Amazon, aware of the popularity of other e-commerce giants such as AliExpress, has decided to take a step forward and prepare to launch a revolutionary product. If carried out, it would be a new section available within your store in which cheap products sent directly from China will be sold. As good news, it can be said that the project is more advanced than one could imagine.
Possibly, Amazon intended to keep it a secret. But a few days ago, the company organized a meeting with sellers from China with the intention of presenting its new idea. And, some of these sellers have ended up leaking the information. Thanks to this we know that Amazon has a very solid idea to compete with companies like AliExpress or Shein.
A new section within Amazon
As you could imagine, Amazon will not create an independent website, but will enable an additional section within both its web version and the app. For now, according to what is said, the plan would be to enable sales in the .com version of Amazon, the one that operates in the United States. But it is to be imagined that, if it is successful, Amazon will not stop there and will extend this novelty to the regional versions that the store has available in all types of countries, such as Spain.
In this new sales section from China the prices would be very low, in line with what we are used to seeing on AliExpress or Shein. However, as the products would be sent directly from China in a different way than usual, shipments would be noticeably slower than when we buy normally in the online store.
What do you plan to sell?
From what is mentioned, there would be two traits that these products would have to meet. On the one hand, have a price of less than $20. And, on the other hand, that its weight was below 450 grams. Aside from this, the categories that have been mentioned include unbranded clothing and fashion items, household items and daily use products. In all cases, the incentive should be to be able to buy very cheaply with the added benefit of using the Amazon interface and account with the convenience that this entails.
The system Amazon wants to work with makes sense. What sellers will do is send their items to the store’s warehouses in China and, from there, the packages will be sent to customers in a period of time that is established between 9 and 11 days. This is not the first action that Amazon has taken with the intention of trying to stop its competitors who do business from China. Thus, for example, in 2023 the online store lowered the transaction fee it charges sellers in the case of products that are below $15. It went from a 17% charge to just 5%, which was a welcome move. In any case, it was seen as only a small step when it came to fighting their rivals. With this new section, in which we will possibly find a large amount of clothing, they want to compete head to head with Shein, while their other categories will compete with AliExpress.
For users this should mean accessing cheaper prices than usual on Amazon, having more options to choose from and accessing special offers. Sellers, for their part, would have fewer risks when managing stock. In the image above this paragraph you can see how the process would be established in this new business model.
With this somewhat unexpected turn, Amazon will be giving in with one of the conditions that it has always set to guarantee maximum user satisfaction: the speed of shipments. For Amazon, it has been crucial in its growth to be able to offer customers one-day shipping or very fast shipping, so changing to a delivery strategy in about 10 days is something completely opposite. But the e-commerce giant is aware that times change and that, sometimes, you have to bend your arm and adapt. The good news is that, at least on paper, the idea doesn’t sound bad at all.
