UPDATE: Nov. 14, 2024, 1:36 p.m. EST This story has been updated with a comment from an Amazon rep.
Amazon is launching a Shein competitor, according to a new press release.
With Shein’s skyrocketing sales, it’s easy to see why the Bezos-owned big-box retailer aims to compete head-on in the world of low-cost, trend-driven e-commerce.
Fast-fashion retailer Shein, despite ethical scrutiny regarding its labor practices, environmental impact, and product safety, is a fierce rival in the e-commerce space.
In 2023, it amassed over $32 billion in worldwide sales, indicating a growth of nearly 42% year-over-year. In the same year, Shein secured over $14 billion in sales in the U.S., according to EcommerceDB (ECDB). To put this into perspective, Shein surpassed both Walmart.com and Amazon.com, which had sales between $9 and $12 billion, per ECDB.
“Amazon’s online fashion revenues are now behind both Shein and Walmart,” the ECDB report said.
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Amazon’s new low-cost retailer is called ‘Haul’
Haul, Amazon’s new economical online retailer, will keep prices capped at $20. However, most of the products will be less than $10. Amazon’s press release cited examples of some of these budget-friendly items:
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An necklace, bracelet, and earring set for $2.99
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Two kitchen tongs for $4.99
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An iPhone 16 case for $1.79
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A belt for $1.99
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A three-piece trimmer razor set for $2.99
Orders must be $25 or more to qualify for free delivery — but don’t expect them to be delivered in two days. According to Amazon’s press release, Haul’s delivery timeframe is between one to two weeks.
“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,” said Dharmesh Mehta, Amazon’s vice president of worldwide selling partner services.
As mentioned at the outset, the mass production of inexpensive products has faced criticism. For example, Shein’s rapid production model contributes to substantial carbon emissions, according to Wired.
We reached out to Amazon about how it plans to evade these concerns. In response, an Amazon rep said the following:
“Low-priced items are not new to our business and we continue to focus on identifying opportunities to build on our progress toward our Climate Pledge of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. With Amazon Haul, we’ll account for its impact – like we do all of our operations – and work to mitigate it in a similar way.
We constantly work to prevent, manage, and reduce waste across our business, including waste we produce in our operations and customer waste, like packaging and retired products. We aim to avoid waste through innovation, design, and operational efficiencies. Amazon has replaced all of the plastic air pillows from delivery packaging used at our global fulfillment centers with paper filler. Since 2015, we’ve reduced the average per-shipment packaging weight by 43% and avoided a total of more than 3 million metric tons of packaging.”
For now, Haul is in beta and available exclusively through a mobile app. You can access it here.