Summary of the Core Content
This article uses the story of "Lao Zhang," the owner of a trading company, to vividly illustrate the current situation where retail merchants are under the triple pressure of "space taxes" (rental fees), "traffic taxes" (platform marketing fees), and "intelligence taxes" (fees for AI tools). The article further analyzes that these taxes do not replace each other but rather accumulate on top of one another. The reason merchants cannot escape this situation is due to the platforms' "closed-loop sovereignty" (control over information, transactions, and fulfillment processes) and data lock-in. A symbiotic relationship has formed among platforms, AI, and merchants, where they are both dependent on each other while also extracting value from each other. Finally, the article offers two solutions for merchants: to find external loopholes to create semi-autonomous closed loops or to improve internal efficiency to reduce costs.
Lao Zhang's Day: The Real Dilemma of Being Strapped by Three Taxes
Lao Zhang's day is a microcosm of the struggles faced by countless small and medium-sized businesses:
- Space Tax: A monthly rent of 20,000 yuan is paid for the "physical presence" of an offline store.
- Traffic Tax: A fee of 20,000 yuan must be paid to use the platform's marketing services; otherwise, products will remain invisible on virtual shelves.
- Intelligence Tax: Fees are required for renewing AI design tools, using intelligent customer service APIs, and purchasing intelligent pricing tools—these expenses are necessary to make algorithms understand and recommend products effectively.
After calculating the costs, Lao Zhang's net profit this month is less than 5%. He also learns that OpenAI will charge Shopify merchants a 4% commission (a new form of intelligence tax). Suddenly, he envies the local couple-owned store below his shop: the platform cannot take away the personal, warm relationships between customers—something that AI cannot replace. This is not an isolated case. Twenty years ago, merchants competed for physical presence through direct mail; ten years ago, they fought for traffic; now, they compete for access to AI tools that influence consumer behavior. As a result, all three types of taxes have been imposed on them.
Three Taxes Are Not Substitutes but Accumulations: From Illusion to Reality
After the 2009 Double Eleven shopping festival, it was thought that online sales would replace offline stores (with traffic taxes replacing space taxes). Later, with the rise of O2O services, it was believed that the integration of online and offline channels would eliminate one type of tax. However, the reality is:
- Physical malls have not disappeared; they have merely evolved from being the "only entry point" to becoming "experience nodes."
- Platforms have not disappeared either; they have transformed from mere information intermediaries into essential infrastructure.
- Each technological revolution creates new closed loops rather than replacing old ones. Therefore, merchants must pay all three types of taxes: they can choose to operate solely offline (paying space taxes) or solely online (paying traffic taxes), but if they engage in "instant retail" (combining an offline store with an online platform and AI tools), they have to pay all three taxes.
What's more concerning is that the trend of intelligence taxes follows that of traffic taxes: platforms initially offer free services to build customer dependence, then start charging, eventually turning these fees into barriers to entry (if competitors use AI, those who don't will fall behind).
Why Can't Merchants Escape? Closed-Loop Sovereignty and Data Lock-In
Merchants want to escape this situation, but they cannot:
- Closed-Loop Sovereignty: Platforms tightly control the entire process from how products are displayed to how transactions are conducted and how deliveries are made. For example, if a merchant tries to direct customers to their own WeChat private channels, the platform may limit traffic or reduce their functionality.
- Data Lock-In: All transaction and user behavior data is stored with the platforms, giving them a better understanding of their customers than the merchants do. Without access to this data, merchants are at a disadvantage.
This is not due to malicious intent on the part of the platforms but rather a structural lock-in inherent in the infrastructure. Just as we cannot live without water and electricity, merchants cannot function without the platforms' payment, logistics, and credit systems.
The Tripartite Game: A Complex Relationship Among Platforms, AI, and Merchants
The relationship among these three parties is not one of domination but of mutual dependence and competition:
- Platforms & Merchants: Platforms need products from merchants (without them, they are just empty shells), and merchants need the platforms' infrastructure (payment, logistics). However, platforms control the rules (information distribution and after-sales handling) and can gradually increase tax rates (as long as they don't drive merchants to bankruptcy). Merchants can only try to reduce costs and maintain thin margins.
- AI & Platforms: AI wants to gain control over the way consumers are informed about products. For instance, if ChatGPT directly recommends products to customers, platforms may become the sole channels for delivering these recommendations. As a result, platforms develop their own AI assistants (like Taobao's Qianwen) to maintain control, while neutral AI companies (like OpenAI) charge commissions to build their own closed loops, leading to hidden competition.
- AI & Merchants: While AI tools can help merchants reduce costs and increase efficiency, each use of these tools provides data for the AI to learn more about customers, creating a hidden "data tax" that further binds merchants to them.
In the end, all three parties reach a balance where they can survive but not thrive optimally—this is the boundary of their symbiotic relationship.
Solutions for Merchants: Finding Loopholes and Improving Internal Efficiency
Since merchants cannot escape this situation, they have two options:
- External Solutions: Create semi-autonomous closed loops by using offline stores as entry points and maintaining relationships with existing customers through private channels to offer unique experiences that AI cannot replicate.
- Internal Solutions: Reorganize operations to improve efficiency. Save on marketing fees and invest in employee training and customer service to enhance productivity (for example, by reducing the use of unnecessary AI tools and focusing on direct interactions with customers).
Both approaches are essential: merchants need to find external loopholes that competitors cannot exploit and reduce costs as much as possible to survive under the pressure of these three taxes.
Conclusion
The entities collecting fees have changed (from landlords to platforms to AI), but the underlying logic remains the same: whoever controls the entry points (physical space, online traffic, or customer information) can impose taxes. The key for merchants is not to resist but to find their own way to survive within these constraints. After all, while AI can replace certain aspects of business processes, it cannot replace the personal connections and warmth that make human interactions valuable.