Amazon has launched a store where every product costs $20 or less in a bid to take on popular low-cost shopping apps like Temu and Shein. The new “Amazon Haul” service is available in the US via Amazon’s app or mobile website, and offers a wide range of similar fashion, home, lifestyle, and electronics products that you’d expect to find on the rival Chinese platforms.
“Finding great products at very low prices is important to customers, and we continue to explore ways that we can work with our selling partners so they can offer products at ultra-low prices,” Amazon’s vice president of worldwide selling partner services, Dharmesh Mehta, said in Amazon’s announcement.
The Haul storefront has a visually similar layout to Temu and Shein, focusing largely on affordable pricing and slapping “crazy low” banners on item listings. Amazon says the majority of items will be priced at $10 or less, with some offerings as low as $1. Customers are encouraged to stack their baskets, however, with Amazon offering discounts of five percent off orders over $50 or 10 percent off orders of $75 or higher.
Shipping costs $3.99 and is free on orders over $25, but will take one to two weeks to arrive — which Amazon believes its customers will be fine with if it allows them to “shop ultra-low-priced products.” That’s a similar delivery timescale taken by Temu and Shein, which suggests Haul’s stock is also importing stock directly from Chinese manufacturers.
Both Temu and Shein are facing stricter regulations in the EU and the US due to risks surrounding counterfeit goods, illegal products, and copyright infringements on their platforms. Amazon is trying to temper any consumer concerns about that by saying all products on Haul are screened to ensure they’re “safe, authentic, and compliant with applicable regulations.”
