A Closed Chapter for Amazon Kindle in China?

原创 Ana Padilla F. theBeijinger

收录于合集

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Barely five days into 2022, Amazon is once again facing a rocky scenario in China. Market rumors that Kindle would be shutting down, is out of stock, and perhaps even pulling out from the country altogether were finally addressed in an official statement from Amazon China on Tuesday, Jan 4.

Sources for the e-commerce company reasserted that Amazon is “committed to serving Chinese consumers,” with customers able to buy Kindle devices “through third-party online and offline retailers.” This response also confirmed that some models of Kindle e-book readers are currently sold out in the Chinese market.

Only low-end models are left in stock

Admittedly, the end of 2021 already suggested that changes were coming for Kindle users in China. For instance, Amazon Kindle's official flagship store on Tmall had closed at the end of October — and closed it remains. What's more, other than a few low-end models, Kindle products are listed as out of stock within JD's self-operated flagship stores.

This news was backed by several independent sources within Amazon China, who revealed to BKEconomy that November 2021 saw the end of the company's Kindle hardware team. All these reports have understandably triggered speculations about Kindle withdrawing entirely from China, even if Amazon has promised that there will be "no change to the high-quality customer service and warranty" provided.

Regrettably, Amazon's business in China was long ago dwarfed by domestic companies. Facing relentless competition from Chinese online shopping giants, the Seattle-based firm shut down its local marketplace on Amazon.cn Jul 18, 2019. At that time, cross-border trade and Kindle were among the few units of its local venture to stay, along with cloud computing services. Nevertheless, with Kindles on sale in the country since 2013, China had served as a pivotal market for the e-reader.

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The good old days saw less competition from brands like Xiaomi

However, the unfolding story for 2022 is one of stark contrast to those golden years. The truth is that recent times have seen increasing competition in the e-book hardware realm (read more via QR code below). Taiwan-based E Ink, creators of the very same power-saving technology used in the Kindle, are also present in the reading devices from several domestic tech giants such as Xiaomi, iFlyTek, Haier, and Hisense, along with smaller companies such as Onyx International.

And just in case there wasn't enough pressure already, Tencent Holdings, one of China's top social media and gaming moguls, launched in 2021 a dedicated e-book device for its online reading platform WeChat Read, a platform that already boasted a whopping 210 million registered users in 2019.

Already a trending topic on Chinese social media

So, what next? One thing is for sure, there's a growing market at stake. Data from the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association (CADPA) estimated a total of 494 million digital readers in 2020 and an industry valued at RMB 35 billion.