China Internet: Thoughts of SAMR Action Plan To Support Individual Businesses

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China Internet: Thoughts of SAMR Action Plan To Support Individual Businesses

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20 Jul 2026 12:24:54 ET │ 9 pages

China Internet

Thoughts of SAMR Action Plan To Support Individual Businesses

CITI'S TAKE

We view China's latest action plan, issued by SAMR on July 20 that guides

and directs digital platforms to better support individually-owned

businesses by reducing costs and enhancing their capabilities by 2027, as

a reiteration of the existing government policy to reinforce government's Alicia Yap, CFAAC

support for individual and new enterprises rather than a new directive +852-2501-2773

guideline. While it may appear to put pressure on commission take rates, alicia.yap@citi.com

we believe future monetization upside for various platform business

Vicky Wei, CFA models will increasingly come from discretionary advertising and value-

added services. Over the past few years, large platform companies have vicky.wei@citi.com

already stepped up their support with billion-dollar programs for Nelson Cheung

merchants. Hence, we believe any incremental financial or margin impact nelson.cheung@citi.com

from this announcement will be limited.

What's new - On Jul 20, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR,

link) issued an action plan aimed at guiding the digital platforms to support the

development of individually-owned businesses. Accordingly, the regulatory

authorities wanted to reduce digital-transaction costs, improve the operating

environment and strengthen the ability of individual businesses to generate

sustainable income by the end of 2027. We hereby summarize key actions plans for

the initiative.

Support for new entrants - The action plan encourages digital platforms to simplify