Hi there. It’s Brady.
E-books are hugely popular in China. Many people read them on their smartphones, but some do use e-readers. This includes the Amazon Kindle, most models of which were out of stock on JD.com!
Look, ok, that doesn’t sound like a huge deal, but under the current climate, that led to conjecture that Amazon was leaving China. Squint a little and the progression makes sense—Amazon shut down its China marketplace in 2019, then its Kindle flagship store on Taobao in October 2021. Maybe, then, its presence on JD.com was next.
But no, an Amazon representative cleared the air and said the company was in China to stay.
The episode may not seem like much, but it does tell us something about consumer perception in China. With so many other services and companies cutting back their operations or even exiting the country, eye-catching developments are seen as signs that yet another is about to leave.
Mengyuan had the story. You can read it here.
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