Talk outside Tiger Station🟡Behind the 350% surge in Haul buyers: main-site search is being “intercepted,” and seller ad spending is fueling a rival
Amazon Haul delivered a report card that gives Amazon confidence to build momentum before the holidays: the number of consumers ordering through Haul grew nearly 350% year over year, and product count expanded more than 25 times in two years, exceeding 10 million items. From November 9 to 14, Haul ran a six-day “Haul-iday” holiday promotion, with $1 flash deals throughout the week, $0.11 specials only on November 10 and 11, and some items dropping as low as $0.01. With Black Friday still 18 days away, Amazon used ultra-low prices to sharply move up the starting line of the holiday shopping season.
But reading this news only as “Haul got cheaper” misses the signal that sellers really need to watch.
🟡The 350% growth number should be read in context
Amazon did not disclose the base, period, or total buyer count behind the 350% growth. A percentage without a base is powerful in communication but almost useless for decision-making. What is informative is not the percentage itself, but the direction when it is combined with two other moves: product count expanded 25 times in two years, and Haul products officially entered Amazon's main search results.
The former means supply is surging; the latter means traffic is opening up. Buyer growth is largely the result of these two moves, not an isolated demand explosion.
🟡The “purple module” in main-site search is the core of this change
Haul was previously a separate section within the Amazon Shopping app; consumers had to actively search for “Haul” or enter via the menu. Now, when Haul products match search demand, they appear directly in main-site search results. Some sellers have observed that when searching everyday keywords on the main site, the results page inserts an Amazon Haul module with a purple label, showing similar low-priced items at $5–$6 that can be added to cart directly.
What does this mean? A seller pays for Sponsored Products, spends effort on listing optimization, accumulates reviews, and pushes the ranking up. When consumers click in, the same screen may show a row of cheaper Haul products. Feedback from seller communities is blunt: “Some of the organic traffic brought by your ads is being intercepted just like that.”
Amazon has not explained the ranking rules between Haul products and regular listings, has not confirmed whether Haul sellers can buy Sponsored Products placements, and has not disclosed how often Haul products appear in search results. This “rule gap” is itself a signal: the platform is preserving maximum room to adjust, while sellers’ traffic cost structures are entering a transition period with opaque rules.
🟡The free-shipping threshold math exposes Haul’s real logic
Haul’s pricing and promotion rules are designed cleverly, but a quick calculation shows what the platform is encouraging. The free-shipping threshold is $25; orders over $50 get 5% off, and over $75 get 10% off. If you buy $1 items, you need 25 to reach free shipping; if you buy $0.11 specials, you need about 228 to cross the $25 threshold.
The rules point to a clear goal: raise average order value and use “low-price perception” to drive “bulk buying.” Profit per unit at $0.11 is almost nonexistent; Haul’s economic model depends on consumers “grabbing a few more items.” For sellers, this means sales volume may look good, but per-unit profit is squeezed extremely thin, and any cost fluctuation in fulfillment—especially tariffs—will directly eat up already razor-thin margins.
🟡The scale gap is a reality check: Haul’s $2 billion vs. Temu’s $30 billion
Haul’s growth speed is worth attention, but in the competitive landscape, the scale gap remains huge. Marketplace Pulse and other institutions estimate that Amazon Haul’s annual GMV in the US is about $2 billion, while Temu’s annual GMV in the US is estimated at about $30 billion, and Shein’s at about $18 billion. Haul’s share of China direct-mail low-price market is still in single digits.
This comparison does not suggest “Haul is failing,” but rather that Haul is still in a stage of exchanging subsidies and traffic entry for growth, far from a steady state. For sellers, this means early traffic dividends may exist, but rules, fees, and traffic allocation are still changing sharply; “small-step testing” is far more rational than “all-in betting.”
🟡What sellers should and should not watch
Don’t just look at 350%. A year-over-year growth rate without a base functions differently in platform recruitment contexts and industry communication. AMZ123 readers need decision-ready information, not shareable headlines.
Watch the main-site search change. Haul entering main search results is one of the most substantive adjustments to Amazon’s traffic allocation mechanism in 2026. It is not just “one more exposure slot,” but the platform offering consumers, on the same search page, both regular listings from brands/third-party sellers and Haul ultra-low-price substitutes. Competition between the two does not operate under the same cost structure.
Calculate your own numbers. If your category falls in the sub-$20 price band, your products are white-label or weak-brand, and your supply chain has flexible rapid-response capability, Haul’s traffic entry is worth serious study. If your core profit comes from mid-to-high price segments and brand premium on the main site, blindly entering Haul may pull down your overall price anchor—and the Haul “interception” you face in main search will not disappear just because you also open a Haul store.
Holiday promotions at $0.11 and $1 are the story Amazon tells consumers. What sellers need to hear is the hidden line about traffic, rules, and costs in the same story.
(🐅WeChat Official Account: 老虎跨境站外 🐅)
