Amazon to Close China Marketplace and Focus on Cross-Border E-commerce, Kindle and AWS

Key Points

Amazon plans to close its China domestic marketplace on July 18, according to company representatives.

• Amazon entered China via its $75 million acquisition of Joyo in 2004, which was rebranded as Amazon China in 2011.
• The company plans to continue its cross-border e-commerce operations, sell Kindle e-readers and operate its Amazon Web Services (AWS) business.
• Amazon’s decision to exit China reflects the acceptance of the intractability of its minimal market share of e-commerce in China, which is dominated by Tmall and JD.com.