Wider range of products aimed at Chinese customers seeking quality, value
U.S.-based e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc launched its Amazon Global Store in China on Thursday, aiming at winning Chinese customers with goods from all over the world, the company told the Global Times on Thursday via e-mail.
The categories listed on the Amazon Global Store go beyond those offered by Amazon U.S. to include items from more overseas branches including Europe and Japan, the company said, noting that the new service means a much wider range of goods are available for customers in China.
The first group of goods offered in the Amazon Global Store is dominated by nutritional supplements and baby formula milk powder, and about 60 percent of these products are exclusively sold by Amazon in China, according to the press release.
Customers in the Chinese mainland have become more demanding in recent years and many of them prefer overseas products, which they believe offer better quality and value.
China's cross-border e-commerce continues to boom, with revenue jumping to 3.75 trillion yuan ($586.1 billion) in 2014 from just 1.6 trillion yuan in 2011, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce.
The scale of that market has caught the eye of many e-commerce giants, such as U.S.-listed Alibaba Group Holding.
Alibaba also offers overseas products on its e-commerce website tmall.com, and it has established 11 overseas channels based on the products' countries of origin, such as the UK, France and New Zealand, media reports said.
The reports noted that Alibaba also started cooperation with 20 embassies in China for more featured goods to be introduced to tmall.com.
Compared with competitors such as Alibaba, Amazon may have more credibility in cross-border e-commerce since it provides goods directly rather than just offering a platform, Lu Zhenwang, founder of Shanghai Wanqing Commerce Consulting, told the Global Times on Thursday.
Alibaba has taken notice of the situation, and it is making efforts to win customers' trust by offering products from reliable sources.
U.S.-based department store chain Macy's announced on Wednesday U.S. time that it set up a joint venture in China with Hong Kong-based Fung Retailing to sell products on the global marketplace of Alibaba's tmall.com, Reuters reported on Thursday.
A deep base of suppliers and an advanced global logistics network are Amazon's advantages in cross-border e-commerce, Ge Daoyuan, president of Amazon China, was quoted as saying in the press release.
Goods purchased in the Amazon Global Store will be delivered to customers within just three days because they will be shipped directly from bonded areas or free trade zones within China, Amazon's press release said.
But unlike Alibaba, which has Alipay, Amazon does not have its own widely used online payment tool in China.
The U.S. company said in the Thursday press release that it will provide "various" and "local" payment tools for Chinese customers, but it gave no details.
All cross-border e-commerce operators face the same major task - how to guarantee product quality when getting refunds for goods can be complicated and time-consuming, Feng Lin, a Hangzhou-based independent e-commerce analyst, told the Global Times on Thursday.
Cross-border e-commerce traders who conduct cross-border transactions will be subject to oversight from China's customs authority, and they will need to submit information on orders, payments and logistics before filling out customs declarations, based on a statement released by the General Administration of Customs on July 24.
