Amazon is planning to close its online store in China after more than a decade of trying to gain a foothold in the country.
The ecommerce giant will shutter its domestic marketplace which allowed shoppers to buy from local sellers on its site.
Chinese shoppers however will still be able to order products from Amazon's global store once its local store closes in July and the company will continue to operate its cloud business in China.
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Despite its popularity in the West, Amazon has struggled to carve out a place for itself in China where it faces stiff competition from local rivals Alibaba and JD.com.
Amazon.cn
The news that Amazon will close its domestic marketplace in China by mid-July was first reported by Reuters which revealed that the company would instead focus on the more lucrative businesses of selling overseas goods and cloud services in the region.
According to a company spokesperson, Amazon is currently “working closely with our sellers to ensure a smooth transition and to continue to deliver the best customer experience possible.”
The company's Chinese ambitions began back in 2004 when it purchased the local books, music and video retailer Joyo.com for $75m and then rebranded the site as Amazon.cn in 2007.
As Amazon has shifted its focus from China, the ecommerce giant has begun to invest heavily into its business in India. The company has committed to spend $5.5bn on ecommerce in India to better compete against its local rival there, Flipkart.
Via The BBC
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