Amazon to close its online business in China

Retail giant Amazon will withdraw its domestic e-commerce marketplace business in China, effective from July 18, but will keep operating its other business sections, including Amazon Web Services, Kindle e-books and cross-border operations.

Facing stiff competition from local online marketplace operators, including Alibaba, JD.com as well as the fast-growing Pinduoduo, Amazon's exit from e-commerce business would be the end of the company's 15 years of journey into the China market.

"We are notifying sellers that we will no longer operate a marketplace on Amazon.cn (the Chinese-language site) and we will no longer be providing seller services on Amazon.cn effective July 18," the company was quoted as saying by the Financial Times late on Monday.

Agency data suggested that Alibaba owns 58.2 per cent of China's e-commerce market in terms of sales, followed by JD.com's 16.3 per cent and Pinduoduo's 5.2 per cent, said a Sina report in July 2018, according to the ZDNet.

Meanwhile, Amazon shoppers in China will no longer be able to buy goods from third-party merchants in the country, but they still will be able to order from the US, Britain, Germany and Japan via the retail giant's global store.