Amazon launches its own ‘trusted' version of Temu in Australia. Here's what we know

Sydney Morning Herald

a day ago

'Consumers are increasingly looking for value; price is biggest driver of where consumers are shopping, coupled with an increased focus on discounts, researching online and deferring unnecessary purchases,' wrote respected retail analyst Ben Gilbert in a joint white paper with Shippit.
'We found a third of respondents' delivery expectations lifted in the past 12 months as a direct result of Amazon/Temu/Shein.'
Retail consultant Trent Rigby said Haul's key differentiator would be fulfilment.
'Temu, Shein and Ali typically ship directly from Chinese manufacturers, whereas Amazon can leverage its established fulfilment infrastructure. That means Haul could, in theory, offer faster delivery, better customer service [although they're getting better, these Chinese marketplaces generally have pretty woeful customer service] and stronger product guarantees – addressing three major pain points for consumers with these low-cost marketplaces,' he said.
Haul is Amazon's bid to capture the budget-conscious, younger customers who have flocked to Temu and Shein – if they get the experience right, he said.
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'The challenge will be matching the rock-bottom prices of these rivals while maintaining the delivery speed and trust that consumers expect from Amazon.'
Temu was named by customer spending analytics platform Fonto as Australia's fastest-growing consumer retail brand for the 2025 financial year, winning more than 1.3 million new customers across the year.
Cost of living pressures have also helped Shein and Temu capture greater market share in Australia, where 3.8 million customers have tried Temu at least once and 2 million customers have bought from Shein, according to Roy Morgan data. Together, Temu and Shein are expected to surpass $3 billion in sales.
Coles and Woolworths have become increasingly threatened by Amazon's aggressive expansion. During the ACCC's supermarket inquiry, Coles chief Leah Weckert said the US giant was 'quite disruptive to our business model', while Woolworths chief Amanda Bardwell said Amazon now covered 40 per cent of what the supermarket sold.
Gilbert described Amazon as a 'force to be reckoned with in Australia' and 'growing faster than we thought'.
'We estimate Amazon Australia, by gross merchandise value, is now larger than Accent Group, The Reject Shop, Beacon Lighting Group, Temple & Webster, Premier Investments and Universal Store combined,' Gilbert wrote in a note to clients issued in March last year.
What's the catch?
Australians will only be able to access Haul through the Amazon app – and only some customers will see the new feature, which is still in the beta phase and will be rolled out to remaining customers 'in coming days', the company said in a press release. Haul is not available on Amazon's website in any country.
Amazon Haul was launched in November last year in the US, UK, Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Mexico.
To lure customers in, Amazon is adding a 60 per cent discount on all Haul items that will be applied at checkout for the first two weeks.
But don't expect next-day delivery; since the products are being shipped from overseas, your Amazon Prime subscription will be useless as deliveries are slated to arrive 'in two weeks or less'.
'The products on offer via Amazon Haul are manufactured and shipped from abroad and sold by Amazon,' said Henley.