Amazon.com is training its attention on emerging e-commerce players Temu and Shein, viewing the newer platforms as significant threats to its online shopping dominance.
Temu and Shein have, for now, supplanted Walmart and Target as focal points in internal Amazon meetings related to retail, people familiar with the matter said. The companies with Chinese roots are expanding in the U.S. and targeting Amazon customers. Temu has gone on an advertising blitz, spending billions of dollars and becoming the top advertiser by revenue on Meta Platforms in 2023, The Wall Street Journal reported this month.
Amazon executives are concentrating in part on two aspects of their business they believe will continue to give them a competitive advantage: customer trust and fast delivery. Employees are working to increase the selection of items available for same-day delivery in categories such as electronics, and the company is exploring promotional campaigns that would emphasize reliability and delivery speeds, the people said.
"Amazon's logistics are unapproachable," said Josh Lowitz, co-founder of Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, which studies Amazon Prime customer habits. "You have to have a whole lot of volume to justify the infrastructure Amazon has, so it's going to take a long time for anyone to compete with Amazon on reliable convenience."
An Amazon spokeswoman said the company pays attention to competitors but staff "obsess over customers." She said that Amazon's competitive differentiator is its ability to deliver packages quickly across a range of products, a service that remains a priority for the company.
In the U.S., the company can use its massive warehouse network and its millions of Prime subscribers as a barrier to the newer rivals, current and former employees said. Overseas, where those factors are less prevalent, it could be more difficult for the company to defend itself against competitors.
A Shein ad in London. PHOTO: SUZANNE PLUNKETT/REUTERS
During its three-decade history, Amazon has often moved quickly to counter potential threats from competitors. Those efforts have included price cuts, acquisition offers and replicating strategies that resonate with consumers.
More than a decade ago, as Amazon targeted Quidsi, parent of Diapers.com and Soap.com, it deployed a strategy to undercut the competitor with heavy discounts of diapers on Amazon. Eventually, Quidsi sold itself to Amazon.
Years ago, when Amazon decided to compete with furniture retailer Wayfair, executives created what they called the Wayfair Parity Team, which studied how Wayfair procured, sold and delivered bulky furniture, eventually replicating a majority of its offerings, the Journal previously reported. Amazon declined to comment on the Wayfair team and Quidsi purchase, and it has generally argued that it competes fairly and responds to consumer demand.
Amazon contends that its shoppers value a wide selection that includes trusted brands. PHOTO: GUSTAVO GRAF/REUTERS
In 2014, Amazon launched a service named Prime Now that provided quick deliveries of toiletries and other consumable products. Employees who worked on the service and its custom phone app said it was organized in months after the early buzz from Instacart, which had launched two years before. Prime Now was eventually folded into Amazon's broader efforts to speed up deliveries for groceries and other products.
While Amazon can be aggressive when faced with new threats, executives at times have tried to avoid overreacting in case new competition is more of a fad than a long-term trend, current and former employees said. E-commerce companies such as Wish, a marketplace selling a variety of products, have broken out and gone on hot streaks but then struggled afterward.
Temu and Shein have seen their popularity rapidly grow in America.
U.S. monthly active users on Temu grew to 51.4 million in January from its September 2022 launch, according to estimates from Sensor Tower. Shein's users increased from 20.9 million to 26 million during the same period. Amazon's fell from 69.6 million to 67 million. Amazon said that overall it hasn't seen a decline in usage but declined to provide details. Temu's parent company on Wednesday reported that it had more than doubled its quarterly revenue and profit during the fourth quarter.
Analysts estimate that Temu will rein in its ad spending in 2024. PHOTO: RICHARD DREW/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Temu has said that it respects other e-commerce competitors but doesn’t find direct comparisons helpful, and that it is still a relatively small player in the industry. Shein has said what sets it apart is its focus on working with small and midsize manufacturers.
Recent Amazon video ads have focused on emotional moments for customers receiving or using products ordered on the platform. Temu's recent ads, including during the Super Bowl, urged users to "shop like a billionaire." Amazon executives paid close attention to the Temu campaign, people familiar with the matter said.
Customer trust, reliable shipping and easy returns have long been a staple of Amazon's strategy. Amazon spent much of last year revamping its delivery services to get even closer to customers and deliver products more efficiently. The company said more than four billion items arrived on the same or next day in the U.S. in 2023.
Temu and Shein, meanwhile, offer bargain prices in part because they deliver items more slowly. The two companies ship products directly from China, and they don't store much inventory in the U.S. Shein especially is recognized for its on-demand manufacturing model, which helps control the amount of waste in packaging and other materials it uses.
Temu has opened its marketplace to U.S. and European sellers. Analysts say this could help Temu cut shipping costs and sell higher-priced products. Temu's first target could be Amazon's Chinese sellers with inventory in the U.S.
Workers testing Shein clothes in China. PHOTO: GILLES SABRIE FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Temu and Shein have bet correctly that a segment of customers are willing to wait longer to receive some shipments. Amazon, meanwhile, has remained steadfast that its shoppers value quick deliveries and returns and a wide selection that includes trusted brands. Its most recent quarterly earnings show that it remains the strongest online store in America.
Gaining customer trust is a central challenge the new competitors face. In online reviews and forums, some Shein and Temu customers have expressed concerns after not receiving quality products. Returning items to the companies is a more complex process than on Amazon.
Amazon has seen its own struggles in recent years. Customer surveys have shown a slip in satisfaction in areas such as product quality. Amazon has said customers overall remain highly satisfied with their experience and points to refund services it offers when products are damaged or defective.
Amazon has weighed whether to boost the visibility on its website of items that are priced lower but could take longer to reach customers, the Journal previously reported.
Temu and Shein have gained significant ground in the U.S., while social-media powerhouse TikTok last year also began to target shoppers seeking bargain deals. Shein and TikTok are growing their workforces in Seattle and have sought to poach Amazon's employees, part of their goal to build out logistics and supply chain operations in the U.S.
Backed by its Chinese parent company PDD Holdings, Temu has been on a shopping spree for ad space since its U.S. launch, driving up digital advertising costs by outbidding rivals that range from decades-old bricks-and-mortar shops to specialty e-commerce platforms. Analysts estimate that Temu will rein in ad spending in 2024.
Some analysts have been skeptical about the company's strategy. If Temu can't find a way to generate recurring revenue, the substantial subsidies could hurt the parent company's profitability, analysts say.