Amazon To Close Chinese Site to Domestic Merchants

Amazon To Close Chinese Site to Domestic Merchants

Amazon will shut down some of its e-commerce operations in China, according to a statement the company sent to Sixth Tone on Thursday.

Specifically, the company will bar third-party vendors from July 18, the statement said, meaning domestic merchants will no longer be able to sell their products on Amazon.cn, the American e-commerce giant’s Chinese website. The company added, however, that it has no plans to withdraw from China entirely, explaining that customers will still be able to use its cross-border shopping service as well as its Kindle e-reader and cloud storage products.

Amazon called the shift part of a “strategic transformation” and said it is working closely with all vendors on its platform to complete “the coming transition.”

Citing anonymous sources, Chinese media broke the news of Amazon’s partial China shutdown on Wednesday. According to a Reuters report that followed, analysts say stiff competition from domestic e-commerce marketplaces such as JD.com and Alibaba’s Tmall — which together accounted for 82% of China’s online retail market in 2018 — may have contributed to Amazon’s decision. 

(Image: IC)

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