Windingflow

Amazon Gen AI Function Launches, Orders Increase 21%!

2025-09-08T17:00:00Z

Amazon Gen AI Function Launches, Orders Increase 21%!

If you are still struggling to create A+ pages, or if the only way you're able to make image and text changes is to beg someone, pay someone, and wait forever…

So you may have heard of this new feature that Amazon stealthily rolled out recently: Gen AI creates A+ page text and image content automatically.

Do not underestimate this tool. There is already a group of sellers that took it for a test run on A+ in the U.S. backend, and reported average orders up by 21% and ad ROAS improved by 35%.

The good news is — it is free!

Today, we are going to dissect what this new feature truly brings, how to use it, and what benefits it can actually offer.

01 ｜ What Exactly Is Gen AI? What Can It Help You Do?

Gen AI is an AI creation tool Amazon initially launched on the U.S. site. It supports automatic generation of A+ page copy and images and achieves seamless docking with the backend A+ module.

Historically, a same level A+ page took the effort of copy-writing, the effort of the designer drawing up and going back and forth with revisions—high cost, long cycle.

Now with Gen AI, you can one-click generate an entire A+ page just by typing in the prompts.

Core advantages:

It is free, There are no outsource costs;
Content organization is uniform, according to Amazon standards;
No hassle of copyright and royalty issues for text and image copyrights;
Materials can be automatically stored in the back-end library for later use.

This is just a magical tool for improving efficiency, for small and medium sellers, or even for people without design teams.

02 ｜ How to Play With the Gen AI Feature? Full Operation Process

Then go to add new page create interface backend A+, you can see AI added a new icon module. Follow this process:

Step 1: Select page type

You also have an option of a basic A+ page or an advance A+ page, then the system will recommend the appropriate template for you.

Simple A+: best for the majority of products, Text + module style;
Advanced A+: looser, custom content layout, video and more.

Step 2: Pick a style + respond to prompts

Input the main selling points of your product, keywords that your target audience might use, and choose which visual style you would like (for example, a tech feel, a natural feel, minimalist etc).

As an example, if you are selling a yoga mat, you might type in something like “yoga mat gym women minimalist” and the system will provide a set of images and text content that visually matches the said aesthetic.

Run "1.2 create_handler_poster_v2_GDD_Process page" so everything will be saved (This magically saves all the texts(most) and the "insert text" drawings)Step 2:preview/save goods.

Click generate, and the platform will directly render a batch of pictures and full copywriting and synchronize them to the material library for using or editing.

03 ｜ How powerful is Gen AI Image Generation?

In the image generation part, Gen AI enables users to input prompts and generate 4 styles of images to flip through quickly.

Customizable elements include:

Occasions of using products (kitchen, outdoor, office, etc.);
Cue background (soft light black tech warm style);
Depending on your product: Detail close-ups of the product (interface, texture, form) of the functional structure;
Style (realistic, illustrative, 3D, etc.).

With custom generation such as this, the savings on design costs will occur, as well as the fact that you can have more custom match paper materials to help set the tone of your product.

04 ｜ What Got Better After Using Gen AI?

Sellers who were Gen AI capable got the following results according to a public released Amazon 2025 product tracking report:

Order volumes grew in aggregate: average increase in 21%;
New brand cus to mer orders were up, with 16% growth;
Cost per ad click decreased: CPC down 17%;
Ad return improved: Return on ad spend up 35%.

In short, not only did the page want to be pretty, it also wanted to directly affect ad efficiency, brand conversion, and order performance.

That’s why an increasing number of U.S. site sellers are now considering Gen AI one of the must-do actions before rolling out new products and ad placements.

05 ｜ Extreme Playing of Gen AI！

Even though Gen AI seems so intelligent, to employ it effectively requires an operational strategy:

Prompts must be definite: Write out product core selling point + usage scenes + user pain points (instead of product name, product, etc.) as far as possible.
Create a few image versions to compare: Quality of the AI-made materials will tend to vary, so it’s better to create few versions and choose the most suitable combination of objects.
Post-output manual optimization: AI-produced copies will require manual polishing after first-time output to mirror brand voice more closely.
Material and classification sorting and management: Text and images, created, should stored (i.e. material management) on module basis for re-use in future for any function/scenario/selling point.

Recommendation

In the midst of Amazon's aggressive digital transformation and optimization, third-party sellers on Amazon Marketplace are increasingly struggling to keep pace with back-end processes such as fulfilling orders, compliance, and financial reconciliation.

This is precisely where Windingflow provides value. Windingflow provides automation solutions that:

Work with order and report flows across platforms.
Automate reconciliation and compliance duties to avoid mistakes and penalties.
Offer centralized dashboards at various marketplace & business levels.

And most importantly, Windingflow is now integrated with Amazon Marketplace, meaning, sellers can smoothly and effectively manage their Amazon business alongside Walmart, Ebay, and other platforms—all under one roof. The capabilities of Windingflow will enable sellers to cut down the time-consuming repetitive work, ensure precision, and dedicate time on the growth path in the fast-changing ecosystem of Walmart.

📩Get in touch with our team today to discover how Windingflow can help you

Walmart in Partnership with OpenAI, Training with Games in New Retail Competition

2025-09-08T10:00:00Z

Walmart in Partnership with OpenAI, Training with Games in New Retail Competition

In its escalating battle against Amazon, the retail giant Walmart is turning to new technology—in-store robots and artificial intelligence. In an open letter, its Chief People Officer Donna Morris said that the company is teaming up with OpenAI, an AI research lab, to create a new internal AI workforce and provide education about AI to all its US associates.

This investment is the latest in Walmart’s Glide As You Guide program, which will see the company invest nearly 1 billion USD in skills training programs to 2026 with the goal of upskilling all of its U.S. associates—from the frontlines to the home office and beyond—for the future of the retail industry.

Fundamentally, this partnership is centered around Walmart offering its associates the chance to further their knowledge with free access to custom OpenAI-developed certification programs, delivered through the company’s Walmart Academy—the largest corporate training program. It’s not just to make employees more efficient in their daily work, but also a profound practice of Walmart’s strategic plan of “people-oriented, technology-driven” to build core competitiveness in the future retail battlefield by boosting AI literacy for all its employees.

AI is No Longer a 'Back-end Capability' but a 'Frontline Tool'

What Walmart’s floor plan illustrates is that the application of A.I. is migrating from the remote “back end” to the movable “frontline”. The idea is that the AI tools would be woven into the fabric of employees’ daily work, from streamlining inventory checks to optimizing scheduling and customer service. AI digital assistants could even be deployed to handle routine tasks.

What makes this initiative so powerful is that it will unshackle the productivity of employees and give them more time to give customers high value-added service and innovate with their services. And, for third-party sellers who sell on Walmart Marketplace, a more efficient and better-off Walmart in terms of workforce satisfaction equals a more dependable fulfillment network, a superior customer service experience, and a more competitive sales channel overall.

(Note: OK Format Services restored a good version of the film when it re-released “Gamera” in 1985 with the title “The Return of the Giant Monsters.”)

A Traditional Giant’s 'Counterattack'

Faced with the online absolute advantage of Amazon, Walmart's goal is to exceed, and the method is the dual-wheel drive model of “physical store network + digital capability”. Its partnership with OpenAI could be viewed as a turbo charger being welded on to its digital muscles.

Be it a situation whereby Walmart did not have much of a choice, the retailer is now racing to catch up through massive aid from AI and is trying to set a benchmark in the new retail model of “human and machine interaction”. A retail network of millions of workers trained on AI skills will be a potent lever of operational efficiency and innovation potential that Walmart can use to fight back against pure-play e-commerce platforms.

This also means for all retailers and brands that future competition will be a full competition from the organizational capabilities and technological capacity.

Recommendation

In the midst of Walmart's aggressive digital transformation and optimization, third-party sellers on Walmart Marketplace are increasingly struggling to keep pace with back-end processes such as fulfilling orders, compliance, and financial reconciliation.

This is precisely where Windingflow provides value. Windingflow provides automation solutions that:

Work with order and report flows across platforms.
Automate reconciliation and compliance duties to avoid mistakes and penalties.
Offer centralized dashboards at various marketplace & business levels.

And most importantly, Windingflow is now integrated with Walmart Marketplace, meaning, sellers can smoothly and effectively manage their Walmart business alongside Amazon, Ebay, and other platforms—all under one roof. The capabilities of Windingflow will enable sellers to cut down the time-consuming repetitive work, ensure precision, and dedicate time on the growth path in the fast-changing ecosystem of Walmart.

📩Get in touch with our team today to discover how Windingflow can help you

The Era of U.S. Cross-Border Small Parcel Duty-Free Ends

2025-09-07T16:00:00Z

The Era of U.S. Cross-Border Small Parcel Duty-Free Ends

Trump Issues New Tariff on Small Parcels, Rising to as High as 200 USD

As the year-end peak season approaches, cross-border sellers are stocking up, breaking down hot products, all in order to seize the initiative for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. However, before the trumpet of the peak season has even sounded, U.S. tariffs have already thrown a wrench in the works.

Recently, U.S. President Trump issued an executive order, officially announcing the termination of the “de minimis exemption” policy for all countries. Small parcels valued at less than 800 USD entering the U.S. will no longer enjoy duty-free privileges, and will instead face the full customs inspection and taxation process.

This means that the more than 4 million small parcels crossing the seas into the U.S. every day are officially bidding farewell to nearly 90 years of tariff exemptions. In an instant, millions of American “overseas shoppers” received an extra bill, and U.S. businesses of all sizes relying on global supply chains are now on edge.

Transition Period and Fixed Tariff Structure

Specifically, guidance issued by U.S. Customs and Border Protection points out that the new tax regime will set up a six-month transition period until February 28, 2026. Before February 28, 2026, postal carriers are allowed, based on the tariff level of the parcel’s country of origin, to choose to pay a tiered “fixed tariff” of 80–200 USD per parcel.

For countries such as the UK and EU, where Trump set tariff rates below 16%, the fixed fee per parcel will be 80 USD.
For countries such as Mexico and Vietnam, where tariff rates are between 16% and 25%, parcels exported to the U.S. will be subject to a fixed rate of 160 USD each.
The highest tier of fixed tariff is 200 USD per parcel, targeting countries such as China, Canada, Brazil, and India, where tariff rates exceed 25%.

U.S. customs officials also pointed out that after the six-month transition period, that is, after February 28, 2026, all postal agencies must fully shift to levying “ad valorem tax” on parcels, that is, taxation based on the value of goods.

Official Justifications vs. Market Concerns

In this regard, Trump stated that suspending the de minimis exemption measure will help the U.S. reduce its trade deficit. Trump’s trade advisor Navarro believes that this move will increase U.S. Treasury revenue by 10 billion USD annually.

However, the grandiose rhetoric of White House officials cannot conceal the economic burden that the new tariff regime brings to U.S. businesses and consumers.

Trade expert Deborah Elms said that small companies in particular will feel the pressure of the expensive audits required for U.S. customs clearance, making it difficult for sellers to maintain price stability. Theobalds, the owner of a New York shop specializing in handmade women’s shoes, admitted that low-cost entry points no longer exist, and she does not know how to explain the changes in product prices to her customers.

Recommendation

In the face of new tariff policies and stricter customs procedures, cross-border sellers will need more reliable tools to manage compliance, logistics, and financial reconciliation. This is where Windingflow provides value.

Windingflow helps e-commerce businesses:

Automate customs and compliance reporting to reduce risks of penalties.
Streamline cross-border order processing with greater efficiency.
Centralize financial reconciliation across multiple platforms and markets.

With Windingflow, sellers can respond faster to regulatory changes, protect margins, and focus on sustainable global growth, even in a more complex trade environment.

📩Get in touch with our team today to discover how Windingflow can help you

Amazon Makes a Major Move, Expands India Logistics to Widen Delivery Reach

2025-09-07T10:00:00Z

Amazon Makes a Major Move, Expands India Logistics to Widen Delivery Reach

Actively Expanding Logistics

With the escalating competitive situation of cross-border e-commerce worldwide, e-commerce giants are placing an important focus on their logistics and delivery systems as a core competitiveness.

Amazon India recently pledged to further widen its operational footprint in the run-up to the festive season with 12 new Fulfillment Centers (FCs) and 6 new Sorting Centers (SCs). Upon completion, the new facilities will provide an additional 8.6 million cubic feet of incremental storage space, which will complement one of the most modern e-commerce logistics infrastructures in India.

Specifically, the new fulfillment centers have come up in top cities including Delhi National Capital Region, Bangalore, and Kolkata. Five of those fulfillment centers—in cities including Hooghly and Tiruvallur—are new for Amazon. Another 500,000 sq. ft. is in six new sorting centers in places like Hubballi and Thiruvananthapuram.

As this expansion takes place just ahead of the festive season, it will strengthen Amazon’s capacity to ensure fast and reliable deliveries and provide a great shopping experience to customers across the country. Abhinav Singh, Amazon India and Australia’s Vice President of Operations, added that, "Our long-term focus is building and managing one of India’s leading logistics networks, with an emphasis on speed, safety and reliability, at a low cost, for each and every customer".

Worth mentioning here is that even this year, Amazon’s India logistics expansion has not abated. Ahead of midyear, it had already built five new fulfillment centers, run by third-party logistics companies in India, and all have been fully in use as its Prime Day preparations began.

Going back further in time, Amazon had begun its commitment by announcing that it is doubling its investments in the existing operational network, particularly logistics infrastructure, to increase the overall delivery efficiency by investing an extra 20 billion Indian rupees (about 1.66 billion RMB) by 2025.

In the end, all of Amazon’s moves just further illustrate how logistics prowess is crucial for e-commerce platforms, especially in the long run. It also has the potential to enable platforms to better control the evolution of market structure, capturing more value.

Heavy Betting on Indian E-Commerce

As we all know, India is a densely populated country and internet adoption is ramping up. These factors contribute significantly to the maturity of the e-commerce market. Thus, at this stage, the Indian e-commerce market is nothing but a chest of vast potential that catches the look of the world's e-commerce giants.

The e-commerce market size in this region is estimated to reach 162 billion USD by FY 2029, as per a recent report published by Redseer, putting it as the third-largest e-commerce market globally behind China and the US.

From the overall Indian e-commerce market, one development trend we cannot help but notice is the low-consumption-side user group is constantly growing, driven by second and third-tier regions, the demand is on the rise and power is enormous. And the good news is that some platforms have already reaped the benefits of this trend. For instance, fashion e-commerce leader Myntra was shocked to realize after a big campaign that second-tier cities and beyond accounted for over 60% of the volume of orders.

This is also taking place in more places. For instance, sales in India by FMCG grew in the second quarter of this year, and online channels have emerged as the significant growth drivers. What’s more, for six quarters in a row, sales growth in rural India has outpaced that in urban India. Of these, the increase in the rural sector was 8.4% and in the urban sector was just 4.6%.

Meanwhile, a few players already have the sense of change and have commenced their operation in the low-tier markets. It was reported earlier that Takealot would invest more in towns and rural areas, such as recruiting personal shopping consultants and increasing logistics warehouses, in order to get ahead in the layout.

Amazon is no exception. Indeed, Amazon has long made second- and third-tier cities a priority. By increasing its logistics infrastructure, Amazon hopes to take a larger piece of the pie in those lower-tier markets, and better compete with domestic and global competitors.

Not to mention that, relative to other e-commerce platforms, Amazon is quite a sticky platform for consumers in India. As per the previously released YouGov rating for brand value index, Indian consumers love Amazon fiercely, it bagged the top position with an impressive score of 56.5 points.

To summarize, the India market has vast potential. While the competition may be stiff, it is brimming with opportunities. For Amazon, the expansion of multiple fulfillment centers and sorting centers in India is a strong practice of its deep-plowing and heavy layout in the Indian market. But keep in mind that market conditions evolve quickly. Although Amazon is gaining on it, other rivals also are steadily evolving and expanding. If the latter wants to further consolidate its leading position in the Indian market, it has to constantly refine its operational thinking and gain a deeper understanding of the Indian consumer, keeping pace with market challenges.

Recommendation

For sellers exploring the opportunities of Indian’s booming e-commerce market, managing cross-border orders, compliance, and financial reconciliation can be challenging. This is where Windingflow can help.

Windingflow provides automation solutions that:

Centralize and integrate reports from multiple e-commerce platforms.
Automate ASN submission and compliance checks to reduce penalties.
Streamline cross-border order processing and financial reconciliation.

With Windingflow, sellers can spend less time on manual operations and focus more on capturing the growth opportunities of Singapore’s rapidly expanding cross-border e-commerce market.

Send me a message.

Middle East E-Commerce Rapid Growth, Market Size of 27 Billion USD

2025-09-06T17:00:00Z

Middle East E-Commerce Rapid Growth, Market Size of 27 Billion USD

Benefiting from the popularity of smartphones and the deepening of internet technology, the e-commerce market in the Middle East has developed rapidly, showing strong potential and broad prospects.

Market Overview

By the end of 2022, the total population of the Middle East was about 452.7 million, with an average age of about 25 years, showing a clear trend of youthfulness.
The scale of e-commerce in the Middle East is growing rapidly. By 2025, the e-commerce market size in the Middle East is expected to reach 27 billion USD, an increase of 10 billion USD compared with 2020.
The UAE is the largest e-commerce market in the Middle East, with projected e-commerce revenue of 11.7823 billion USD in 2023.
COD (Cash on Delivery) is the preferred payment method for online transactions in the Middle East, accounting for about 51% of the Middle East market.

Consumption Habits

Data shows that the population of the Middle East presents a youthful trend, with more than 50% of young people aged 18–24 choosing online shopping consumption.
A demographic characteristic of the Middle East is more men than women. In the UAE, male online shopping consumers account for 69%, and when shopping, they pay more attention to 3C products, outdoor sports goods, and men’s clothing.
About 50% of consumers in the Middle East are accustomed to researching products through search engines, and making purchase decisions based on the displayed information.

Recommendation

Windingflow helps e-commerce businesses:

Automate customs and compliance reporting to reduce risks of penalties.
Streamline cross-border order processing with greater efficiency.
Centralize financial reconciliation across multiple platforms and markets.

With Windingflow, sellers can respond faster to regulatory changes, protect margins, and focus on sustainable global growth, even in a more complex trade environment.

📩Get in touch with our team today to discover how Windingflow can help you

"2024 Singapore E-Commerce Market Overview Report": Singapore’s Cross-Border E-Commerce Opportunities Highlighted, Scale Nearly 10 Billion USD

2025-09-06T11:00:00Z

"2024 Singapore E-Commerce Market Overview Report": Singapore’s Cross-Border E-Commerce Opportunities Highlighted, Scale Nearly 10 Billion USD

The Singapore e-commerce market has maintained rapid growth in recent years, and under the support of government policies and the demand of consumers for cross-border shopping, it has become one of the most promising markets in Southeast Asia.

The “2024 Singapore E-Commerce Market Overview Report” released by Dashu Cross-Border comprehensively combs through the overview of the Singapore e-commerce market and consumption situation, helping enterprises and sellers grasp the current situation and trends of Singapore.

Market Scale

Singapore’s e-commerce scale continues to expand. In 2023, the scale of the Singapore e-commerce market reached 8 billion USD, and it is expected that by 2025 the market scale can reach 10 billion, with an annual compound growth rate of 32%.

The Singapore government supports the development of e-commerce, exempting tax fees for imported goods under 400 SGD, and online shopping consumers have a strong willingness for cross-border shopping.

Data shows that more than 86% of Singaporean consumers accept and are willing to conduct cross-border shopping, higher than Japan’s 6%.

Consumption Habits

Singapore’s population is beginning to show signs of aging, with more than 30% of the population over 55 years old, and the Chinese population accounting for nearly three-quarters. The high population density has spurred the demand for online shopping.

With the continuous improvement of internet infrastructure, Singapore’s internet penetration rate has gradually increased, reaching as high as 96%. Users’ online shopping habits have already been established, with mobile online shopping becoming the first choice.

Singapore’s online shopping users are highly active in the evening, and the top three categories of online shopping are fashion and beauty, electronic products, and food & personal care.

Recommendation

For sellers exploring the opportunities of Singapore’s booming e-commerce market, managing cross-border orders, compliance, and financial reconciliation can be challenging. This is where Windingflow can help.

Windingflow provides automation solutions that:

Centralize and integrate reports from multiple e-commerce platforms.
Automate ASN submission and compliance checks to reduce penalties.
Streamline cross-border order processing and financial reconciliation.

With Windingflow, sellers can spend less time on manual operations and focus more on capturing the growth opportunities of Singapore’s rapidly expanding cross-border e-commerce market.

Send me a message.

Video E-Commerce Accounts for 20% in Southeast Asia, Consumption Trends Shift Toward Content

2025-09-05T20:00:00Z

Video E-Commerce Accounts for 20% in Southeast Asia, Consumption Trends Shift Toward Content

Video content is becoming the core engine driving e-commerce consumption.

According to the latest data released by YouTube, video e-commerce has already accounted for 20% of total e-commerce sales in Southeast Asia, becoming a mainstream force that cannot be ignored.

This trend clearly indicates that consumers’ shopping decision paths are undergoing profound changes, shifting from traditional text-and-image search toward more immersive and trustworthy video content. For sellers who hope to expand into emerging markets, mastering video marketing capabilities is no longer a bonus, but a required course.

The Southeast Asian Market Reveals New Global Consumption Trends

According to ABS-CBN, this milestone data from the Southeast Asian market is actually a microcosm of global e-commerce trends. Whether it is TikTok’s short video commerce or YouTube’s shopping livestreams, video is becoming the shortest path connecting products with consumers.

Compared with static images and text, video can more vividly demonstrate a product’s functions, usage scenarios, and texture, quickly establishing consumer trust and stimulating their desire to buy. Especially in the Southeast Asian market, where mobile internet penetration is extremely high, the growth potential of this model is particularly significant.

Sellers Must Shift from “Traffic Operations” to “Content Operations”

This change requires that the core capabilities of sellers must extend from traditional “traffic operations” (such as advertising placement and keyword optimization) to “content operations.”

In the past, sellers cared about how to make their products rank higher in search results; now, sellers need to think about how to create video content that attracts users, resonates with them, and ultimately drives conversion. This means that insight into consumer needs, content creativity, and production capability are becoming more important than ever.

Seller Response Strategies and Steps

Step	Core Operation	Key Notes
Step 1: Conduct off-site trend research	Use tools to analyze popular video content related to your category on YouTube, TikTok, etc.	Understand what consumers are watching and liking, and find inspiration for products and marketing.
Step 2: Try lightweight video production	Start with simple unboxing videos or short function demonstration clips, without pursuing high-cost big productions.	Authentic and useful content is often more persuasive than glamorous ads.
Step 3: Build a video content matrix	Plan different types of video content, such as product reviews, tutorials, and user stories.	Diverse content can meet different consumers’ information needs.
Step 4: Combine with influencer marketing	Cooperate with local influencers in the target market to quickly reach potential consumers through their influence.	Influencer endorsement can effectively boost brand trust and conversion rates.

Insights

The rise of video e-commerce in Southeast Asia reveals an important new direction for product selection and marketing: demand no longer exists only in the search box of platforms, but in large quantities on off-site social media and content platforms.

To seize this wave of dividends, the most efficient way is to change the habit of focusing only on platform internal data and instead adopt the idea and tools of “off-site demand research.” For example, by analyzing high-view YouTube videos about a certain type of product (such as “portable coffee machine”), we can quickly identify consumers’ biggest concerns (such as “is it easy to clean,” “how is the battery life”), their favorite design styles, and emerging usage scenarios (such as “afternoon tea in the office” or “outdoor camping”).

The information extracted from vivid user content is the most valuable basis for differentiated product development and iteration. Combining these off-site insights with platform internal data such as market size and competitive landscape for dual validation, sellers can find those true blue ocean opportunities with explosive potential. This is exactly the three-dimensional product selection mindset that extends “data analysis” from inside the platform to the entire web.

📩Get in touch with our team today to discover how Windingflow can help you:

Centralize orders across multiple marketplaces and online stores
Sync inventory in real time
Automate order preparation and fulfillment
Improve customer satisfaction and reduce operational errors

The European Second-Hand E-Commerce Market Is Booming, 700 Million Items Traded in One Year

2025-09-05T09:00:00Z

The European Second-Hand E-Commerce Market Is Booming, 700 Million Items Traded in One Year

The market value of the second-hand economy is still rising.

01 Market size reaches 21.6 billion euros

The perception that “second-hand products are unwanted items used by others” has become a thing of the past. Nowadays, more people believe that “it is not that I cannot afford brand new, but second-hand goods are more cost-effective.” Against this background, more and more young consumers are flocking to second-hand platforms to look for affordable good products, fueling the vigorous development of the second-hand economy.

Data released by Amazon officially shows that the size of the European second-hand e-commerce market has reached an astonishing 21.6 billion euros, with more than two-thirds of consumers having purchased second-hand goods, and it is expected to grow by another 2 billion euros by 2025. Among them, German consumers show the greatest willingness to buy second-hand products, contributing 6.5 billion euros. In addition, in 2024, more than 740 million products have already circulated in the European second-hand market.

It can be said that the second-hand economy has been fully nourished on European soil and is growing vigorously. Mariangela Marseglia, Vice President of Amazon EU Stores, said: “In 2024, the sales of second-hand goods on Amazon Europe and the UK exceeded 2 billion euros.” On just the Amazon platform alone, sales of second-hand goods reached as high as 2 billion euros, which shows how huge the market potential behind it is.

It is worth mentioning that the trend of the second-hand economy is spreading to every corner of the world.

Previously, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry conducted a survey on 1,000 Korean consumers aged 20 to 50 who had second-hand trading experiences in the past year, and released the “Survey on the Use of Second-Hand Products and Innovation Report on the Circular Circulation Business Model.” The data pointed out that 75.3% of respondents had a positive attitude toward second-hand product transactions, 22.8% held a neutral attitude, and only 1.9% were not very accepting of second-hand trading. In the U.S. market, ThredUp’s “2025 Resale Report” survey pointed out that 68% of Gen Z and Millennials purchased second-hand products, an increase of 3 percentage points compared with last year.

The vigorous development of the second-hand e-commerce market worldwide is the result of multiple factors intertwined. One very important point is cost savings. Data from Amazon and the UK Centre for Economics and Business Research showed that second-hand trading saved British consumers 5.6 billion pounds in living costs in 2024.

02 Betting on the Second-Hand Economy

When “decluttering” becomes a lifestyle trend, when “cost-effectiveness” becomes an important consideration in consumer decision-making, and when “sustainability” becomes a global consensus, the second-hand economy is sweeping the global market with unstoppable momentum.

It can be seen that second-hand product trading is no longer a helpless choice, but has become a lifestyle that combines environmental protection concepts and economic wisdom.

Against this background, the global second-hand economy has entered a stage of rapid development, with business opportunities surging wildly behind it. Data released by Transparency Market Research shows that from 2023 to 2031, the size of the global resale market will continue to grow to 1.3 trillion U.S. dollars, with a compound annual growth rate of 13.6%. Such a huge market scale is enough to make anyone tempted.

Indeed, facing the huge potential and rapid growth trend of the global second-hand market, major e-commerce giants have adjusted their strategies one after another, increasing their investment in the second-hand market, trying to seize market share through launching new businesses, carrying out cooperation, and engaging in mergers and acquisitions, attempting to get a piece of this “second-hand feast.” A fierce competition surrounding the second-hand market has already begun.

As one of the earliest e-commerce platforms to engage in second-hand trading, eBay, with its huge user base and rich transaction experience, occupies an important position in the second-hand market. In terms of category expansion, eBay almost covers all categories of second-hand products, from daily necessities to high-end luxury goods, from antique collectibles to modern technology products, meeting the diverse needs of different consumers. In the first half of this year, eBay’s refurbishment program “eBay Refurbished,” which was previously only open to U.S. sellers, has been expanded to the Japanese market.

In fact, it is not surprising that e-commerce giants are willing to bet on the second-hand economy, because it is indeed highly profitable. Walmart stated at its recent annual shareholders meeting that its e-commerce platform’s second-hand luxury fashion segment has grown by more than 200% so far this year.

However, it should be noted that although the prospects for the second-hand e-commerce market are broad, doing this business well is not easy. Counterfeits and fraud are the most troublesome problems. Some unscrupulous sellers pass off inferior goods as good ones. For example, in electronic products, it is not uncommon to see assembled machines being passed off as genuine. To completely solve the problems of counterfeits and fraud in the second-hand e-commerce market, there is still a long way to go. In the future, platforms, governments, industry associations, and consumers will need to work together to form a joint force.

In general, with consumers’ increasing attention to environmental protection and sustainable development, as well as the further shift in consumer perception, second-hand trading is no longer a niche behavior, but is gradually developing into a huge economic system. In the future, the second-hand market will inevitably become a golden track of explosive dividends. Everyone can conduct in-depth market research, find a development path suitable for themselves, and strive to seize this wave of business opportunities as soon as possible.

Recommendation

Windingflow enables businesses to reduce manual effort, improve accuracy, and capture opportunities faster in a rapidly expanding market.

Send me a message.

Shopee Fully Opens Affiliate Marketing, Content Traffic Becomes the New Battlefield

2025-09-04T15:00:00Z

Shopee Fully Opens Affiliate Marketing, Content Traffic Becomes the New Battlefield

According to European Business Magazine, Southeast Asian e-commerce platform Shopee, on the eve of its 9.9 Super Shopping Festival, for the first time opened its “Shopee House” cooperation program to affiliates from all channels. This move marks that Shopee is fully embracing content e-commerce and affiliate marketing, aiming to more efficiently convert off-site content creator traffic into platform sales.

Comprehensive Opening of Traffic Channels: From “On-Site Advertising” to “Omnichannel Seeding”

The full opening of the “Shopee House” program is a major upgrade of Shopee’s traffic strategy. The platform no longer relies only on on-site paid advertising and organic search, but extends its reach into the vast off-site content ecosystem, including bloggers, video creators, and social media influencers of all forms.

By providing them with more convenient cooperation tools and more attractive commissions, Shopee is attempting to build a huge “omnichannel seeding” network.

The core of this strategy is to leverage the trust endorsement and fan stickiness of content creators to “plant the seed” at the front end of consumer decision-making, and then guide the matured purchase intention back to the platform to complete the “harvest” through affiliate links.

Impact on Sellers: New Traffic Opportunities and Challenges

This change brings brand-new opportunities and challenges for sellers:

Opening a new blue ocean of traffic
Sellers have the opportunity to reach precise user groups that could not be covered by on-site advertising alone, through cooperation with diverse affiliates, obtaining lower-cost and higher-conversion traffic.
Higher requirements for product “content strength”
Products need to have enough topicality, visual appeal, or practical value to attract content creators to voluntarily choose and recommend them. Mediocre products will find it difficult to enter the view of affiliates.
Complexity of cooperation and management
How to select suitable affiliates, how to design attractive cooperation plans, and how to track and evaluate cooperation results all put new demands on sellers’ business development and data analysis capabilities.

Seller Response Strategies and Steps

Step	Core Operation	Key Notes
Step 1: Optimize product “content attributes”	Refine the core selling points of the product and transform them into images and video materials suitable for social media dissemination.	Make your product “look like” it deserves to be shared and recommended.
Step 2: Actively seek affiliates	Use social media, industry forums, and other channels to proactively search for and contact affiliates whose style matches your product.	Do not wait passively for affiliates to come; only by taking the initiative can you seize the opportunity.
Step 3: Provide a clear cooperation package	Prepare cooperation materials including product samples, high-definition assets, core selling points, and commission rates, lowering the threshold for affiliates.	A professional and convenient cooperation process is more likely to win the favor of affiliates.
Step 4: Track and optimize performance	Use affiliate marketing tools to track traffic and conversion data from different channels and affiliates, and continuously optimize cooperation strategies.	Tilt the budget toward high-performing affiliates.

Insights

Shopee’s full embrace of affiliate marketing once again proves the core position of “off-site seeding” in today’s e-commerce environment. Regardless of the platform, sellers who can effectively leverage off-site traffic will gain a significant asymmetric advantage in competition.

To succeed in off-site marketing, the first step is to understand what off-site users care about. The off-site demand research function can aggregate and analyze hot topics, search trends, and user pain points on mainstream platforms such as Google, YouTube, and Instagram.

Through this data, sellers can gain insights into the latest consumption trends and unmet needs, thereby developing products with “viral” potential, or finding marketing angles that highly align with off-site hot topics, so that when affiliates recommend your product, they can achieve twice the result with half the effort.

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Southeast Asia e-commerce giant Shopee, on the eve of its annual most important "9.9 Super Shopping Day" big promotion

2025-09-04T09:00:00Z

Southeast Asia e-commerce giant Shopee, on the eve of its annual most important "9.9 Super Shopping Day" big promotion

Southeast Asia e-commerce giant Shopee, on the eve of its annual most important "9.9 Super Shopping Day" big promotion, announced a major strategic move: for the first time, it will fully open its offline creator and KOL incubation base, "Shopee House," to affiliates from all channels.

This move aims to, through online and offline linkage, maximally activate the affiliate marketing ecosystem, to build an unprecedented scale traffic matrix for the upcoming 9.9 big promotion.

"Shopee House": from offline base to online traffic's source place

"Shopee House" was initially a physical space Shopee provided for its contracted influencers and content creators, integrating product display, live broadcast shooting, content co-creation, and training exchange.

And this strategic upgrade's core, lies in breaking the original "contracting" barrier. Now, any member registered on the Shopee affiliate marketing platform has the opportunity to be invited into Shopee House, to participate in exclusive brand activities and product experience sessions.

Linkage of affiliate ecosystem, preparing for the 9.9 Super Promotion

Shopee's strategic intent with this move is very clear, which is to, at the crucial 9.9 promotion node, detonate all the potential of its affiliate marketing.

By letting affiliates personally experience products, raise content quality and conversion rate; by activating affiliates from different fields, build diversified traffic entrances; by providing a direct communication bridge, strengthen the connection between brands and affiliates.

This series of moves, aims to upgrade affiliate marketing into an online and offline linked three-dimensional marketing battle.

Revelation for cross-border sellers: The value of off-site traffic and content marketing highlights

Shopee's this action, for all platforms' cross-border e-commerce sellers, transmits a clear signal:

Competition for on-site traffic is increasingly fierce, actively planning and utilizing off-site traffic, especially content-driven affiliate marketing, is becoming unprecedentedly important.

The platform is heavily investing to build its own content ecosystem and influencer resources. As a seller, if you cannot keep up with this trend, and actively integrate your own products into this ecosystem, it is equivalent to giving up a big piece of a high-quality traffic source.

Insight

Shopee's move highlights the importance of off-site traffic. Sellers can no longer rigidly stick to on-site, they must learn to "borrow strength to strike a blow."

To successfully leverage off-site traffic, first, you must return to the product. Use "high-frequency word mining" tools, analyze user pain points, to create a "good product" worthy of being recommended by KOLs.

Second, you must gain insight into off-site user needs. Through the "off-site demand research" function, analyze Google and YouTube hot topics, to find the best entry point for content marketing.

Finally, use the "ranking list monitoring" function, to timely discover hot-selling items that succeeded through off-site traffic acquisition, learn from their strategies, and efficiently plan your own off-site marketing.

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