Amazon surrenders in China (AMZN)

Amazon has told sellers that it will no longer operate its third-party marketplace or provide seller services in China, The Wall Street Journal reports .

amazon china AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

Furthermore, the e-tailer's been in talks to merge its e-commerce business for goods imported into China with Chinese cross-border online marketplace Kaola, which is owned by Chinese internet technology company NetEase.

Neither company has confirmed the progress or details of those talks, nor would they say if they were ongoing, but the move would remove the Amazon name from consumer-facing e-commerce in the country.

Amazon's demise in China shows the competitiveness of e-commerce in the country and bodes ill for other US sellers that may want to enter the market.China's e-commerce market is huge : It hit $1.33 trillion in 2018.

However, aggressive Chinese market leaders such as Alibaba and JD.com, which have established powerful ecosystems of services have grabbed market share and crowded out interlopers that try to take hold.

The fact that even Amazon's efforts in the country are ending in defeat is a clear sign to other foreign e-tailers that if they want to sell in China, they would get the best results from working with a local player.

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