Amazon has partnered with Shanghai Free Trade Zone to boost its online offerings as well as sell a wider range of products in China.

The retailer’s move is aimed at taking advantage of the country’s less stringent trade regulations and step up its presence to make inroads in a market which has been dominated by local players like Alibaba and JD.com.

As per the MoU signed with the Shanghai FTZ and Shanghai Information Investment Limited (SII), Chinese customers will now get complete access to Amazon’s products from its global supply chain.

Users will be able to pay for goods using local currency, and Amazon is promising competitive prices, including relatively fast shipping times for the imported goods.

Small and medium-sized enterprises in China will also benefit with export opportunities to customers in other countries, the company said.

Amazon’s senior vice president of International Consumer Business Diego Piacentini said: "I look forward to working with our Shanghai partners to realize the incredible opportunity of developing the best cross-border shopping experience possible for not only customers in China but also around the world and establishing Shanghai as a recognized international cross-border e-commerce center."

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The online retailer will also establish a logistics and warehouse centre in the FTZ, which will stock imported goods.

Amazon has not disclosed when it intends to begin operations.

The company is also pushing its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing business in China and said the country will have its own AWS region to improve speed for its mainly corporate customers by December.

The retailer reported $126m in net loss in the second quarter, up from a loss of $7m in the same period last year as it makes major investments in other markets.

The company also forecast an operating loss of between $810m and $410m for the third quarter, up from $25m loss a year ago.