Companies. Kindle, Amazon's digital bookshop, has pulled out of China

Amazon, the e-commerce giant, has announced that its Kindle e book store in China will close next year.

Companies. Kindle, Amazon's digital bookshop, has pulled out of China

Amazon, the e-commerce giant, has announced that its Kindle e book store in China will close next year. This means it is giving up on a niche market in China's huge Chinese market.

In 2019, the American giant had already shut down its e-commerce platform for the Asian country. It was facing competition from strong, established rivals like Alibaba and JD.com.

The group posted a statement on Weibo that stated, "Amazon will cease operations at its Kindle China digital bookstore store on June 30, 2023." The company stated that digital books will be no longer available for purchase, but you can still download those purchased up to June 30, 2024.

She didn't give any reason for her decision.

Amazon launched its Kindle service China in 2013 on the back of a huge future market and a populace eager to learn new technologies.

The American giant offered a different service to China than the rest of the world. It allowed foreign books, but only a limited number. This was subject to approval by Chinese authorities. Amazon has sold millions in the country of Kindle ereaders, making it its largest market in 2016.

The success of the website in China inspired many other competitors, including Tencent, a Chinese internet giant that had launched a digital bookstore.

The departure of Yahoo from China was announced by American Yahoo in November. Microsoft's professional social networking LinkedIn had done the same a month before, citing a "difficult climate".

Chinese authorities have removed politically sensitive topics from the internet in the name of stability. Internet giants are being asked not to allow unwanted content.

Refusing Beijing's demands, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, along with the participatory encyclopedia Wikipedia are now inaccessible in China.

Many foreign media are also blocked by a "Great IT Wall" built by regime censors.