Amazon opens shop on Alibaba's Tmall platform

Online retailer Amazon has opened its shop on Alibaba's business-to-consumer platform to cash in on China's business potential.

Niu Yinghua, vice president of Amazon China, said on Friday she hoped consumers would buy international products through Amazon, and the shop on Alibaba's Tmall offers another channel to do so.

The store now sells more than 1,000 imported products, including footwear, food, drinks, kitchenware and toys.

Beginning last year, Amazon began making more moves to tap the Chinese market in order to compete with local e-commerce giants like Alibaba.

Amazon tried to lure Chinese customers into buying more American goods by marketing the Black Friday shopping frenzy in November, launching special webpages and offering discounts similar to those enjoyed by American buyers.

In November, Amazon opened a store on Tmall to sell its e-reader Kindle. Other local retailers, including dangdang.com and gome.com.cn, have also launched stores on Tmall.

An increasing number of people in China have been buying products on online platforms over the past few years, creating enormous opportunities for the e-commerce industry.