Alibaba is recently in the news over global ambitions to deliver anything in 72 hours - WORLDWIDE. This should make Amazon somewhat nervous. AliExpress is already a major player in Asia and EMEA.

Amazon (online) has one global eCommerce competitor: Alibaba. Everyone else is not really in the same ballpark. Including Walmart (yet).

If you look at pictures of Alibaba's lights-out warehouses, there is no gap between what Alibaba has been doing and what Amazon does. Unlike Amazon's US competition, Alibaba can do it just as well, and with less expensive labor in their home market.

A marketplace becomes what its supply is. A central part of Amazon's strategy in the past 10 years has been to "out-Alibaba" Alibaba, but in the US market. I can't imagine what part of FBA is simply "forward-deployed Chinese supply" but I would imagine that number is 95%+.

Some reports I've read put 75% of all new sellers on Amazon as Chinese. I can believe it.

If Alibaba continues down this path, I predict a titanic battle for the US market with an easy-to-access nationwide fulfillment network powered by some savvy industry experts like my old friend Jamin Dick.

You might even see some smaller regional carriers and 3PLs gobbled up by Alibaba - who knows. Consolidation is coming!