Amazon intends to shut down its online store in China that allows the purchasers to buy from local sellers as it downsizes operations in the country.
Amazon said, starting from July, it would no further run the domestic marketplace. However, Chinese purchasers will still be able to order goods from Amazon’s global store.
And the firm will also continue to operate its cloud business in China.
Reasons for its decision…
The retail defense comes as Amazon faces tug off war from local rivals Alibaba and JD.com.
Reuters:
Amazon’s plans to close its domestic marketplace in China by mid-July is to focus on more lucrative businesses to sell overseas goods and cloud services.
Well, Amazon’s profitable cloud computing team hosts huge swathes of the corporate world on its data servers.
A spokesperson for Amazon said:
Amazon is working closely with our sellers to ensure a smooth transition and to continue to deliver the best possible customer experience.
Amazon.cn, the consumers accessing Amazon Chinese web portal, after 18 July will see a selection of goods from its global store, as per Bloomberg.
Way back in 2004, Amazon had bought Joyo.com, Chinese books, music, and video retailer, for $75m (£57.4m). Amazon then rebranded the company as Amazon.cn in 2007.
Yet it has grappled to compete with governing players JD.com and Alibaba’s Tmall marketplace in China.
This shift away from the world’s second-largest economy comes as the company pours huge investment into India.
Meanwhile, Amazon has pledged to spend $5.5bn on e-commerce in India, where it clashes with local rival Flipkart.
Also, last year, Amazon had launched a Hindi version of its mobile website and smartphone app in an effort to attract millions of new customers in the nation.
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