On a chessboard where every move counts, the e-commerce giant has just brought into play a piece that could change the game. It's called Amazon Haul , and it's the direct, no-nonsense response to a phenomenon that had been eating away at its market at every turn: the overwhelming advance of Asian platforms like Shein, Temu, and AliExpress . The proposal is simple and devastating: a store within its own platform with hundreds of millions of products at bargain prices, most of them under 10 euros.
The launch in Spain confirms a global strategy already being successfully tested in markets such as the United States , the United Kingdom, and Germany. Amazon, the king of logistics and 24-hour delivery, is rolling up its sleeves to enter the price war, a terrain that until now seemed dominated by others. The question everyone is asking is whether it can combine its reputation for trust and service with a business model that, by definition, involves tight margins and longer delivery times. It is, in short, a strategic U-turn to prevent the impulse buying and viral "finds" segment from slipping through its fingers.
What is Amazon Haul and how does it work?
For the average user, Amazon Haul presents itself as a new corner within the already familiar universe. You can find it by typing "Haul" in the search bar or navigating from the main menu of the app or website. However, once inside, the experience changes. It's a kind of parallel ecosystem with its own shopping cart, its own checkout process, and, crucially, its own rules of the game.
The premise is clear: everything you see is priced under 20 euros. The vast majority of items, in fact, don't exceed 10 euros, and there's an "incredible prices" section with products starting at just one euro. The categories are what one would expect from this model: fashion, accessories, household items, beauty, stationery, and a long list of those small items that fill shopping carts almost without us realizing it. It's a paradise for "hauling," that term popularized on social media that defines the mass purchase of cheap products and then showing them in a video. Amazon not only names its store after itself, but embraces the concept completely.
This separation from the main Amazon ecosystem is no coincidence. It allows the company to manage different logistics, likely from international warehouses, in order to offer those prices. It's a way of telling customers: "You'll find spectacular deals here, but you have to put up with different conditions."
The strategy: a missile against the Asian advance
The launch of Amazon Haul can't be understood without looking at the context. In recent years, Shein revolutionized the fast-fashion industry, and Temu burst onto the scene with aggressive advertising and pricing that unsettled the entire sector. These platforms managed to connect with a young (and not so young) audience that prioritizes price above all else, accustomed to waiting a few weeks for their packages in exchange for paying a fraction of what they would cost in a traditional store.
Amazon, which built its empire on the promise of convenience and speed (the famous Prime shipping), faced a dilemma. Ignoring this segment meant giving up a huge portion of the market. Competing meant partially cannibalizing its own value proposition. The solution was to create this differentiated space. With Amazon Haul , the company seeks to capture the best of both worlds. On the one hand, it leverages its massive user base and reputation. Buying on Amazon Haul is still buying on Amazon, with all that entails: customer reviews, star ratings, and, above all, the guarantee that the products comply with European safety regulations, a weakness of some of its competitors.
Ruth Díaz, general manager of Amazon in Spain, made it clear: "We know that finding good products at very low prices is important to our customers. The key is to offer these bargains without sacrificing the trust, security, and customer service that Amazon offers." It's an attempt to square the circle: Temu's price with Amazon's guarantee.
Your wallet rules: prices, shipping, and returns in detail.
Let's look at the numbers, which ultimately determine the purchasing decision. Amazon Haul is designed to be extremely competitive and to incentivize larger purchases. The conditions are as follows:
- Free shipping: For all orders over 15 euros. A fairly low threshold that encourages you to add a few more items to your cart to save on shipping costs.
- Standard rate: If your purchase is less than 15 euros, shipping is 3.50 euros.
- Volume discounts: The platform offers additional promotions. For example, a 5% discount on orders over €30 and a 10% discount on orders over €50.
- Free returns: This is one of the biggest advantages. If you're not satisfied with a product, you have 15 days from receipt to request a free return. The process is also familiar to Amazon users: in many cases, you don't even need to print a label or find a box. Simply take the item to a designated collection point (such as Celeritas or Seur) and they'll take care of the rest.
This package of conditions, especially the return policy, is a direct blow to the waterline of its competitors, where returning a product can be a more cumbersome and sometimes costly process.
The fine print: What about delivery times?
Amazon Haul asks of its customers is delivery time. Accustomed to the immediacy of Prime, users of this new section will have to arm themselves with patience. The promise is that orders will arrive "within two weeks or less."
This is the necessary concession to achieve such low prices . The merchandise doesn't leave Amazon's local logistics centers, but rather travels from international warehouses, replicating the AliExpress or Shein model. This positions Amazon Haul not as a replacement for regular shopping on the platform, but as a complement. It's the place for planned shopping, for searching for deals without rushing, for treating yourself without it hurting your wallet. It's not for that last-minute gift or the product you need for tomorrow. It's, in essence, Amazon's version of online slow shopping, a contradiction in terms that, nevertheless, may make a lot of sense in the current economic climate. The battle for low-cost e-commerce has just added a heavyweight player, and the only winners, for now, are the consumers.
