A view of the Amazon logo is displayed in Douai, northern France, April 16, 2020. Photo: VCG

US e-commerce firm Amazon.com, according to its previous announcement, will close its app store in China on Monday, further retreating from the world's largest internet market. Experts noted the market has seen intensifying competition for both domestic and foreign players, and only by constantly building up core advantages, could they win a foothold here.

"The era of rapidly expanding has ended for the industry, and both Chinese and foreign internet companies have switched to strategies of cutting off unprofitable businesses and focusing more on their advantageous sectors," Liu Dingding, an independent tech analyst, told the Global Times on Sunday.

"Cutting costs and increasing efficiency" has become a consensus across the internet industry. "Yet, I don't think Amazon is going to fully retreat from the country as the potential Chinese market remains indispensable for global players," Liu said.

Citing the e-commerce business, Liu said that Amazon remains a good platform for Chinese exporters to reach the overseas market while Amazon also needs to take advantage of the tens of thousands of Chinese micro-sized and small businesses and the rapidly recovering foreign trading sector to expand its influence globally.

The suspension of the Amazon app store service will not affect any of Amazon's current business operations in China, including its buying overseas, selling globally and its Amazon China official website, the company said in a statement on May 24, noting that it will continue its innovation and investment in China.

Amazon entered the Chinese market in 2004, rapidly gaining a 15.4 percent market share. However, with the speedy expansion of domestic e-commerce platforms, such as Alibaba's Taobao, JD.com and Pinduoduo, the US e-commerce behemoth saw its market share in China shrink to less than 1 percent as of 2019, Chinese economic news site hexun.com reported.

In 2019, Amazon closed its domestic e-commerce business in China and switched to focusing on overseas buying business for Chinese consumers. On June 30, it further shut its Kindle e-book service in China after 10 years of operation.

"I switched to WeChat Reading two years ago, as it is more convenient and I can synchronize my reading materials on all my mobile terminals without carrying one more device," a Beijing resident surnamed Tao told the Global Times. She used a Kindle for six years, starting from her sophomore year.

The intensifying competition has fully reflected that the Chinese market has promising prospects. On one hand, the market is open and inclusive; while on the other hand, global players know clearly that the market is profitable and even indispensable if they want to maintain competitiveness around the world, Liu noted.

Global Times