Blue Whale News, June 27th - A new news from Amazon has quickly caught the attention of cross-border e-commerce merchants in China.
On June 26th, Amazon held a closed door event in Shenzhen to introduce the latest actions of the platform to Chinese merchants. It stated that it will launch a "low-priced store" project. A circulating on-site photo shows a store that specializes in providing customers with white label low-priced fashion, home and daily necessities categories, which will be shipped directly from China by Amazon and arrive at consumers within 9-11 days.
From the perspective of white label low prices and investment categories, Amazon has finally begun to invest some effort and officially launched a low price war with Chinese cross-border e-commerce platforms such as Temu and SHEIN.
Some Chinese sellers showed great enthusiasm for Amazon's "low-priced stores", and this news quickly spread among cross-border merchants on the same day, establishing relevant merchant discussion groups. A discussion group flooded with over 200 users within half an hour on the morning of the 27th, and merchants engaged in intense discussions within the group, inquiring about the application entrance.
A seller told Blue Whale News that Amazon's business is still in the "internal invitation" stage, "the platform has not yet opened the application portal", and some merchants have said "it will definitely be soon, it is said to open registration in the summer", and they are all preparing to try it out in the future.
Based on comprehensive industry news, Amazon's "low-priced stores" and Temu's fully hosted products exhibit pixel level similarities: low-priced stores mainly sell unbranded products; The first batch of investment selection categories are only open to fashion, home furnishings, and lifestyle categories, which are hot selling categories in Chinese cross-border e-commerce such as Temu and SHEIN; Featuring low-priced products, consumers have a "refund only" option.
Blue Whale News learned that the biggest difference between Amazon's "low-priced store" and Temu's fully hosted model is that the settled seller has the right to determine the final selling price of the product, while Temu's fully hosted model is ultimately priced by the platform. This is also understood by Chinese merchants as "low-priced stores" where sellers will bear their own storage costs.
The "Four Cross border E-commerce Tigers" in China, especially Temu and SHEIN, have achieved tremendous growth in the global market in recent years. Previously, LatePost reported that Temu estimated to complete $14 billion in GMV for the entire year of 2023; There are also reports that SHEIN's annual sales exceeded $45 billion last year, while the US market accounted for 60% and one-third of Temu and SHEIN's global shares, respectively. In addition, Alibaba's cross-border e-commerce platform AliExpress is also making every effort to drive growth.
By comparison, Amazon's revenue for the fiscal year 2023 was $574.8 billion, and its net sales in North America (USA, Canada) for the fourth quarter were $105.514 billion. According to a source from a large company's overseas strategy department cited by 36Kr in February this year, the combined market share of several Chinese cross-border e-commerce GMVs in the US e-commerce market has reached nearly 10%.
The growth of the Four Little Dragons successfully knocked on Amazon's door. The key to knocking on the door is to rely on low-priced white label goods in the Chinese supply chain. In addition, the tax-free regulations for single packages below $800 in the US market provide conditions for "low prices". But now Amazon has stepped out of the door and begun to face low-priced competition from companies such as Temu, SHEIN, and AliExpress.
Chinese sellers are an important supplier to Amazon. One data shows that in 2022, Chinese suppliers accounted for 70% -80% of Amazon's supply of products. Within cross-border e-commerce, products that sell well on platforms are referred to as "Amazon bestsellers". Amazon and overseas independent websites have always been the two channels for Chinese brand sellers to reap the greatest profits. Now, the launch of Amazon's "low-priced stores" has undoubtedly added another sales channel for white label products in China's vast industrial belt.
In June 2023, Amazon removed Temu from its platform's price comparison system, but it did not end. But just one year later, the launch of "low-priced stores" means that Amazon and Chinese cross-border e-commerce represented by Temu are about to face each other and compete in the trench of "low-priced".
After the news broke out, the US stock market closed on June 26th, and Amazon's stock price rose 3.9%, with a market value exceeding $2 trillion. On the same day, Temu's parent company Pinduoduo fell 1.26%.