Beyond low prices: The potential convergence of Am

In the recent cross-border e-commerce circle, both black Friday and hot topics are flying, and the business war is being conducted in the most simple way.

On November 8th, Amazon's first innovation center in the Asia Pacific region opened its global store at Qianhai International Talent Port in Shenzhen. Just after 4 pm, the gathered crowd surged out of the elevator, and TEMU ground push personnel could be seen randomly distributing investment flyers for all managed categories downstairs. Passersby exclaimed, "What a simple business war" and "This wave of business war is really awesome. Accompanying the bestsellers, exchanging operational experience behind closed doors, and receiving free Amazon offline training camp and conference tickets worth 1297 yuan! Click here to register now

Returning to the online market, Amazon has been preparing for several months to launch its low-priced store, Amazon Haul, on the mobile app for internal testing in mid November. In June of this year, after the news went viral, Amazon's move was once seen as a confrontation with TEMU. However, it was also recently that news of TEMU considering launching a third-party platform model became the focus of the industry.

If the news is true, there is no doubt that Amazon and TEMU are starting to follow each other's old path

Before adopting the third-party platform model, TEMU operated in both fully managed and semi managed modes. During the investment process, many merchants were indecisive due to the lack of independent pricing power, and clothing factory owner Lao Wu was one of them.

Lao Wu told Hugo Cross border that on TMEU, merchants do not have pricing power. Having experienced price wars and internal competition, he realized the importance of profit, so he did not join in the first place when the semi trust management was popular. Wearing over 10 years of experience in foreign trade, Lao Wu believes that timing is crucial, as there may soon be new choices after seeing multiple changes in the cross-border e-commerce industry in the past two years.

As expected, news of Amazon's launch of low-priced stores quickly spread. Lao Wu believed that low-priced stores are similar to fully managed models, but provide sellers with greater autonomy. In the entire low-priced ecosystem, internal competition may still be unavoidable, but it is acceptable.

Is there a possibility that the seller's attitude may also force the platform to make changes to some extent?

Just like the opening of Amazon's low-priced store, which strengthened its penetration in the low-priced market, TEMU, which has been besieged, needs to seek transformation in its operation mode and relax its requirements for merchants through third-party platform models. It will try its best to introduce more merchants, expand the variety and quantity of products, not only to win back in the low-priced market, but also to form a greater advantage in market competitiveness.

Especially in the third-party platform model, TEMU may be able to win back a wave of merchants who are unwilling to accept pricing through self pricing.

Although a home furnishing retailer in Hangzhou has been thriving on the TEMU semi custodial model, it speculated a few months ago that TEMU may open a third-party platform model to improve the consumer shopping experience. For example, in the semi custodial model, the platform will not have too many personnel and energy to solve many personalized experience problems.

At present, Amazon's low-priced stores adopt a customized invitation system and are in a state of few merchants, few product types, few products, and low competition. Lao Wu speculates that at least before TEMU opens up the third-party seller model, Amazon's low-priced store merchants have independent pricing and inventory management rights, and there is no corresponding clear penalty policy, so the chances of winning are relatively high.

If TEMU's third-party platform model only charges commission, the warehouse will not have to bear too much pressure, and the shopping experience of consumers will be more perfect. The sales opportunities for cross-border e-commerce sellers will greatly increase, and the store may also usher in a huge traffic entrance. For details, please refer to the situation of TEMU's fully managed merchants after the launch of semi custodial management. However, the requirements for factory type sellers will be greater, such as facing operational management, logistics clearance and other issues.

There are also rumors in the industry that Amazon's low-priced stores may open a seller registration channel early next year. After the TEMU third-party platform model is officially launched, the competition between Amazon and TEMU over new and old paths has just begun.

In fact, whether it is Amazon or TEMU, once a large number of sellers join, in order to compete for traffic and sales, Lao Wu believes that platforms and merchants may still fall into a trend of low price competition, and profits will also be affected. What he can do is to settle in early and reap the first wave of dividends.

Amazon's rise and struggle to a certain extent also confirms the correctness of TEMU's low price strategy overseas, and the launch of low-priced stores may be another obedience test for overseas consumers, especially low-priced products from China, in addition to providing sellers and consumers with more choices.

The St. Louis Federal Reserve conducted a survey using 13000 representative low-priced imported products from 2023 as a data package, and the results showed that 29% of the products came from China, more than any other country, once again highlighting the price competitiveness of Chinese manufacturing in imported products from the United States.

Image: Proportion of low-priced product trading partners in the United States in 2023 Image source: St. Louis Fed

In the face of overseas consumers' preference for low-priced products and the rise of TEMU, Amazon seems to have quietly adopted a low-priced strategy outside of low-priced stores, but the route is slightly circuitous.

In the first half of 2024, Amazon announced several consecutive significant reductions in sales commissions and logistics rates at various sites in North America, Europe, and Japan, with a focus on the clothing category. This move by Amazon is known in the industry as a push to penetrate deeper markets.

Recently, Amazon announced that it will not increase US site sales commissions and logistics fees in 2025, nor will it introduce new types of fees. It will also reduce some fees and provide additional discounts to support the growth of new product selection.

The continuous increase in sales commissions and logistics costs, followed by a decrease and then no increase at all, undoubtedly gave sellers more breathing space to reduce cost pressure, but it is also a means of pleasing sellers.

Even the logistics settings of low-priced stores are directly shipped from Amazon China warehouses, with no storage capacity restrictions or over age storage fees. Although the delivery time is slightly longer, it has already reduced some of the pressure on the supply chain for sellers.

Looking at Amazon's requirements and rules for pricing, traffic entry, logistics, and after-sales service in low-priced stores, it has made multiple concessions and optimizations. Allowing low-priced stores to exist in a platform within a platform is not so much about attracting external traffic, but rather about preventing the loss of its own traffic.

The development of current events also has certain variables in the competition of the low-priced market. Especially in the face of Trump's statement to impose a 10% tariff on Chinese goods, will those products and platforms that sell at low prices be affected?

In fact, if Trump continues to adopt a tough foreign trade policy, the global supply chain pattern will also be affected, but the competitiveness of Chinese manufacturing may not necessarily disappear.

Just like the survey conducted by the St. Louis Fed, becoming the lowest priced supplier does not necessarily mean that China exports at lower prices. On the contrary, it may also mean that China can offer lower priced but better quality goods in most product categories compared to suppliers from other countries.

Even with the imposition of tariffs, price increases are inevitable. However, seeking alternative suppliers that match the prices of Chinese manufacturing is also a challenge, as giving up importing goods from China may also lead to a significant increase in costs for US imports. So, the competitiveness of Chinese manufacturing and Chinese sellers on low-priced platforms may be further maintained.

低价之外：亚马逊和TEMU终将变成对方的样子？

最近的跨境电商出海圈，黑五与热点齐飞，而商战正以最朴实的方式进行。

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回到线上，亚马逊筹备几个月的低价商店Amazon haul于11月中旬在手机端App上线内测。今年6月，该消息被疯传后，亚马逊此举一度被认为是对抗TEMU，然而，也是在近日，TEMU考虑推出第三方平台模式的消息传出，顿时成为行业焦点。

如果消息属实，毋庸置疑的是，亚马逊和TEMU开始走对方的老路了……

01：亚马逊、TEMU互相围剿

在开启第三方平台模式之前，TEMU还是以全托管和半托管的模式运营，在招商过程中，不少商家因为没有自主定价权而摇摆不定，服装厂老板老吴就是其中一员。

老吴告诉雨果跨境，在TMEU上，商家没有定价权，经历过价格战和内卷的他，看到了利润的重要性，所以在半托管风靡时，他没有**时间入驻。身披超10年外贸经验的老吴看到近两年跨境电商圈的多个变革后认为，时机很重要，或许很快就有新的选择。

果不其然，亚马逊要推出低价商店的消息很快传来，老吴觉得，低价商店类似全托管模式，然而为卖家提供了较大的自主权，在整个低价生态中，可能还是摆脱不了内卷，但是能接受。

有没有一种可能是，卖家的态度也在一定程度上倒逼平台做出改变？

就像亚马逊低价商店的开启，加强了其在低价市场的渗透，被围剿的TEMU一方面要在运营方式上谋求转型，另一方面通过第三方平台模式放宽对商家的要求，想方设法引入更多商家，扩充商品种类和数量，不仅要在低价市场上扳回一局，还要在市场竞争力上形成更大优势。

尤其是在第三方平台模式下，通过自主定价的方式，TEMU或许能挽回一波那些不愿意接受核价的商家。

杭州某家居大卖尽管在TEMU半托管上一路做到风生水起，其也曾在几个月前猜测TEMU可能会开通第三方平台模式，以完善消费者购物体验，比如，在半托管模式下，平台不会有太多的人员和精力去解决很多个性化体验的问题。

目前亚马逊低价商店采取定邀制，处于商家数量较少、商品种类少、产品少、竞争小的状态，老吴猜测，至少在TEMU开放第三方卖家模式之前，亚马逊低价商店的商家有自主定价权和库存管理权，且没有相应明确的罚款政策，赢面较大。

而如果TEMU的第三方平台模式在仅收取佣金的情况下，仓库不用承担太大压力，消费者的购物体验也将更加完善，跨境电商卖家的销售机会大大增加，店铺也可能会迎来巨大的流量入口，具体可参考半托管上线后，TEMU全托管商家的境遇，只不过对工厂型卖家的要求会更大，比如要面临运营管理、物流清关等问题。

还有业内传闻称，明年年初亚马逊低价商店可能会开放卖家申请注册通道，等到TEMU第三方平台模式正式开启后，亚马逊和TEMU之间，关于新路和老路的角逐才刚刚开始。

其实无论是亚马逊还是TEMU，一旦有大批卖家入驻，为了争夺流量和销量，老吴认为，平台之间和商家之间，可能还是会陷入低价内卷的竞争趋势，利润也会受到影响。他能做到的是，尽早入驻，吃到**波红利。

02：低价之外的竞争力

亚马逊的奋起抗争，在一定程度上也印证了TEMU在海外实施低价策略的正确性，而低价商店的上线在给卖家和消费者更多选择之外，或许也是另一种对海外消费者的服从性测试，尤其是来自中国的低价产品。

圣路易斯联储在一项调查中以2023年的13000个代表性廉价进口产品为数据包，结果显示，其中有29%的产品来自中国，比其他任何国家都要多，再次凸显了中国制造在美国进口产品中的价格竞争力。

低价之外：亚马逊和TEMU终将变成对方的样子？

图：2023年美国低价产品贸易伙伴来源占比图片来源：圣路易斯联储

在同时面对海外消费者对低价产品的青睐以及TEMU的崛起时，在低价商店之外，亚马逊好像也悄悄用上了低价策略，只不过路线稍显迂回。

2024年上半年，亚马逊连续几次宣布，在北美、欧洲和日本各站点大幅下调销售佣金，同时降低物流费率，且直指服装品类，亚马逊的这一放手被业内称为发力下沉市场。

近日，亚马逊又宣布2025年不会提高美国站销售佣金和物流费用，也不会引入新的费用类型，还将降低部分费用并提供额外的优惠，以支持新选品增长。

销售佣金和物流费用从连续上涨到开始下降，再到不会上涨维持原样，无疑给了卖家更多减轻成本压力的喘息空间，但又何尝不是一种讨好卖家的手段。

就连低价商店的物流设置，货物也是从亚马逊中国仓库直发，且没有库容限制，不收取超龄库容费用，虽说时效稍长，但是对于卖家来说，却是已经减轻了一部分供应链上的压力。

再看亚马逊在低价商店上对价格、流量入口、物流和售后等方面的要求和规则设置，其已经做出了多方让步和优化，而让低价商店以站中站的方式存在，与其说是为了从外部引流，还不如理解为防止本身流量流失。

时事的发展对低价市场的竞争，也有一定的变数。尤其是面对特朗普要对中国商品加征10%关税的言论，那些以低价为卖点的商品和平台，是否会受到影响？

事实上，如果特朗普继续采取对外强硬的贸易政策，全球供应链格局也会受到影响，中国制造的竞争力却并不一定会消失。

就像圣路易斯联储的那项调查表明，成为最低价格供应商并不一定意味着中国以更低的价格出口，相反，这也可能意味着中国相较于其他国家的供应商，在大多数产品类目中能提供价格较低但质量更好的商品。

即使在加征关税的情况下，涨价不可避免，然而寻求与中国制造价格匹配的替代供应商也是一项挑战，毕竟放弃从中国进口商品也可能会导致美国进口相当一部分的成本增加。所以，中国制造以及中国卖家在低价平台上的竞争力或将进一步保持。

（封面图源：图虫创意）

（来源：清博）

Beyond low prices: Will Amazon and TEMU eventually become like each other?

低价之外：亚马逊和TEMU终将变成对方的样子？