Amazon.com, the world's largest e-commerce business by revenue and market capitalization, said it is closing its domestic marketplace in China in July. A Chinese analyst said the change won't affect the company's global image.
Amazon on Thursday said it is notifying its customer that it will no longer operate a marketplace nor provide seller services on its Chinese website Amazon.cn from July 18, , the company said in a statement sent to the Global Times on Thursday.
Amazon is making operational adjustments to focus their efforts on cross-border sales in China and to keep improving the experience of both Chinese customers and its global selling partners, according to the statement.
"Amazon's commitment to China remains strong—we have built a solid foundation here in a number of successful businesses and we will continue to invest and grow in China across Amazon Global Store, Global Selling, Amazon Web Services, Kindle devices and content," the company said in the statement.
The news about the company's partial exit from the Chinese market was a hot topic of discussion on Thursday. For many Chinese consumers, the e-commerce business is how they first got to know with this global online selling brand, but many confessed the shopping experience on Amazon is no match for domestic rivals.
Liu Dingding, an independent IT analyst based in Beijing, told the Global Times on Thursday that luckily the adjustments won't cause any collateral damage to the company's brand prestige, given the small share Chinese business accounted for in the company's global business.
Leading Chinese online marketplaces Tmall.com and JD.com accounted for about 80 percent of the business-to-consumer online shopping market, according to data from market research agency iResearch, and Amazon's share in the market was trivial.
The company said it has been evolving its China online retail business to emphasize cross-border sales over the past few years, and in return it has seen a very strong response from Chinese customers.
"Given our global presence, Amazon is well-positioned to serve Chinese consumers' demand for high-quality, authentic goods from around the world," the company said.
