amounts in the millions, all of which were returned in full as well.
“These individuals keep switching to new accounts to place orders, and after purchasing, they either take photos without removing tags or create imitations of luxury items, then use the 7-day no reason return policy to send the goods back,” the industry insider said.
An informant stated that blacklisting an account is difficult to prevent malicious buyers from continually changing accounts and addresses. In situations where precise identification is impossible, merchants ultimately have to resort to “blacklisting streets,” becoming a reluctant means of self-preservation for brands.
Previously, Saint Laurent also implemented restrictions on Yingfeng Street in Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou. However, this “one-size-fits-all” approach led to other consumers in the area being affected, sparking controversy. Under public pressure, Saint Laurent lifted the restrictions on the afternoon of May 10th, and Miu Miu also resumed normal ordering on the relevant streets on May 11th.