Cross-Border E-commerce Enters the Era of 'Sell Globally Upon Launch': How Will Amazon Reshape the Global Supply Chain?

[Ebrun Original] "The defining feature of the next era of cross-border e-commerce is that 'even a light boat can sail across the ocean.' From the very first day of launch, the destination is the entire world," stated Cindy Tai, Vice President of Amazon and Executive President of Amazon Global Selling Asia Pacific, at the recently concluded "2025 Amazon Global Selling Cross-Border Summit."

Compared to the previous approach of expanding into overseas markets one site at a time, 'selling globally upon launch' represents the most significant shift for the future of cross-border e-commerce. The process to achieve this goal should be 'lighter,' simpler, and more efficient. To this end, Amazon Global Selling has launched the 'Next-Generation Cross-Border Chain' to help cross-border e-commerce businesses progress from the 'Global Quick Start' phase—featuring one-time listing and global sales—to the 'Global Optimization' phase with data insights and precise optimization, and further to the 'Global Deep Cultivation' phase with seamless FBA upgrades and global supply chain integration.

How is this achieved? It requires robust supply chain capabilities and innovative AI technology as its foundation. "Many of the supply chain innovations we introduced this year are designed to help sellers expand globally with a lighter approach, smaller investments, and lower risks," said Peng Jiaqi, Vice President of Amazon China and Global Head of Product for Amazon Global Selling.

Amazon's end-to-end supply chain solution, Supply Chain by Amazon, provides a more comprehensive answer. After two years since its launch and continuous evolution, it has become the foundation for Amazon's push towards the 'Next-Generation Cross-Border Chain.'

At the '2023 Amazon Global Selling Cross-Border Summit,' Supply Chain by Amazon was unveiled for the first time. It integrates various Amazon supply chain products and services, covering the entire process from the factory shipment to the final delivery to customers, including pickup from the factory, cross-border transportation, customs clearance, warehousing, managing replenishment for Amazon and other sales channels, and last-mile delivery.

A year later, building upon Supply Chain by Amazon, Amazon launched Amazon Managed Service for Chinese sellers. Sellers only need to provide product details and pickup locations, and Amazon handles all tasks including product pickup, inventory consolidation, cross-border transportation, warehousing, sorting and inbound placement, strategic replenishment, and last-mile delivery. Amazon also continuously analyzes customer demand, inventory levels, and cost data to optimize overall processes and efficiency.

This year, Supply Chain by Amazon has been upgraded again. Alongside the new launch of Global Warehousing and Distribution (GWD), Amazon has further optimized other 'components' such as Amazon Global Logistics (AGL), the Amazon SEND partnered carrier program, Amazon Warehousing and Distribution (AWD), and Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF).

Sunny Jain, Vice President of Amazon and Global Head of Amazon Logistics, pointed out: "Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) remains the core of our logistics and delivery services. Since its launch in 2006, it has served hundreds of thousands of sellers worldwide and delivered over 80 billion items to global customers. Delivery speed is directly correlated with sales performance. For instance, sellers offering 'Same-Day Delivery' see an average sales increase of about 20% compared to those offering 'Two-Day Delivery.' Therefore, we continuously innovate and invest in improving delivery speed and coverage, while also expanding capabilities to support more new product categories."

(Image: Sunny Jain, Vice President of Amazon and Global Head of Amazon Logistics)

"However, we understand the challenges and uncertainties sellers face in cross-border logistics, such as coordinating multiple logistics providers, navigating customs procedures, and dealing with unpredictable macroeconomic conditions. This is why we created Supply Chain by Amazon—it is an end-to-end supply chain solution that connects every link in a seller's cross-border logistics chain, enabling full coverage from the factory floor to the customer's doorstep, providing sellers with strong operational resilience," explained Sunny Jain.

01

A Core Launch: Global Warehousing and Distribution Service Located Near Sourcing Hubs

Global Warehousing and Distribution (GWD) is the latest 'sharp sword' unveiled by Supply Chain by Amazon at the '2025 Amazon Global Selling Cross-Border Summit.' Currently, the first Amazon Global Warehousing and Distribution center has been established in Shenzhen and will be fully available to Chinese sellers by March 2026.

For cross-border sellers, expanding to multiple global sites presents numerous challenges: high overseas warehousing costs, complex cross-border logistics management, and difficulty in accurately predicting market demand. Under the traditional model, sellers need to ship inventory to overseas warehouses in advance, which not only requires significant working capital but also carries sales risks. Simultaneously, cross-border logistics involves multiple steps like customs declaration and clearance, multi-leg transportation, and inventory transfers, requiring coordination with numerous service providers and resulting in high management complexity. Furthermore, before entering new markets, sellers often need to invest certain costs to understand market demand and test products, yet they still face numerous uncertainties like demand fluctuations.

Amazon's Global Warehousing and Distribution is designed precisely to address these pain points. As part of Supply Chain by Amazon, it encompasses warehousing, customs clearance, cross-border transportation, and inventory transfer, seamlessly connecting with the global FBA network. Sellers' goods can be stored in bulk and for extended periods in the local GWD facility before being dispatched to the destination Amazon fulfillment network. Inventory is only allocated to the Amazon fulfillment networks in various destination countries and regions as needed, enabling a single inventory pool to supply the entire world.

According to reports, using GWD can significantly reduce sellers' logistics costs. Compared to Amazon Warehousing and Distribution (AWD) in the US, storage costs for sellers utilizing GWD can be reduced by 20-40%. Additionally, sellers only need to send their goods to the GWD facility; Amazon handles all subsequent steps of cross-border logistics and delivery. Sellers do not need to manage multiple service providers themselves, greatly simplifying cross-border supply chain management.

Especially for small and medium-sized sellers, with GWD, there's no need to ship large quantities of goods to the destination upfront. Sellers can choose automatic or manual replenishment, sending goods to the destination based on consumer demand. This allows for gradual testing of market demand across different sites. Once there is sufficient understanding and confidence in the destination's consumer demand, deeper expansion can follow. This significantly reduces the initial inventory investment and sunk costs required for sellers to enter new sites.

Sunny Jain explained: "With the GWD model, sellers only need to maintain a single inventory pool locally in China, close to production centers. Sellers can entrust Amazon to ship small quantities of inventory to target countries to test market demand, and then scale up quickly after validating the demand. The entire process enables automatic scaling. Even if the test results are not ideal, the upfront capital cost is extremely low. This allows sellers to test multiple country markets simultaneously with a single inventory pool. When economies of scale are achieved in multiple countries, the business can expand rapidly."

Peng Jiaqi added: "Sellers are only responsible for inbound placement at the sourcing location; Amazon handles all other processes. Moreover, GWD seamlessly integrates with our destination FBA network. When we detect signals of user demand, we help sellers transfer goods from the GWD in China to the overseas FBA network. This, on one hand, ensures healthy inventory levels at the destination for sellers, and on the other hand, maintains fast delivery speeds because the final delivery is handled by the destination FBA network."

(Image: Peng Jiaqi, Vice President of Amazon China and Global Head of Product for Amazon Global Selling)

She stated that besides Shenzhen, Amazon plans to establish GWD facilities in more locations and regions in the future, hoping to extend to more manufacturing-centric countries and regions, such as Vietnam.

02

A Series of Service Upgrades: Supply Chain 'Components' Penetrating Every Link and Meeting Diverse Needs

Beyond Global Warehousing and Distribution, the synergistic work of other key logistics service products within Supply Chain by Amazon is also essential for realizing the vision of the 'Next-Generation Cross-Border Chain.' At the summit, Amazon also announced upgrades to several logistics service products.

First, Amazon Global Logistics (AGL) is further expanding. It provides cross-border logistics transportation services directly from the factory to Amazon operation centers. Currently, AGL has opened routes from China to the US, EU, UK, and others, added Vietnam as a new origin, and launched sea freight routes from Vietnam to the US. In 2025, AGL added 6 domestic pickup cities in China, now covering over 230 cities and related areas nationwide. In 2026, it will continue to expand more international routes, planning to add shipping services from China to Canada and Australia.

Meanwhile, building upon Amazon Managed Placement (AMP), Amazon launched Seller Managed Placement under AGL, offering sellers diversified inbound placement options. In early 2026, an origin consolidation feature will be launched, supporting consolidation at the origin and direct sorting to target regions, helping sellers optimize end-to-end costs and final delivery lead times.

Second, the Amazon SEND partnered carrier program is also expanding. This is an officially certified first-mile logistics service launched by Amazon, providing sellers with more cross-border transportation choices. Currently, Amazon has partnered with over ten carriers to provide Chinese sellers with sea and air freight channels covering 7 Amazon global sites.

Third, Amazon Warehousing and Distribution (AWD) continues to increase capacity. It is an overseas warehousing and distribution service provided by Amazon for sellers, acting as an 'upstream transit point' for FBA warehouses. Sellers first send goods to AWD warehouses, and then Amazon automatically or manually replenishes them to FBA warehouses based on inventory needs, forming a 'warehousing-replenishment-sales' closed loop that helps sellers optimize inventory management and alleviate FBA capacity pressure.

Since its launch two years ago, AWD capacity has expanded 15-fold. Recently, Amazon opened two new AWD facilities on the US West Coast, adding 340,000 cubic meters of storage capacity. These next-generation warehousing centers are designed for pallet operations, greatly optimizing space utilization. Simultaneously, its core feature, 'auto-replenishment,' has been continuously improved. Leveraging AI, it helps sellers monitor inventory levels in real-time and automatically transfers goods to the operation centers closest to consumers, effectively reducing stock-out rates.

Fourth, Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) and Multi-Channel Distribution (MCD) are expanding their service scope. MCF is a service that leverages Amazon's supply chain capabilities to help sellers efficiently expand their omnichannel business. It allows sellers to directly use inventory in Amazon operation centers to fulfill customer orders from other sales channels. Currently, this service supports e-commerce channels including eBay, Temu, TikTok Shop, Shopify, Walmart, and SHEIN.

Meanwhile, Multi-Channel Distribution (MCD) supports sellers in bulk distributing inventory to retailers or other distribution nodes. In 2026, MCD will achieve data integration with major retail channels and provide corresponding supporting services to help sellers meet the requirements of multi-channel distribution.

Fifth, for Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM), Amazon has upgraded the Amazon Easy Ship service. It provides a one-stop self-fulfillment service from China to the US, including features like automatic setting of accurate delivery dates, free shipping, carrier pickup, and multilingual customer service. Concurrently, FBM Ship+ offers more flexibility, allowing sellers to choose the most cost-effective shipping option for each order.

03

AI Applications Are Everywhere: The Next-Generation Operation Center Has Taken Shape

"We are deploying AI technology at every step of the supply chain," pointed out Peng Jiaqi. "Take the logistics network as an example. It comprises a system of 1 million robots and AI systems represented by Project Eluna. Project Eluna can be seen as an intelligent work partner for warehouse employees. It significantly enhances operational efficiency, possesses the ability to predict potential bottlenecks in the network, and alerts employees before issues occur, thereby ensuring smooth operational processes."

"Our newly launched Amazon Global Warehousing and Distribution and its cross-border inventory management utilize AI technology to optimize the inventory quantity needed for demand testing and enable intelligent scaling when demand grows," she said.

Sunny Jain also explained that deep application of AI has built Amazon's next-generation operation centers. Here, AI and robotic systems are handling repetitive tasks and providing real-time operational insights, allowing employees to focus on more complex, value-added work.

"Furthermore, advanced machine learning algorithms help us predict which products will be popular with local customers, allowing us to strategically place inventory throughout the network, resulting in faster delivery speeds and an improved shopping experience," he stated.

Amazon released a new foundational AI forecasting model this year, designed to predict what customers want, where they want it, and when they want it. While previous systems could use sales history to guide inventory planning decisions, this new foundational model incorporates time-bound data, such as weather patterns and holiday schedules, to more accurately place the right products in the right locations.

For example, by analyzing regional differences (like sunscreen sales in summer or ski goggle sales during peak ski season), it can cater to diverse demands. These forecasts have improved long-term promotional forecasting by 10% and regional forecasting for millions of popular items by 20%.

"We are also leveraging AI innovations to transform the selling experience for sellers," Sunny Jain gave three examples:

1. Amazon's low inventory recommendations analyze sales patterns and seasonal trends to precisely recommend how much inventory sellers need. Sellers following these recommendations achieve faster delivery speeds;

2. Amazon's Seller Assistant, now enhanced with agent AI capabilities, provides unprecedented precision in inventory management, proactively alerting sellers before aging inventory fees incur, and offering specific suggestions to optimize operations;

3. Amazon's new Profit Dashboard integrates cost data from multiple sources, guiding sellers toward better profitability. Since its launch in September this year, over 100,000 sellers have used 'Profit Analytics' to understand and optimize their ASIN-level unit economics. More proactive features will be launched subsequently.

"We hope that by eliminating the complexity of global logistics and supply chain management, sellers can focus on product innovation and business growth," Sunny Jain summarized Amazon's efforts.

In other words, this Amazon-led reshaping of the cross-border supply chain essentially involves deeply integrating the global logistics network with AI and then packaging it into simple, easy-to-use services to lower the barrier for sellers to operate globally. It also seems to point sellers towards a new competitive direction: in the future, the platform will be responsible for making the 'global journey of goods' shorter and smarter; meanwhile, sellers must make themselves faster and more accurate in product development, branding, and business decisions.