Amazon Issues Response to Rumors of Kindle’s Withdrawal From Chinese Market

In response to market rumors that Kindle is shutting down, out of stock, and may be preparing a withdrawal from China, Amazon’s domestic representatives responded on Tuesday: “We are committed to serving Chinese consumers. Consumers can purchase Kindle devices through third-party online and offline retailers.” The statement also pointed out that some models of Kindle e-book readers are currently sold out in the Chinese market.

Previously, some web users searched on e-commerce platforms and found that the official flagship store of Amazon Kindle Tmall had closed at the end of October 2021, and has not been restored yet. Within JD’s self-operated flagship store, except for a low-end model, Kindle products are out of stock.

In addition, several independent sources within Amazon China revealed to BKEconomy that the hardware team of the company had been abolished in November last year. Reports of the above changes have triggered market speculation about Kindle withdrawing from China.

Amazon China also stressed in its response that the high-quality customer service and warranty service provided by Amazon will not change.

Since the shutdown of Amazon’s local e-commerce business in China in 2019, Kindle and cross-border trade are among the few businesses that Amazon has left in China.

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According to data compiled by CHNCI, the domestic e-reader market where Kindle is located is small on the one hand, and slow in growth on the other hand. From 2014 to 2017, the market sizes were 3.0 billion yuan ($470.84 million), 3.2 billion yuan, 3.4 billion yuan and 3.7 billion yuan, respectively, with an average annual growth rate of about 7%.