The competition from Alibaba and JD.com is no match. The two Chinese giants alone control 82% of the local e-commerce market. A share that Amazon has never managed to scratch in eight years. For this reason, the group led by Jeff Bezos has decided to raise the white flag. Amazon China will close its doors starting July 18th.
After 8 years, therefore, Amazon's Asian adventure ends. The company, which landed in China in 2011 after the acquisition of joyo.com (which took place in 2004) has not managed to carve out a large enough market share to guarantee sufficient profitability margins. In addition to the ruthless competition from the big Asian e-commerce companies, the slowdown of the sector in China, which in recent times has not been giving too much satisfaction even to Alibaba and JD, and the deterioration of relations between Washington and Beijing which resulted in 'now famous trade war.
Despite the closure of the Chinese store, Amazon will continue to sell in China through the Amazon Global Store, Global Selling, AWS, Kindle and all online content services. Chinese buyers will be able to continue purchasing products on the company's international market, while Chinese groups will be able to sell their products on Amazon to customers outside of China.
“We are working closely with our sellers to ensure a smooth transition and continue to deliver the best customer experience possible,” an Amazon spokeswoman said. “Sellers who are interested in continuing to sell on Amazon outside of China can do so through Amazon Global Selling.”
As far as employees are concerned, Amazon has offered them support to look for a new job.
