Amazon launches Haul in UK in response to Shein and Temu
While the French Parliament is about to vote on the anti-fast-fashion bill, and the EU plans to tax small parcels inbound from China, Amazon is gearing up to join the fray in Europe. The US group is trialling in the UK Amazon Haul, a site launched in the US at the end of 2024 as a response to Shein and Temu.
Haul is offering UK consumers several tens of thousands of products priced below £20, the majority of them actually below £10, and some with prices as low as £1. Delivery costs £2.99, and is free on orders from £15.
Fashion and beauty are heavily represented within the assortment on offer, being five of the nine categories available on Amazon Haul, which is a mobile-only site. Besides womenswear, menswear and beauty, Haul also features sportswear and accessories. The range includes plenty of tops and skirts at £5, dresses at £7, and trousers at £13.
'This is another way to offer low prices on a wide selection of products,' said John Boumphrey, country manager UK at Amazon, adding that 'now more than ever we know our customers are looking to save, and we're excited to provide more options through the shopping app they already know and love.'
Just as Shein says it's 'democratising fashion', Amazon is justifying Haul with giving consumers access to a wider range of products. Amazon Haul's low prices stem from Chinese producers selling directly on the site, using the US group's own warehouses on the eastern coast of China.
Deploying Haul in Europe could also be a cunning way for Amazon to circumvent the new tariffs imposed by the US administration on the Chinese products sold on the low-cost site, for which Europe could be an alternative outlet.
Last year, Amazon generated revenue of $638 billion, up 11%, and its net income increased by 95% to reach $59.2 billion.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
Pentagon chief warns China 'preparing' to use military force in Asia
The Pentagon chief made the remarks at an annual security forum in Singapore, as the administration of US President Donald Trump spars with Beijing on trade, technology, and influence over strategic corners of the globe. Since taking office in January, Trump has launched a punishing trade war with China, sought to curb its access to key AI technologies, and deepened security ties with allies such as the Philippines, which is engaged in escalating territorial disputes with Beijing. "The threat China poses is real and it could be imminent," Hegseth said at the Shangri-La Dialogue attended by defence officials from around the world. Beijing is "credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific", he added. Hegseth warned the Chinese military was building the capabilities to invade Taiwan and "rehearsing for the real deal". Beijing has ramped up military pressure on Taiwan and held multiple large-scale exercises around the island, which are often described as preparations for a blockade or invasion. The United States was "reorienting toward deterring aggression by communist China", Hegseth said, calling on US allies and partners in Asia to swiftly upgrade their defences in the face of mounting threats. - 'Wake-up call' – Hegseth described China's conduct as a "wake-up call", accusing Beijing of endangering lives with cyber attacks, harassing its neighbours and "illegally seizing and militarising lands" in the South China Sea. Beijing claims almost the entire disputed waterway, through which more than 60 percent of global maritime trade passes, despite an international ruling that its assertion has no merit. It has clashed repeatedly with the Philippines in the strategic waters in recent months, with the flashpoint set to dominate discussions at the Singapore defence forum, according to US officials. "China's assertiveness in the South China Sea has only increased in recent years," Casey Mace, charge d'affaires at the US embassy in Singapore, told journalists ahead of the meet. "I think that this type of forum is exactly the type of forum where we need to have an exchange on that." But Beijing has not sent any top Chinese defence ministry officials to the summit, dispatching a delegation from the People's Liberation Army National Defence University instead. Hegseth's comments came after Trump stoked new trade tensions with China, arguing that Beijing had "violated" a deal to de-escalate tariffs as the two sides appeared deadlocked in negotiations. The world's two biggest economies had agreed to temporarily lower eye-watering tariffs they had imposed on each other, pausing them for 90 days. But on Friday, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform: "China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US," without providing further details. Asked about the statement on CNBC, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer took aim at Beijing for continuing to "slow down and choke off things like critical minerals". He added that the United States' trade deficit with China "continues to be enormous", and that Washington was not seeing major shifts in Beijing's behaviour. 'Priority theatre' The Indo-Pacific is "America's priority theatre", the US defence chief said, pledging to ensure "China cannot dominate us -- or our allies and partners". He said the United States had stepped up cooperation with allies including the Philippines and Japan, and reiterated Trump's vow that "China will not invade (Taiwan) on his watch". But he called on US allies and partners in the region to ramp up spending on their militaries and "quickly upgrade their own defences". "Asian allies should look to countries in Europe for a newfound example," Hegseth said, citing pledges by NATO members including Germany to move toward Trump's spending target of five percent of GDP. "Deterrence doesn't come on the cheap."
LeMonde
2 hours ago
- LeMonde
Hegseth reassures US support for Indo-Pacific allies against 'imminent' threat of China
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reassured allies in the Indo-Pacific on Saturday, May 31, that they will not be left alone to face increasing military and economic pressures from China. He said Washington will bolster its defenses overseas to counter what the Pentagon sees as rapidly developing threats by Beijing, particularly in its aggressive stance toward Taiwan. China has conducted numerous exercises to test what a blockade would look like of the self-governing island, which Beijing claims as its own and the US has pledged to defend. China's army "is rehearsing for the real deal," Hegseth said in a keynote speech at a security conference in Singapore. "We are not going to sugarcoat it – the threat China poses is real. And it could be imminent." China has a stated goal of having its military be able to take Taiwan by force if necessary by 2027, a deadline that is seen by experts as more of an aspirational goal than a hard war deadline. But China also has developed sophisticated man-made islands in the South China Sea to support new military outposts and built up highly advanced hypersonic and space capabilities, which are driving the US to create its own space-based "Golden Dome" missile defenses. Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a global security conference hosted by the International Institute for Security Studies, Hegseth said China is no longer just building up its military forces to take Taiwan, it's "actively training for it, every day." Hegseth also called out China for its ambitions in Latin America, particularly its efforts to increase its influence over the Panama Canal. He repeated a pledge made by previous administrations to bolster US military capabilities in the region to provide a more robust deterrent. While both the Obama and Biden administrations had also committed to pivoting to the Pacific – and even established new military agreements throughout the region – a full shift has never been realized. Instead, US military resources from the Indo-Pacific have been regularly pulled to support military needs in the Middle East and Europe, especially since the wars in Ukraine and Gaza . In the first few months of President Donald Trump's second term, that's also been the case. The Indo-Pacific nations caught in between have tried to balance relations with both the US and China over the years. Beijing is the primary trading partner for many, but is also feared as a regional bully, in part due to its increasingly aggressive claims on natural resources such as critical fisheries. 'Beware the leverage' Hegseth cautioned that playing both sides, seeking US military support and Chinese economic support, carries risk. "Beware the leverage the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) seeks with that entanglement," Hegseth said. Help us improve Le Monde in English Dear reader, We'd love to hear your thoughts on Le Monde in English! Take this quick survey to help us improve it for you. Take the survey China usually sends its own defense minister to this conference — but in a snub this year to the US and the erratic tariff war Trump has ignited with Beijing, its minister Dong Jun did not attend, something the US delegation said it intended to capitalize on. "We are here this morning. And somebody else isn't," Hegseth said. He urged countries in the region to increase defense spending to levels similar to the 5% of their gross domestic product European nations are now pressed to contribute. "We must all do our part," Hegseth said. It's not clear if the US can or wants to supplant China as the region's primary economic driver. But Hegseth's push follows Trump's visit to the Middle East, which resulted in billions of dollars in new defense agreements. Hegseth said committing US support for Indo-Pacific nations would not be based on any conditions on local governments aligning their cultural or climate issues with the West.
Euronews
2 hours ago
- Euronews
Trump gives Elon Musk an Oval Office sendoff
US President Donald Trump bid farewell to Elon Musk in the Oval Office on Friday. Musk is leaving his position spearheading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and is rededicating himself to his businesses, including electric car maker Tesla, rocket company SpaceX and social media platform X. The US President credited Musk with 'a colossal change in the old ways of doing business in Washington" and said some of his staff would remain in the administration. Musk left a searing mark on the US federal bureaucracy, including thousands of employees who were fired or pushed out. Some government functions were eviscerated, including the US Agency for International Development, which had provided a lifeline for impoverished people around the world. Boston University researchers estimate that hundreds of thousands of people have already died as a result of the cuts. Trump gifted Musk what appeared to be a gold-coloured key for his work for establishing DOGE, which sought to layoff federal workers and close government agencies to achieve cost savings. Trump said that he would only bestow this gift to "very special people" and that it was a "presentation from our country." In response, Musk said: "I hope to continue to provide advice whenever the president would like." "I hope so," Trump cut in before Musk said he hopes to still achieve $1 trillion in federal spending cuts over time. 'He's going to be back and forth, I imagine,' Trump said. Trump noted that DOGE employees will remain embedded with government agencies and said the billionaire will probably want to keep tabs on 'his baby.' French President Emmanuel Macron warned the US and Indo-Pacific nations on Friday night that they risk a dangerous double standard as they concentrate on a potential conflict with China, if it comes at the cost of abandoning Ukraine. Macron's remarks come as the US considers withdrawing troops from Europe to instead deploy in the Indo-Pacific. He warned abandoning Ukraine would threaten US credibility in deterring potential conflict between China and Taiwan. "If you consider that Russia could be allowed to take a part of the territory of Ukraine without any restriction, without any constraint, without any reaction of the global order, how would you phrase what would happen in Taiwan, what would you do the day something happened?' he asked in a speech. Macron's comments were made during his keynote address at Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in Singapore. It is the region's biggest security forum that comes amid concerns of China's growing assertiveness and the global impact of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Notable was the fact that it the speech was delivered with US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth in the audience. Rhetoric between Beijing and Washington is heightening. The US has threatened China with triple-digit tariffs. There is uncertainty in the region over the commitment of the US to Taiwanese security – which also faces possible 32% American tariffs. China claims Taiwan as its own. Chinese President Xi Jinping hasn't ruled out taking it by force. China regularly sends military aircraft and ships near Taiwan and currently has an aircraft carrier southeast of the island. The US has been pursuing a "free and open Indo-Pacific policy,' which includes regularly sailing warships through the Taiwan Strait and in the South China Sea.
