Amazon.com Inc. is set to host an event in Hangzhou, China, the hometown of its Chinese rival Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., in the coming weeks, Bloomberg reported May 16.
According to the report, the "Coming Together For U" event will link online merchants to 400 Chinese manufacturers looking to sell goods like electronics and car parts more directly to American and European customers. The e-commerce giant wants to be a middleman in the "global flow of goods," according to the report.
Amazon experts will provide insights into buying trends so merchants can stock up for the 2018 holiday season, according to an invitation for the event viewed by Bloomberg.
The American e-commerce giant declined to comment to the news outlet.
Amazon will charge fees for helping sellers to acquire goods straight from factories and ship them overseas to facilitate faster deliveries once orders are placed.
Fast deliveries catapulted Amazon to the top of the U.S. e-commerce industry, and the company seeks to duplicate that success on a global scale to fend off Alibaba, eBay Inc. and Wish Corp. — this despite China being largely out of the company's reach till now, according to Bloomberg.
The event is seen as part of Amazon's strategy to shift from an e-commerce platform into a worldwide logistics operation.
