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Amazon Japan upgrades its spring promotion scale and launches a 168-hour promotion across two occasions for the first time
On January 29th, Amazon Japan announced that the 2026 Spring Sale will undergo a comprehensive upgrade, adopting for the first time a format of two sales events, each lasting 168 hours, with an overall scale comparable to that of Prime Day. This promotion aims to precisely capture the peak periods of moving, school enrollment, and job entry in Japan during March and April, meeting the strong demand for furniture storage, office digital products, and other categories. This upgrade involves two major aspects: scale and exposure. Products will receive core traffic resources such as homepage recommendations and exclusive event pages. At the same time, sellers can apply for various activities such as Z-cost-effective (requiring a price reduction of more than 8% and payment of a basic fee), free price discounts/Prime exclusive discounts (requiring a discount of more than 5%), coupons (with a fee cap set from February 6th), and free point promotions.
Amazon restructures its offline business: closing its self-operated convenience stores and focusing on Whole Foods Market and fresh food delivery
Amazon recently announced a strategic contraction of its direct-operated physical retail footprint, intending to shut down all Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go unmanned convenience stores, and fully focus its physical retail resources on Whole Foods Market. According to the new strategy, some existing stores will be transformed into Whole Foods Market locations, and there are plans to add more than 100 Whole Foods stores in the coming years. Meanwhile, the company will continue to expand its online instant delivery service for fresh groceries, and aims to extend same-day delivery services to more communities by 2026, in order to enhance the reach of its fresh e-commerce business.
AliExpress ranks among the top ten fastest-growing platforms in the US
On January 30th, Similarweb, an internet data analysis agency, released its 2026 Digital 100 report, which showed that AliExpress, the cross-border e-commerce platform under Alibaba, ranked among the top 10 fastest-growing comprehensive platforms in multiple developed markets such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Australia. In the United States, AliExpress's website visits in 2025 increased by 18.7% year-on-year, making it one of the top ten fastest-growing platforms in the country. Differentiated brand strategies and firm localization investments have become key advantages for its sustained growth in highly competitive and high-threshold markets.
TikTok Shop tightens direct mail rules on its US platform
Recently, TikTok Shop US officially announced new regulations for cross-border direct mail shipping, stating that strict control will be implemented on orders shipped from China to the United States starting from February 1, 2026. The core of the new regulations includes two major changes: First, a "whitelisted invitation-only" system will be implemented at the logistics end, where merchants can only use eight regular service providers including JD.com, YTO Express, Yanwen Express, and DHL, as well as two non-standard service providers, FedEx and DHL. Second, there will be a comprehensive upgrade to merchant access and assessment, with direct mail permissions being opened through targeted invitation on an "industry-specific whitelisted" basis. Additionally, two core assessment indicators have been added: "FBT store penetration rate" and "merchant level must reach T3 within 3 months". Those who fail to meet the standards will face the risk of having their direct mail permissions closed. Source: TikTok Shop.
Annual import volume of low-priced parcels in the EU reaches 5.8 billion
According to the latest news and data released by the European Commission, the number of low-priced parcels entering the EU through cross-border e-commerce platforms surged to 5.8 billion in 2025, marking a 26% increase from the previous year. Reports indicate that platforms like Temu and Shein have benefited from the current EU policy of exempting imported goods with a value of less than 150 euros from customs duties, which has contributed to a surge in direct shipments from China. The EU plans to impose a fee of 3 euros on each such parcel starting in July this year, with the intention of completely eliminating this customs duty exemption in the long term.
Maersk adjusts peak season surcharge
Recently, global shipping giant Maersk announced an update to its peak season surcharges for shipping from major ports in the Indian Subcontinent and the Middle East to ports along the coast of the United States, Canada, and the Gulf of Mexico. According to the new standard, peak season surcharges for multiple designated routes will be temporarily waived from January 27th to February 24th. From February 25th onwards, a uniform surcharge of USD 1,000 per TEU will be imposed on all containers of any size destined for the West Coast of the United States and Canada. Maersk emphasizes that this surcharge is independent of ocean freight rates and other surcharges, and will remain in effect until further notice. The company states that the surcharge standards will be reviewed regularly, and any changes will comply with relevant regulatory requirements.