China’s e-commerce market was valued at $2 trillion in 2022, according to GlobalData, and the country also has a rapidly growing middle class, making it an attractive market for American companies.
Amazon entered the China market in 2004 through a $75 million acquisition of Joyo.com, an online book and media seller. The joint venture rebranded to Amazon China at the domain Amazon.cn in 2011.
In its earlier years, Amazon pushed its e-reader and tablet product offerings, but China’s complex regulatory approval process delayed their debut, which also hampered growth the U.S. e-commerce giant.
Between 2011 and 2012, Amazon’s market share hovered at approximately 15%, but it later plunged to less than 1% by 2019, according to iResearch. Amazon officially closed its China online marketplace in July 2019. Why Amazon Marketplace didn’t Survive in China