Unable to make a dent in the Chinese market, Amazon plans to pull out

Several media reports indicate that Amazon will close its domestic business in the Chinese marketplace by end of July. This means that Amazon.cn will cease to exist and its customers in China will no longer be able to order from third party merchants in China. However, customers can still order from Amazon.com and have access to goods produced in the U.S, U.K, Denmark and Japan.

Amazon’s presence in China was growing at a snail’s pace and was able to capture only 0.8% of the growing e-commerce business in China. China’s biggest e-commerce players Alibaba and JD.com control 85% of booming e-commerce market that is expected to hit $1.8 trn by 2022.

The question remains whether this will be a strategic retreat for the global e-commerce giant so that it can focus on its other interests in APAC like India.