Amazon Will No Longer Sell Chinese Goods In China (cnn.com) 74
Amazon announced today that it will close its marketplace in China in the coming months, meaning Amazon customers in the country will no longer be able to buy goods from Chinese merchants. "Amazon did not explain why it was withdrawing its marketplace service, saying only it will instead focus on selling goods shipped from other countries into China," reports CNN. From the report: "We are notifying sellers we will no longer operate a marketplace on Amazon.cn, and we will no longer be providing seller services on Amazon.cn effective July 18," the company said in a statement. Amazon's platform competes for Chinese sellers with Tmall, owned by the country's e-commerce leader Alibaba.
Users logging onto Amazon's Chinese site after July 18 will see products sold from its global store, the company said. "Over the past few years, we have been evolving our China online retail business to increasingly emphasize cross-border sales, and in return we've seen very strong response from Chinese customers," Amazon said. It will retain its other operations in China, such as cloud computing services. It will also continue to sell its Kindle e-readers and content in the country. "Amazon's commitment to China remains strong. We have built a solid foundation here in a number of successful businesses and we will continue to invest and grow in China," the company added.
Users logging onto Amazon's Chinese site after July 18 will see products sold from its global store, the company said. "Over the past few years, we have been evolving our China online retail business to increasingly emphasize cross-border sales, and in return we've seen very strong response from Chinese customers," Amazon said. It will retain its other operations in China, such as cloud computing services. It will also continue to sell its Kindle e-readers and content in the country. "Amazon's commitment to China remains strong. We have built a solid foundation here in a number of successful businesses and we will continue to invest and grow in China," the company added.
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Distasteful as both subjects (Hitler and his penis) may be, let's not jump the gun here.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/02/23/all-right-lets-talk-about-hitlers-penis/ [washingtonpost.com]
Re: who the fuck cares I don't live there (Score:5, Interesting)
You really know nothing.
That's because Amazon can't compete with Alibaba in China.
Just like how Alibaba can't compete with Amazon in the US.
It's due to network effect. Once you get big enough then the users have no incentive to use another service with less merchants unless the other service start to suck.
Amazon was too late into China and Alibaba already had critical mass. Just like how Alibaba never succeeded in the US because Amazon already had critical mass.
It make much more sense to focus on your strengths.
Which is exactly what Amazon and Alibaba have done. Alibaba is focusing on bringing Chinese goods direct into US and Amazon is focusing on bringing US goods into China. Exact same strategy.
To be fair they are both rich enough that they could invest enough and buy market share to grab significant marketshare in each other's home market but it would take so much money and dilute their reserves so much that it's not worth the investment and risk. No point fighting each other to the death and allow someone else to step in and take advantage of the situation after both have been drained of their resources fighting.
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'ER' and everyone else is waiting to go bankrupt, not bloody likely mate. Amazon has lost in China and the competition has only started in the US and it aint a retail competition, it is a logistics competition. So it is all how competitively the logistic companies get it from the manufacturers pick up dock to the customers door. So all about transport, storage and picking, packing and delivery costs. Retail web sites are a dime a dozen and the customer can chase a competing price in a few mouse clicks. The
Re: who the fuck cares I don't live there (Score:4, Informative)
'ER' and everyone else is waiting to go bankrupt, not bloody likely mate. Amazon has lost in China and the competition has only started in the US and it aint a retail competition, it is a logistics competition. So it is all how competitively the logistic companies get it from the manufacturers pick up dock to the customers door. So all about transport, storage and picking, packing and delivery costs. Retail web sites are a dime a dozen and the customer can chase a competing price in a few mouse clicks. The battle in the US and EU has only started and Amazon has racked up huge debt and any drop in sales will force higher margins, that debt needs to be serviced.
Competition has only started for Alibaba in China, sure easy to out compete Amazon but that does not stop other Chinese logistics companies from setting up and competing. As more logistic competition arise, so the manufacturers will get better deals and the middle men will generate less profits. That will really hurt Amazon quite a lot, how bad, depends how rapidly competition develops.
Amazon's debt is currently around $49B. The largest single piece is $17B at just below 2% interest. The average percentage for all of their debt is 2.80%. Amazon's revenue is about $230B and revenue was about $72B last quarter. They made about $11B in profits in 2018 (probably a lot more when taking into account legal loopholes that can be used to shield profits). They also had about $41B in cash on hand at the end of 2018.
Debt is not always a bad thing. While Amazon does have a chunk of debt, they can easily service that debt. It seems to me that they took advantage of low interest rates and got cheap money that they can use to invest into expansion that will net a profit of more than the debt amount. After all, they just need a 2.8% profit margin and they will more than break even on the debt.
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That's because Amazon can't compete with Alibaba in China.
Just like how Alibaba can't compete with Amazon in the US.
+ Amazon can't compete with Alibaba in the rest of the world.
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The same Alibaba that's run by Jack Ma, the guy that thinks a 12 day workday 6 days a week is a good idea.
Re: Chinese dont want to buy (Score:2)
Alibaba doesn't like competition (Score:4, Insightful)
and has the ears of a whole bunch of influential people in China. Why is this particularly surprising?
If a Chinese company only sells non-American goods (Score:1)
in its stores inside America would you blame Amazon?
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Re:Alibaba doesn't like competition (Score:4, Insightful)
Or maybe Amazon just genuinely can't compete with them. Amazon was late to the game, Alibaba was already well established and thriving when they got there.
Also have you looked at Amazon.cn? It's been translated but not tailored to the local market. You know how people complain that Chinese sites have a confusing layout and strange design? It's the same for Chinese people using Amazon.cn.
Amazon ISN'T competition (Score:2)
Alibaba doesn't like competition and has the ears of a whole bunch of influential people in China. Why is this particularly surprising?
No, it's not because Alibaba doesn't like competition. It's because Amazon can't compete with them at their own game.
Chinese marketplaces are a sewer. Don't get me wrong, it's a sewer I regularly visit in the form of shopping on places like Ali Express. But you have to know what you're doing to buy there. And you have to know what you're doing to sell there. The Chinese consider lying in business an art form. Something like in that to them there is no difference between when your friend asks you if yo
Imagine shopping in a WalMart in China (Score:4, Funny)
Re: Imagine shopping in a WalMart in China (Score:1)
Re: Imagine shopping in a WalMart in China (Score:2)
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This is why IKEA is having a tough time in China. People sold knockoffs down the street for half price.
https://gizmodo.com/this-fake-... [gizmodo.com]
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Re: The communists don't like competition (Score:2)
Oh and go ahead and mod me to -5 leftists
Hmm, not bad.
This will likely improve their reputation in China (Score:1)