Amazon launches discount store to counter Temu

Amazon is opening its own discount shop to compete with the likes of Temu and Shein, in which the e-commerce giant will sell cheap stuff straight from China.

Cases and cheap clothes

At a closed event for sellers in China, Amazon presented plans for a new discount webshop, full of cheap clothes and household items. In doing so, Amazon hopes to snatch some market share from Temu and Shein, which are rapidly gaining popularity – not least in Amazon’s American home market.

While Amazon’s market value passed the two trillion (2,000 billion!) dollar mark for the first time this week, the online giant plans to strengthen ties with Chinese manufacturers and platform sellers. As early as this autumn, the retailer would start accepting their products. The online store would feature a recognisable range of unbranded items of less than twenty dollars. The presentation included facial massage tools, arm weights and phone cases.

Straight from China

The idea is that Chinese sellers can ship directly to consumers in the United States, as is the case with Temu and Shein, CNBC reports. This will increase delivery times – between nine and eleven days – but allow sellers to save on costs. Until now, Amazon sellers in China had to send goods to warehouses in the US before shipping them to customers.

Last December, Amazon had also announced a new “innovation centre” in Shenzhen and a decrease of costs for sellers of clothes below twenty dollars. Last year, the number of items sold by Chinese sellers is said to have increased by 20 %.