Amazon to Close Kindle Bookstore in China!
Amazon. is closing its Kindle digital bookstore in China and has halted sales of Kindle devices to retailers in the country in the latest retreat by a U.S. tech company there.
The company said it has already halted sales of the device to third-party sellers and is offering refunds to anyone who bought a Kindle in China after Jan. 1
- The pullback is the latest for American tech giants operating in China
China has some of the world’s most stringent censorship rules and a fiercely competitive homegrown technology ecosystem.
Last year,
Microsoft Corp.’s LinkedIn shut down its social-media service in China, citing “a significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements in China.”
*CNBC Tweet on amazon kindle
Amazon to shut down Kindle store in China https://t.co/34JxaknWL1
— CNBC (@CNBC) June 2, 2022
In 2019, Amazon discontinued its third-party online marketplace and cut seller services on its Chinese website, effectively surrendering its core online retail business to the country’s domestic e-commerce titans.
Amazon said it would continue to operate its international e-commerce business, called Amazon Global Store, in China, along with its advertising, logistics and cloud business.
“Amazon China’s long-term commitment to customers will not change,” Amazon said in a post on its WeChat social media page. “We have established a broad business base in China and will continue to innovate and invest.”
Although the Kindle dominates the market for e-reading devices in China, the overall size of the market has been falling in recent years as smartphone and tablet technology has improved, increasing their appeal as alternatives to e-readers.
Competition has also increased from next-generation devices that combine features of tablets and e-readers and made by domestic rivals such as Huawei Technologies Co. and iFlytek Co.
According to market-research firm Counterpoint Research, Amazon’s Kindle represented 65% of China’s e-reader market, well ahead of Xiaomi Corp.’s Duokan and iReader Technology Co.’s device, which tied for second place with 10% of the market.
*Overall e-reader sales last year fell 12.5% to 2.1 million units, with another decline expected this year.
