Amazon to shut down China retail operations

Shanghai, April 18

Amazon is planning to close down online retail operations catering to consumers in China, in an apparent admission of defeat to local e-commerce rivals such as Alibaba, a report said today.

The US e-commerce pioneer will maintain other operations in China such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Kindle e-books and cross-border teams that help ship goods from Chinese merchants to customers abroad, Bloomberg News said, citing unidentified people familiar with the plans.

Although dominant in the US and some other markets, Amazon has struggled to compete in China with the likes of Alibaba and JD.com, which are hugely popular in the country.

This comes despite Amazon’s investment in logistics in China and its acquisition in 2004 of Chinese online book seller Joyo. — AFP