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Get Ready for Amazon Haul: Amazon’s Challenge to Temu
SUMMARY
Learn what Amazon’s latest store Amazon Haul is, and how it will affect your selling strategies going forward.
Rachel Horner
Rachel Horner serves as a Content Marketing Writer for Feedvisor. She has extensive experience in writing for diverse B2B brands, particularly in the tech industry, and is dedicated to fostering meaningful brand-audience connections.
Amazon has launched “Haul” in beta, its answer to the rapidly growing discount retailers like Temu and Shein. Moving beyond its traditional Prime-focused customer base, Amazon will use Haul to target a younger, more price-sensitive audience, offering ultra-affordable products just in time for the holiday shopping rush. Experts predict a notable shift this holiday season, with 63% of U.S. consumers planning to shop on Chinese e-marketplaces rather than Amazon. It will be interesting to see if Amazon Haul can keep its customers from making the switch this Cyber 12.
The question remains: How will this new storefront impact the marketplace, its sellers, and Amazon’s reputation? Let’s dive into what you can expect from Amazon Haul and what it means for your business.
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Amazon Haul: What to Expect
Following extensive internal discussions, Amazon has introduced Haul, a mobile-only discount storefront aimed at countering the rapid rise of competitors Temu and Shein. Featuring apparel, home goods, electronics, and more, all priced under $20, Amazon Haul is designed to attract budget-conscious shoppers and address the growing competition from their discount-focused rivals.
Reports of Amazon reaching out to sellers for its low-price initiative surfaced months ago. Currently, participation is invite-only, based on specific eligibility criteria and capacity limits, though the exact requirements and available participants remain unclear.
If flattery is the sincerest form of compliment, Temu and Shein have reason to be pleased. However, Amazon Haul isn’t just a copy of these platforms—it shares some similarities but also features key differences.
What’s Similar
Amazon Haul’s landing page takes clear inspiration from Shein and Temu, featuring vibrant, emoji-filled designs aimed at Gen Z and younger, mobile-first consumers. This bold, eye-catching aesthetic mirrors the flashy layouts that keep shoppers engaged with deals and content. Gen Z has become a core audience for third-party Chinese marketplaces—1 in 4 Gen Z consumers shop on platforms like Temu, Shein, TikTok Shop, or AliExpress at least once a week. Products are displayed in grid format, unlike Amazon’s usual list view, and shipping times and star ratings are only visible after clicking on an item.
Amazon’s original fulfillment model integrates supply chains close to the customer. Amazon’s new approach targets the supplier—Chinese sellers—aiming to prevent them from shifting to competitors. Previously, sellers shipped inventory via ocean freight to FBA warehouses for fast delivery. Now, inventory will go directly to Amazon’s Guangdong warehouses, from where air freight will deliver orders to U.S. shoppers.
By doing so, Amazon will be able to offer lower prices, even if it means longer shipping times — a strategy that has proven successful for Temu and Shein.
What’s Different
For third-party Chinese marketplaces, quality can often be unpredictable, making returns crucial for customers. Temu, for example, offers one free return per order, but customers must cover shipping costs for any additional returns. Yet, unlike Temu and Shein, Amazon will offer a shorter return window for its Haul store. Customers can return items over $3 for free within 15 days, while items priced at $3 or less will be final sale, indicating Amazon sees the return process as even less worthwhile for low-cost items – perhaps in an attempt to cut costs even further.
While Temu and Shein have gained popularity, they’ve struggled with maintaining consumer trust mainly due to poor product quality, misleading product descriptions and longer shipping times. Amazon, with its established reputation as a trusted e-retailer, uses a customer-centric strategy to keep shoppers satisfied.
The question remains: will this trust carry over to its new storefront? If Amazon works with similar China-based sellers offering mass-produced goods, it could face the same challenges as its competitors, risking brand erosion if low-quality products are shipped. However, Amazon asserts that it screens sellers carefully, and offers free returns within 15 days for items over $3. Only time will tell if Amazon can transfer its strong consumer trust to this new venture.
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A Deeper Dive Into Amazon’s New Storefront
Price-sensitive consumers have shown that low prices are worth the trade-offs, whether it’s longer shipping times or unbranded products. As they increasingly opt for cheaper goods to save money, Amazon is capitalizing on this trend, which raises the question:
Do Lower Prices Win Over Other Perks?
The unexpected rise of Temu and Shein underscores a key trend: for today’s budget-conscious consumers, price matters more than speed. While Amazon has long offered low-cost, unbranded goods from China, Temu and Shein attract customers with even cheaper prices, despite slower shipping.
Amazon has built its reputation on convenience, hassle-free returns, trusted reviews, and fast shipping. If you remove those advantages, does it still pay to shop on Amazon?
Amazon is Attempting to Keep Sellers—and its Algorithm—Happy
Amazon Haul is app-only, separate from the main marketplace—a choice driven by more than just mobile shopping trends. Sellers have long been wary of the move, and for good reason. Rising storage fees and demand for cheaper items are already squeezing margins, and competing with ultra-cheap Chinese sellers only adds to the challenge.
By keeping the new storefront separate from its main marketplace, Amazon can focus on attracting valuable Chinese sellers without—hopefully—hurting its existing U.S.-based brands and third-party sellers.
Amazon has long used its algorithm to deliver the most competitive prices, but the $20 cap changes the game—especially for its complex, black-box algorithm. Traditionally, the algorithm considers more than just price, factoring in reviews, delivery time, and more. With the new price limit, key variables may shift. Unbranded products and longer delivery times won’t be major differentiators, meaning the algorithm would need to adapt. Keeping the storefront separate allows Amazon to avoid disrupting its existing marketplace while potentially tailoring a new algorithm to suit this different model.
Initial concerns about Amazon’s low-cost storefront included damage to Amazon’s reputation. An influx of items bypassing Amazon’s warehouses and quality controls could make it harder to ensure product standards—yet customers may assume anything on Amazon is safe to use. A hit to Amazon’s brand reputation could impact all merchants, especially those at the higher end who rely on strong customer trust. By keeping it separate, both sellers and customers can maintain the trust they’ve built on Amazon’s main platform.
A Loophole for Tariffs?
Temu and other businesses shipping directly from overseas warehouses have capitalized on the “de minimis” trade rule, allowing most orders to bypass import duties and enabling them to offer rock-bottom prices. Amazon Haul will mimic this. Previously, sellers, both in China and the U.S., shipped inventory via ocean freight to FBA warehouses for quick, two-day delivery. With Amazon Haul, sellers now send inventory to Amazon’s warehouses in Guangdong, staying under the de minimis threshold and avoiding tariffs—for the time being.
Yet, this may not be a loophole for long. The rise of Chinese e-commerce shipments has caught the attention of retailers and Congress. The Biden administration has already proposed cracking down on the “de minimis” exception, which allows duty-free shipments under $800, helping retailers like Temu and Shein maintain low margins. With President-elect Donald Trump proposing a 60% tax on imported Chinese goods, Amazon’s investment in this business model raises even more interest as it unfolds.
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Final Thoughts
This new venture could go either way – a positive for allowing experimentation with new products and access to a new demographic, or bring down the hard-earned trust Amazon and it’s merchants have worked hard to build. We’ll keep you updated as more sellers share their experiences and requirements. In the meantime, facing new competitors with low prices can be daunting, but remember—price alone doesn’t secure the Buy Box. Setting prices too low can damage your brand and raise consumer doubts.
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