(Yicai) Jan. 18 -- Staff members at Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com’s company headquarters found that they were unable to carry out checks of discounted products on competitor Pinduoduo’s site during a livestreaming event yesterday as the IP address had been partially blocked.

Many Chinese e-commerce platforms conduct real-time price monitoring of products on other sites and adjust their own prices accordingly to make sure they stay competitive.

But employees entering Pinduoduo’s “10 Billion Yuan” shopping channel using the IP address of JD.com’s headquarters in Beijing could only see a selection of products, such as fresh produce, sports goods and medicines, while those who entered using other IP addresses could see a wider arrange of wares, including home appliances, smart phones and mother and baby products, according to a JD.com employee.

Even if these staff members logged on with their 5G online data and not with the company wifi, their view was still limited, he said. The person said he is not sure if employees can use the Pinduoduo app normally if they change their IP address.

During the livestream, JD.com’s procurement and sales staff asked Pinduoduo to stop blocking them. And they asked customers to send screenshots if they found products on Pinduoduo’s ‘10 Billion Yuan’ discount shopping channel to be cheaper than in the live sales studio in which case they would immediately reduce the price.

Pinduoduo has yet to respond to Yicai’s queries about this matter.

Blocking IP addresses has become more common as competition intensifies in the e-commerce sector. There were rumors last month that employees of Alibaba Group Holding’s e-grocer Freshippo could not use membership-only retail chain Sam’s Club app in the company headquarters. But Sam’s Club said no such restrictions had been imposed.

In such cases, firms will usually not resort to lawsuits or file complaints, You Yunting, a lawyer and senior partner at DeBund Law Offices, told Yicai. Rather, they might retaliate by blocking their rival’s IP address as well.

Editor: Kim Taylor