Commentary: Chinese e-commerce platforms are poised to rival Amazon's empire

BOSTON, Massachusetts: If Amazon is worried about competition from China, it only has itself to blame. In 2013, Amazon introduced its third-party marketplace platform to Chinese manufacturers. Unwittingly, it showed them what it takes to challenge Amazon itself.

As China’s economy grew after its opening in the late 1970s, so did its production capacity. But the United States saw no threat because there were periodic episodes of concern for the safety of Chinese-made products. Headlines would remind US consumers that Chinese products might contain dangerous levels of harmful substances. China’s manufacturing output needed the endorsement of globally recognised brand names.

As e-commerce grew, consumer reviews became more important than brands. The United States remained confident that only US platforms could testify to quality and safety.

But Chinese businesses built their own platforms and used old-school advertising to pledge quality. Using this combination of the platform marketing they had learned from Amazon and heavy spending on advertising that spoke to confidence in their products, they could approach Western markets without paying Amazon’s toll.

The first Chinese platform to test this idea was Shein, which emerged in 2019 and has since become one of the largest online fashion companies in the world. It outsells H&M and Zara combined and does so with minimal reliance on retail stores.

Shein’s platform has two faces. One face looks towards consumers in the world beyond China, using deep skill in digital marketing to place tempting fast fashion items in front of target customers on social media sites, through its own website and on mobile apps. It also uses email, influencer and broadcast marketing to reach