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It is learned that in June this year, Amazon invited some sellers to hold a closed-door investment promotion meeting for the "low-price store" in Shenzhen. From the content of the meeting disclosed by the industry, it can be seen that the project aims to sell low-priced white-label products produced in China directly to American consumers. After the news spread, it caused an uproar in the cross-border circle: some people called it "Amazon full trusteeship", while others believed that this reflected that Amazon had begun to take seriously the "new generation" forces that have risen at low prices, such as Temu and TikTok Shop... Recently, there was new news in the industry about Amazon's new project. It is learned that Amazon has set "Low-Cost Store" as the official name of the new project. According to reports, Amazon may publicly launch the "Low-Cost Store" this year (as early as the end of October or November). The project is currently being tested internally, and the first batch of sellers have been invited and successfully settled in . Some of them have already shipped their product inventory to Amazon's warehouses in China. According to the latest documents provided by Amazon in the background, the "low-cost store" will operate as follows: The store's products do not appear in search results on the regular Amazon marketplace and must be accessed through a dedicated Amazon app. Sellers must list all products with a “generic” brand name. Amazon's low-cost store clearly stipulates the product's weight and size, shelf requirements, prohibited sales , etc. - Price Range: Amazon has set price limits for different categories of goods (nearly 700 types) , with a maximum limit of $20 . For example, shorts are $14, hair clippers are $12, necklaces are $10, calculators are $8, and toothbrush holders are $7.
- Refund without return policy: The return period is 15 days from the date of delivery of the product. Low-priced products priced at no more than $3 are refunded without return ; all low-priced products priced above $3 are eligible for a refund without return solution by default; in addition, the returned items will be cleared, donated or disposed of by Amazon as applicable, and the seller will be charged a refund fee.
According to a senior seller, Amazon's low-cost store currently adopts a telephone invitation system for entry, with the first batch planning to recruit 2,000 sellers. It is expected that by the end of December, Amazon may further relax entry. It is also worth mentioning that, according to leaked information, although Amazon's low-cost store and Temu's full-hosting service have a certain degree of similarity, both platforms are responsible for logistics, traffic and other operational processes, and sellers are responsible for product selection, but the difference is that in Amazon's low-cost store, sellers have the right to independently set prices and manage inventory. Therefore, in the eyes of many sellers, the launch of Amazon's low-cost mall is a mixed blessing. As we all know, in the flywheel system on which Amazon relies for growth, low prices are a key link in enhancing user experience. For many years, Amazon has had three major barriers: "low prices, rich product categories, and efficient delivery". It is almost impossible for other competitors to defeat Amazon head-on from these dimensions. However, platforms such as Temu have torn a hole in the "low price" link through the deep coupling of full hosting and flexible supply chain. Amazon is inevitably a little uneasy in the face of the "new generation"'s constant erosion of consumers' low-price mentality. According to industry sources, the upcoming Amazon low-cost store aims to sell low-priced white-label products made in China directly to American consumers. The selection of products is aimed at the hot-selling items on Temu , and will use the channel of small duty-free packages like Temu. Therefore, the industry has mixed opinions on this news. Research shows that 47% of Amazon's Chinese sellers are from Guangdong. Before the launch of the low-cost store, most sellers used sea freight to ship inventory from China to FBA warehouses alone for delivery to the country in two days or less. Under the low-cost store, sellers will ship to Amazon's warehouse in Guangdong, from where customer orders will be shipped by air and delivered to American shoppers within 9-11 days. Therefore, some sellers believe that the categories of fashion, household goods and daily necessities opened by Amazon's low-cost stores may become the most popular categories on the platform. Especially for FBA sellers on the main site, once low-cost stores are opened on a large scale, the market and traffic of homogeneous products on the main site may be eroded under the dimensionality reduction of the turnover rate of low-priced goods. However, some sellers also said that Amazon's launch of low-cost stores is not just to launch a low-price offensive with Temu, but to double down on the white-label business model in order to continue to consolidate its leading position in the e-commerce field. On the basis of the brand cultivation route of the main site, the low-cost store, a new traffic entrance, will extend its tentacles to white-label products, reaching a wider range of low- and middle-income consumers, and providing the market with more dimensional choices in the context of consumption downgrade. Therefore, from the perspective of Amazon sellers, on the one hand, low-cost stores are a huge opportunity for white-label products; on the other hand, this model can not only serve as a low-cost testing channel for FBA sellers, but also reveals a message to these sellers: Amazon may reshape the platform's ecological order and screen out high-quality brand sellers needed by the main site. As of press time, Amazon has not yet released any relevant information publicly, and the specific details of the project are still to be followed up. If you have any updated information, please contact the tipster or discuss in the comment section~
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