diff --git a/scrapy/tests/test_serialization.py b/scrapy/tests/test_serialization.py
index 712c4af24..db60f8673 100644
--- a/scrapy/tests/test_serialization.py
+++ b/scrapy/tests/test_serialization.py
@@ -4,9 +4,12 @@ class SerializationTest(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def setUp(self):
         try:
-            import simplejson
-        except ImportError, e:
-            raise unittest.SkipTest(e)
+            import json
+        except ImportError:
+            try:
+                import simplejson
+            except ImportError, e:
+                raise unittest.SkipTest(e)
 
     def test_string_serialization(self):
         """Test simple string serialization"""
diff --git a/scrapy/utils/serialization.py b/scrapy/utils/serialization.py
index 82bd01eb3..e085df360 100644
--- a/scrapy/utils/serialization.py
+++ b/scrapy/utils/serialization.py
@@ -11,9 +11,13 @@ import decimal
 import cPickle as pickle
 import pprint
 
-import simplejson
+try:
+    import json
+except ImportError:
+    import simplejson as json
 
-class ScrapyJSONEncoder(simplejson.JSONEncoder):
+
+class ScrapyJSONEncoder(json.JSONEncoder):
     """
     JSONEncoder subclass that knows how to encode date/time and decimal types.
     """
@@ -34,13 +38,13 @@ class ScrapyJSONEncoder(simplejson.JSONEncoder):
             return super(ScrapyJSONEncoder, self).default(o)
 
 serialize_funcs = {
-    'json': lambda obj: simplejson.dumps(obj, cls=ScrapyJSONEncoder),
+    'json': lambda obj: json.dumps(obj, cls=ScrapyJSONEncoder),
     'pprint': lambda obj: pprint.pformat(obj),
     'pickle': lambda obj: pickle.dumps(obj),
 }
 
 unserialize_funcs = {
-    'json': lambda text: simplejson.loads(text),
+    'json': lambda text: json.loads(text),
     'pprint': lambda text: eval(text),
     'pickle': lambda text: pickle.loads(text),
 }