While Chinese shoppers have always been able to buy many goods from Amazon.com and ship them into China, a new program by the company will handle tariffs and localization of product descriptions to smooth the user experience.
Amazon.cn announced that its Chinese-language international shopping store started trial operation on November 11, 2014. That day was important as being the Alibaba-inspired Singles' Day online shopping experience. Amazon's move to begin its service on that day is a weak way of challenging Alibaba's monopoly of the Chinese-language e-commerce ecosystem.
Overseas products purchased by Chinese consumers will be delivered to them in an average of two weeks, with expedited shipping times of as little as three days.
Consumers can directly visit Z.cn to access the full Chinese-language Amazon international shopping store. With localized familiar operating processes, they are able to buy products from Amazon.com, enjoy the same price and quality as American consumers, and read the product comments of American consumers.
In regards to tariffs, Amazon will help collect the import duties when consumers place their orders. If the collected amount is higher than the actual amount, the company will refund the consumers; while if it is lower than the actual amount, consumers do not need to make up the difference.
As for post-sales services, all products purchased from Amazon international shopping store can enjoy the localized post-sales service support in China.
The first batch of 80,000 products from Amazon.com is now available during the trial operation started from November 11, 2014, covering apparel, shoes, maternal and child products, cosmetics, toys, personal care, outdoor, and sports.