A new wave of layoffs in cross-border e-commerce — is AI being blamed?

The lead: layoffs spread, AI takes the spotlight

A fresh round of job cuts is rippling through China’s cross-border e-commerce sector, and many eyes are on AI. Amazon (亚马逊) announced global reductions of 14,000 and then 16,000 staff in late 2025 and early 2026, citing organizational efficiency and “AI strategy” among the reasons; it has been reported that these moves have reverberated through seller service teams and partner ecosystems in China. Small operators and mid‑sized exporters who relied on steady platform support are now finding client managers unreachable and entire support squads dissolved. But is AI the real driver — or merely a headline-catchy scapegoat?

Multiple factors beyond AI

Industry surveys by Ebrun (亿邦动力) suggest AI is only part of the story: fewer than 20% of recent internal reorganizations were identified by respondents as directly caused by AI adoption. Other concrete commercial pressures loom larger — accelerated tax reporting requirements on Amazon, stiffer platform compliance enforcement (false certifications, improper customs declarations), rising social‑security and labor costs after the end of “voluntary opt‑outs,” and higher US tariffs that squeezed margins. It has been reported that some sellers with thin-margin, high‑volume “spray and pray” strategies found formerly viable SKUs suddenly unprofitable once tax and tariff burdens were fully accounted for.

What firms are actually doing — cautious adoption and theatre

On the shop floor, reactions split between cautious “AI‑enablement” and grandstanding. Many companies are pushing staff to learn generative‑AI tools, build simple AI workflows, and even report “AI substitution rates” in daily logs. It has been reported that a handful of high‑profile sellers claim steep headcount cuts after heavy automation pilots, but those cases are the minority. For most firms, AI is being rolled out incrementally as a productivity enhancer rather than a wholesale replacement — and some managers may invoke “AI” as a convenient rationale for routine cost trimming. With geopolitical trade frictions, compliance crackdowns and margin pressure all in play, the job losses reflect a complex reshaping of the sector — not a single technological deus ex machina. Who will be hardest hit: those who resist upskilling, or those who follow every tech fad without a business case? The answer will determine whether this is a structural shift or another industry cycle.