Amazon launched its first Global Intelligent Warehousing and Distribution hub (GWD) in Yantian District on April 15.

The GWD, a key component of Amazon’s next-generation cross-border supply chain strategy, is a one-stop bulk warehousing and distribution center built at the source of goods. It provides services including storage, customs clearance, cross-border transportation, and inventory transfer. Seamlessly connected to Amazon’s global logistics network, the hub creates an intelligent and efficient logistics channel that enables sellers to go directly from local warehouses to customers worldwide.

The Yantian GWD currently supports shipments to Amazon’s fulfillment centers in the U.S. Amazon also announced that it will deploy a GWD in the Yangtze River Delta region, which will support shipments to fulfillment centers in Europe and Japan, further helping sellers achieve flexible and efficient global distribution.

Chen Ming, vice president of Amazon China and head of cross-border supply chain management for Amazon Global Selling, said that Amazon introduced its next-generation cross-border supply chain strategy last year, aiming to break down geographical boundaries and operational limitations, allowing sellers to sell globally from day one. The Yantian GWD marks the materialization of that strategy.

Equipped with a “smart brain,” the GWD helps sellers gradually achieve the goal of “supplying the world from a single inventory pool,” helping them to expand their global businesses at a lower cost and with greater efficiency.

The intelligent warehouse management system at the entrance enables real-time inventory monitoring, accurate counting, and smart deployment. Sellers can track inventory status in real time through the backend and adjust distribution plans based on sales performance across global marketplaces, avoiding overstocking or stockouts.

Before goods are stored on shelves, they pass through an automated conveyor belt and an intelligent portal for inspection and sorting. Equipped with radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology, this portal accurately identifies products, determines storage requirements, and dispatches them to different sorting tracks.

Traditionally, cross-border sellers looking to enter new markets or test new products needed to send a certain amount of inventory in advance to overseas warehouses in the destination country. Sellers had to coordinate multiple service providers, and the process was both costly and inefficient.

By setting up warehouses as intelligent hubs at the source of goods, the GWD will change the past model in which one shipment is locked to one marketplace. In the future, it will enable a unified inventory pool to deploy and match demand across different marketplaces.

Amazon Global Selling, which has multiple regional centers and offices in China, opened its Asia-Pacific Innovation Center in Qianhai in November 2024.