Amazon to further digital transformation, innovation moves

US-based tech giant Amazon.com Inc will continue to invest and grow in China, as well as intensify its efforts in localization and innovation in the country, in a bid to better serve hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers and boost the digital transformation of Chinese enterprises.

Li Yanchuan, vice-president of Amazon China, said more Chinese consumers are keen on online purchases since the COVID-19 outbreak. Sales of household products, electronics entertainment devices, fitness supplies and kitchenware are witnessing robust growth.

Chinese consumers could buy a wide range of authentic and high-quality products from the Amazon Global Store, which covers Amazon's four overseas sites including the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and Germany, Li said.

"The innovative practice of our cross-border shopping business Amazon Global Store in China has been successfully replicated in 10 overseas markets including Mexico, the UK and Australia," Li noted.

In addition, Amazon has enhanced the shopping experience of consumers through the launch of an artificial intelligence-enabled size guide for apparel and shoe products based on a leading algorithm.

China's cross-border e-commerce sector has been growing exponentially over the past few years as the country's middle and high-income shoppers are demanding increasingly diversified and personalized products and services.

Market consultancy iiMedia Research said the country's cross-border online shopping is expected to reach 12.7 trillion yuan ($1.8 trillion) in sales this year.

Zhang Li, director of the e-commerce research institute affiliated to the Ministry of Commerce, said cross-border e-commerce has become an important channel for China's foreign trade. The sector is playing a vital role in stabilizing and accelerating the innovative development of foreign trade.

Amazon emphasized it will continue to invest in China across Amazon Global Store, Global Selling, which helps Chinese merchants sell products abroad, cloud service platform Amazon Web Services, Kindle devices and content.

Wang Yi, the tech leader of Amazon Global Store in China, said the company has leveraged some advanced technologies such as AI and machine learning to continuously improve customer experience based on the needs of local clients.

Wang added these innovative technologies are being adopted by many overseas markets through Amazon's international platform, and China is gradually becoming the model of Amazon's global technological innovation.

As Amazon's cloud service platform, AWS is also speeding up the landing of new cloud services and functions in China.

It has launched more than 150 cloud computing services and functions in the country during the first half of this year. That is part of its broader drive to help Chinese enterprises digitize their operations and accelerate the transformation and upgrading of businesses.

AWS also helps Chinese enterprises go abroad and overseas enterprises tap into the Chinese market owing to its 77 availability zones within 24 geographic regions around the world.

Chen Tao, an analyst at the Beijing-based consultancy Analysys, said Amazon has strong competitiveness and a good reputation in its global logistics, warehouses and supply chain, and should step up localization efforts amid increasing competition from domestic online retailers.