The current situation of sellers on Amazon China and how to identify Chinese sellers

In 2004, Amazon acquired Joyo.com for US$75 million and renamed it “Amazon China” in 2011. After seven years of development, Amazon has not only introduced its brand and IT systems to China, but also brought a “customer needs-centered” business philosophy. Despite reaching 15.4% market share in 2008, Amazon dropped to less than 1% in 2015. Due to the rapid development of local e-commerce and overseas shopping, Amazon stopped providing services to third-party sellers in China on July 18, 2019, and gradually withdrew from the highly competitive market.

How to identify Chinese sellers on Amazon

Finding Chinese sellers on the Amazon platform is not difficult. Here are a few effective methods:

1. Search engine query:
   Users can enter keywords such as “mobile phone accessories” or “home accessories” through search engines such as Google or Baidu and find many sellers from China.

2. Amazon Platform Search:
   Enter keywords in the search box on Amazon’s homepage, and then select the “Only show Chinese sellers” option in the search results to locate products and sellers from China.

3. Seller Directory Search:
   Users can filter the “China Supplier” option in the Amazon seller directory and enter product categories for quick search.

4. Product description analysis:
   Sometimes Chinese expressions in a seller’s description can be used as a reference to determine the seller’s origin, but this is not always accurate.

5. Observation on delivery time:
   Some products with long delivery times, usually from Chinese sellers, need to be paid attention to.

The number of Amazon Chinese sellers and industry status quo

Although Amazon operates tens of millions of seller accounts worldwide, its sellers in the Chinese market are relatively rare. After entering the Chinese market in 2011, faced with a fiercely competitive environment, Amazon announced in April 2019 that it would close its e-commerce portal and shift its focus to cloud computing and cross-border e-commerce. According to estimates by some analysts, as of 2019, the number of Amazon sellers in China is approximately 150,000. However, this number has not been confirmed by official data.

Despite their small numbers, Amazon’s Chinese sellers face ongoing challenges in a highly competitive market. They need to constantly adapt to changes in the platform’s rules and meet consumers’ high demands for quality and service. In this environment, sellers’ operating costs and technical thresholds have increased significantly.

However, Chinese sellers can also use Amazon’s global platform to expand their business. They can use Amazon’s warehousing and logistics services to improve overall operational efficiency. Optimizing product lists, improving customer service quality and brand building are all important means to increase consumer loyalty. Despite facing multiple challenges, sellers who can maintain agile market adaptability will occupy a place in Amazon, the global online retail platform.

Through the above analysis, we can not only understand the history and current situation of Amazon in the Chinese market, but also master various methods of identifying Chinese sellers, providing more effective guidance and reference for consumers and sellers.