Case Summary This case discusses the challenges faced by Elaine Chang (Elaine), VP of Amazon.com, Inc., and President, Amazon China, as she endeavored to expand the companys footprint in China. Amazon entered China in 2004, but was still struggling with less than a 3% share of the countrys e-commerce market in 2017. Amazon entered China by acquiring Joyo.com, which was an online bookstore, and expanded to an online website to sell different consumer goods. Amazon adopted certain localization strategies to win market share and also introduced Amazon Primee to offer better delivery services to Chinese customers. It also opened a store in rival Alibabas Tmall.com. However, despite these efforts, it failed to make a mark in China. Amazon was facing a lot of competition from rivals such as JD.com, Tencent, and Tmall.com. In addition to this, the regulation of the internet by the Chinese government, fraudulent and counterfeit sellers, and government restrictions on foreign investment also posed big challenges for Amazon. Elaine had the big responsibility of building a revival strategy for Amazon in China.

CASE LEARNING OBJECTIVES This case study is designed to enable students to: Evaluate Amazons entry and expansion strategy in China. Understand the importance of the Chinese market to Amazons growth. Examine Amazons efforts to localize its offerings in China. Understand the issues and challenges faced by Amazon in China. Explore future strategies that Amazon can adopt to grow in the Chinese e-commerce market.

Discussion Questions for Chapter 5 Case Study:

1. Critically analyze Amazons strategy in China.

2. How could Amazon face up to the fierce competition from e-commerce retailers in China?

3. Discuss the possible challenges Amazon could face in China going forward. What should it do in such a scenario?