Amazon closes its online trading platform in China

Amazon will shut down its online marketplace in China on July 18. Instead, the company focuses on Chinese customers with its global online store. The company did not give a reason, but the competition from local suppliers is probably too great.

In a statement to, among others, The Financial Times, Amazon reports that it will stop in China. The company has informed sellers who listed their goods on Amazon.cn’s marketplace that the service will no longer be continued as of July 18. Amazon claims to focus more on so-called cross-border sales in China in recent years.

Chinese customers would frequently buy products from the US, UK, Germany and Japan, among others, via the global website. Amazon wants to focus even more on that. It is not clear what the reason is for the closure of the Chinese trading place, but the company has to deal with strong competition in the country from Alibaba and JD.com, among others. According to research firm iResearch Global, they have a combined market share of 82 percent.

Amazon started in China in 2004 with the acquisition of Joyo.com for $75 million. In 2011, the company renamed the service to Amazon China. The company will remain active in China with Amazon Web Services.