Menu

Search

  |   Business

Menu

  |   Business

Search

Amazon pulls out its Kindle store in China

Photo by: Balázs Kétyi/Unsplash

Amazon runs a Kindle store in China, and people usually buy their e-books here. However, the American tech and e-commerce firm stated on Thursday, June 2, that it would close down the e-bookstore.

According to Reuters, Amazon will no longer operate its Kindle store in China, and it will only be open until June 30, 2023. From this date, Chinese customers will not be able to buy new e-books.

Amazon will also totally stop supplying resellers with its Kindle reader, and this will be immediately in effect. The company did not provide any reason for the decision, and it only announced the pullout through its official WeChat account, which is widely used in China.

CNBC noted that Amazon’s shut down of its Kindle e-book store in China is the latest exit by an American tech company in the Chinese market. The company confirmed that it has already stopped furnishing third-party sellers with its Kindle devices, although some of the units are still up for sale on Amazon’s official store at JD.com, a Chinese e-commerce company headquartered in Beijing.

Chinese customers who previously bought e-books from Amazon’s Kindle store will still be able to redeem or download their purchases until June 30, 2024. These e-books will also be available and readable even after the end of the downloading date.

Then again, while Amazon is removing its Kindle store, it said that it is not completely pulling out its business in China. Jeff Bezos’ company said that it will still continue to operate some of its existing businesses in the country, including its logistics, devices, and ads.

“Amazon’s long-term development commitment in China will not change,” the firm said in a separate post on Weibo, another popular Chinese social media platform. “We have established an extensive business base in China and will continue to innovate and invest.”

In any case, Amazon started selling its Kindle e-readers in the country in 2013. The device quickly became popular among the Chinese, and it eventually became an important Amazon item in the device and tech market.

  • Market Data
Close

Welcome to EconoTimes

Sign up for daily updates for the most important
stories unfolding in the global economy.