Amazon will close its Chinese platform for third-party sellers in July

According to a statement from Amazon, it will no longer operate its third-party online market nor will it provide sales services on Amazon.cn as of July 18. Thus, domestic companies will no longer be able to sell products to Chinese consumers on the platform. However, the company said it remained "attached to China" through its global stores, Kindle business and web services.

Further, The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon is in merger talks with its Chinese competitor, Kaola of NetEase Inc. A potential deal could result in a stock-to-stock transaction, though neither company would comment on Status of these discussions.

Amazon arrived in China in 2004 with the purchase of Joyo.com, which was originally the largest supplier of books, music and videos. But over time, the platform began to be used primarily for imported international products and, despite its flourishing presence elsewhere, Amazon is now a very small player in the Chinese e-commerce market. In the fourth quarter of 2018, the company accounted for only 6% of gross merchandise volume in the cross-border e-commerce market, while NetEase Kaola and Alibaba held 25% and 32%, respectively.

Although it is possible for Amazon to continue operating in this country, moving forward would mean spending big sums to overthrow competitors, or driving down prices – obviously, its leaders made the decision to let it go.