(Bloomberg): Amazon.com Inc. is planning to open an online store offering low-cost clothing and home goods, in its biggest move yet to compete with upstart discount retailers Temu and Shein.

Amazon will ship products directly from China to customers, according to slides posted on its website for Chinese sellers. The company, which has built its business on the promise of fast delivery, has previously encouraged Chinese merchants to use logistics services to collect products at U.S. warehouses.

The new online store will have its own section on Amazon’s website – currently it is open only to sellers by invitation – and the plans were first reported by The Information.

A screenshot of what appears to be an invitation from Amazon included in the slide deck showed a launch event planned for July 5 in Yiwu, a manufacturing and export hub in eastern China’s Zhejiang province.

Amazon and other U.S. retailers are being forced to respond to the rapid growth of Temu, a unit of PDD Holdings Inc., and fast-fashion retailer SHEIN, which have both lured customers with heavy TV and social media advertising and steep discounts.

Amazon has begun lowering commission fees for merchants selling low-cost clothing this year, a move seen as an attempt to compete on price with Shein.

Original title: Amazon Plans Discount Web Store in Effort to Counter Temu, Shein (excerpt)

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