Amazon is planning on shipping cheap fashion and household goods directly from Chinese vendors to US consumers|Stock Catalog|CC BY 2.0
The e-commerce giant is taking on growing competition from Chinese sites like Shein and Temu by adopting their strategies of directly shipping cheap fashion and household goods from vendors in the Southeast Asian country to US consumers.
Amazon had an invite-only meeting with Chinese merchants recently, where it explained plans to launch a new section on its website for unbranded products.
The strategy
Slides of the presentations viewed by the Wall Street Journal showed a mock-up of a digital storefront with products including phone cases, mugs and face-massage tools. Most of them were under $20.
The orders will reportedly arrive in America within nine to eleven days.
Amazon is trying to match the low prices offered by inexpensive websites Temu and Shein, even if it means changing their delivery standards and reducing warehouse storage.
Notably, its new service might also benefit from a domestic law that lets shipments under $800 enter the US without import tariffs.
The shopping giant noted that the number of items sold by Chinese sellers on its site grew over 20% year over year in 2023. The same year saw a 30% increase in Chinese merchants, with sales exceeding $10 million.