Amazon suspected to send warning letter to big seller, Anker removed all Temu products from shelves

In 2024, with the rapid rise of more and more platforms, a war for talent centered on sellers has entered a white-hot stage.

Among them, the actions of the four little dragons going overseas are the most impressive. According to industry sources, since March this year, Temu and other platforms have successively held investment promotion conferences in many cities across the country, exploring new sellers from the two directions of semi-managed and fully managed, covering hundreds of sub-categories.

Amazon China sellers and domestic industry merchants are the key expansion targets of these platforms. Marketplace Pulse research shows that about 20% of sellers on SHEIN and Temu also sell on Amazon. The increasing overlap of sellers means that the overlap of platform products is also increasing.

Surrounded by a pack of wolves, Amazon inevitably feels a sense of crisis that its cake is being divided up, and takes action to that end.

It is learned that recently, rumors have appeared on multiple social platforms that Amazon is about to launch "new actions" against Temu.

According to an Amazon operator, the top 20 brands on Amazon that listed the same products on both Amazon and Temu have recently received "warning letters" from Amazon.

▲ The picture comes from the seller’s disclosure

There is no specific information about the content of the "warning letter" yet. However, many industry insiders interpret the "warning" as: Amazon is asking the top 20 brands to choose between Amazon and Temu to list their brand products.

It is worth mentioning that when the news came out, a seller revealed that Anker Innovations, a top 20 brand on Amazon and a big seller of 3C in Shenzhen, has taken the initiative to remove all its products from Temu . According to industry media reports, Anker's two brand stores have previously shown a temporary suspension status and all products in the store have been removed from the shelves.

It was observed that as of press time, when searching for "Anker" on Temu US site, there was only one related product from a third-party seller on the page, and the Anker brand store was no longer displayed on the search page.

In addition, another Shenzhen 3C brand was also reported to be preparing to withdraw from Temu . According to the investigation, there are only three products left in its brand store on Temu US, namely mobile phone holders, mobile phone protective cases and holder racks, all of which are low-priced and unpopular links.

▲ Picture from Temu

Therefore, many sellers believe that the latest developments of the above-mentioned big sellers have confirmed the authenticity of the rumors to a certain extent.

However, as of press time, there has been no publicly released definitive notification in the industry, and the authenticity of the news remains to be confirmed . Judging from the discussions in the industry, sellers currently have different opinions on the rumor that "Amazon issued a warning letter to the top 20 brands."

It is understood that sellers in the industry have different reactions to the above rumors.

One theory is that the rumor is true:

From the platform's perspective , many sellers believe that Temu, as a very threatening new e-commerce force, has caused Amazon to feel a sense of crisis.

According to data analysis by Sensor Tower, as of August 2024, Temu's global user base has reached 91% of Amazon's, and is expected to surpass Amazon, which was founded 30 years ago, within the year.

At the same time, according to industry sources, Temu is actively competing for more merchant resources: on the one hand, Temu regards Amazon China sellers and domestic industrial belt merchants as key development targets, and has established multiple investment promotion teams for semi-hosted businesses to implement a "horse racing" investment promotion system; on the other hand, Temu has also relaxed the entry conditions, allowing local American sellers to register and sell directly on its platform.

Previous Marketplace Pulse data showed that as of November, five of the top 25 Amazon sellers were selling on Temu.

From the seller's perspective , on the one hand, the removal of products from Temu's US site by several Shenzhen 3C sellers mentioned above has added a certain degree of persuasiveness to the rumors. On the other hand, some sellers tend to agree with Amazon's move, believing that this move may become a turning point to ease Temu's internal pressure of low prices.

“Brands that can make it to the top 20 on Amazon should not come to Temu, as it will lower the brand’s tone.”

"It is Temu's low-price dumping that should be regulated. Amazon's industry chain, including consumers, has gained value (products, services, profits, innovation, research and development), but what about Temu?"

It is understood that as consumers' demand for low-priced goods increases, price competition has become an important means for e-commerce platforms to compete for market share. According to a survey by Omnisend, Temu has quickly won the favor of consumers in the US market with its low-price strategy. Although American consumers have a low level of trust in Temu, 23% of respondents still choose Temu as their first choice for shopping during the shopping festival.

Therefore, many sellers in the industry tend to believe that the extreme compression of their profit margins is closely related to Temu's low-price involution. Among the 740 sellers surveyed, more than 60% of the sellers' full-year net profit in 2024 has declined compared with 2023, and 32% of them are expected to decline by more than 50%.

Another theory points out that the authenticity of the rumor is questionable, or that Amazon's move is inappropriate:

“Will this really not trigger U.S. antitrust laws?”

"This operation seems familiar... In the past, domestic e-commerce companies seemed to have similarly 'taken sides', and ended up being fined."

▲ The picture comes from Weibo

Recently, according to the latest news in the industry, Amazon has responded to the rumor: Amazon requires sellers to sell exclusively on Amazon Mall is not true. Sellers can independently decide their sales strategies and set product prices on Amazon Mall and other sales channels.