Continuing its focus on expansion in China, online retailer Amazon has opened a showroom in Beijing’s Sanlitun Square.

Designed to look like a giant shipping container, the Amazon Beijing showroom displays imported goods from Amazon’s UK and US websites. As well as browsing, testing and consulting experts, customers can buy items via Amazon’s Chinese site by scanning a product’s barcode with their mobile device, reports PYMNTS.com.

A section of the showroom is dedicated to the Amazon Prime service, which had its China debut in October. Chinese Prime customers are offered free shipping on orders for overseas products with a minimum purchase of US$29.50. Goods sold in China have free shipping. Prime membership is $57 in China, compared with $99 in the US.

Amazon is the preferred marketplace for Chinese e-tailers seeking to sell internationally, beating out AliExpress by 62 to 40 per cent.