THREE major Chinese retailers have cheated online shoppers in recent self-labeled "price wars," according to a preliminary investigation by the country's top economic planner.

Officials from the price supervision and anti-monopoly bureau of the National Development and Reform Commission found , Suning Appliance and Gome Electrical Appliances to have manipulated prices and cheated consumers after numerous complaints, the Beijing News reported yesterday.?

The NDRC said the retailers did not commit to the price cuts after its random check of 15 appliances sold by them showed they still have a gross profit margin between 4 percent and 22.43 percent rather than "zero profit" as they had claimed, the newspaper said. Some products were also out of stock.

The NDRC has sent three teams to the companies and investigations "are still under way," according to the planning agency.

In response to the allegations, online vendor 360buy yesterday apologized for failing to deliver on its price-cut promise.

Suning yesterday admitted there were management defects during its promotion campaign and promised to improve.

Suning and Gome joined the price war launched by 360buy CEO Liu Qiangdong after he said he will seek "zero profit" on home appliances sold at 360buy.?

滬江英語快訊：815電商大戰(zhàn)硝煙還未散盡，到底誰賺得盆滿缽滿，誰輸?shù)靡粩⊥康?，還不得而知。此時(shí)又傳來發(fā)改委的聲音：電商大戰(zhàn)涉嫌價(jià)格欺詐！三家涉事電商京東、蘇寧、國(guó)美正在自查中。據(jù)透露，電商的價(jià)格欺詐行為主要包括“先提價(jià)再降價(jià)”、“比價(jià)獨(dú)家經(jīng)營(yíng)商品”等情況。發(fā)改委相關(guān)人士表示，電子商務(wù)屬于新興業(yè)態(tài)，價(jià)格行為不規(guī)范，而針對(duì)網(wǎng)絡(luò)價(jià)格行為，目前我國(guó)還沒有針對(duì)性的法律法規(guī)出臺(tái)。如果能通過此事件，加快國(guó)家在這方面的立法進(jìn)程，那也算是一件“好事”了。

相關(guān)詞匯學(xué)習(xí)：

1.價(jià)格戰(zhàn)：price war

2.國(guó)家發(fā)改委：National Development and Reform Commission

3.價(jià)格監(jiān)督檢查：price supervision?

4.反壟斷：anti-monopoly