Pratica di Shadowing: Why Amazon's Marketplace Failed In China - Impara a parlare inglese con i video
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These are some of the biggest and most recognizable brands in the U.S.
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What do they all have in common?
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None survived in China.
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And you might be surprised to see this e-commerce giant on that list, despite China's enormous $2 trillion e-commerce market.
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Amazon arrived in the country through a $75 million acquisition of Joyo.com, an online book and media seller, back in 2004.
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The company bet big on its e-reader and tablet product offerings, but it took years thanks to China's infamously tricky regulatory approval process.
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"Some companies thought their competitive advantages can be transferred to China.
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Unfortunately, they couldn't." China is home to the largest and fastest growing e-commerce market in the world.
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Competition includes the likes of billionaire and multi-hyphenate Jack Ma's Alibaba, TaoBao and JD.
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It also has a massive middle class, having grown from a measly 4% of urban households in 2000 to 76% in 2022, making for an attractive market.
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"China's a very tech savvy and mobile first market, and the Chinese consumer's always in to the latest technology and into the latest trends.
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On top of that, Chinese consumers still love and are attracted to a lot of foreign brands.
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So that presents an interesting opportunity." So why did Amazon, a global e-commerce force, lose its footing in a country that so readily embraces e-commerce?
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Like many U.S. company failures in China, Amazon's was a lesson in overconfidence.
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It thought its domestic success story could translate . In North America, net sales more than doubled from 2004 to 2008. Amazon Prime launched in 2005.
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In China, the company began its expansion by acquiring Joyo, a domestic online shopping market, in 2004.
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Joyo rebranded to Amazon China in 2011.
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"At that time, the e-commerce market in China was just taking shape. There were only a few players out there, including eBay, Alibaba, JD, Dongdong and Joyo. For the first few years, Amazon was kind of market leader, so it was taking 12% of the market share, only after Dong Dong." "When Amazon entered the market in 2004 through the acquisition of Joyo, it was very much seen as a platform for... that Chinese consumers could trust for authentic products, not only domestic products, but also products from abroad." In later years, the company bet on its full suite of e-reader and tablet products, but regulatory approval for wireless products were required from three different government agencies, which caused years-long delays and a lot of valuable time lost.
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Between 2011 and 2012, Amazon's market share held at a little over 15%.
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But by the end of 2019, that number plunged to less than 1%.
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"Alibaba, through Tmall and Taobao and JD.com, another rival, began to expand aggressively.
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And that edge, that unique proposition that Amazon had, started to erode because JD.com, as well as Alibaba's e-commerce platforms, began to partner with brands, they brought foreign brands onto their platform, luxury goods and foreign clothing, brands, electronics, etc., etc.
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And so they become- they became also trusted platforms for Chinese consumers to get a lot of these products." Amazon's failure was, for the most part, a gradual ordeal.
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After all, the company managed a 15-year tenure in China. Given the wealth of China's e-commerce segment, the assumption is that a global conglomerate of Amazon's pedigree would fit right in, somewhere in that $2 trillion. But the reality is that the market is saturated and exceptionally competitive.
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Amazon was up against billion-dollar behemoths.
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Alibaba's China commerce revenue was $15.6 billion in 2012. Tmall, another Alibaba-owned B2C site, controlled 53.7% of the B2C China market, and JD held 17.1% in 2012 as well.
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Amazon trailed behind by a measly 2.7%.
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Alibaba was founded by Jack Ma in 1999 and operates some of the largest third-party platforms and marketplaces in China, including Taobao, Tmall and Juhuasuan.
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In 2013, it was the world's largest online and mobile commerce company. Alibaba and JD are two of the largest e-commerce players in China.
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Aside from their positive reputations among Chinese consumers, their long-standing presence advantageously informs their business decisions and acumen.
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Put more simply, they understand the Chinese consumer better.
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"It's important to talk a little bit here about Singles Day. This happens every year on November the 11th, and it's a huge day where e-commerce companies offer massive discounts and big promotions.
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Alibaba, JD and some of the domestic e-commerce players are very aggressive in their marketing around this, but over the years, you haven't really seen Amazon take a huge role in marketing around this.
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And this is the big marketing event of the year.
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So I think that really highlights the way that Amazon hasn't been as forthcoming when it comes to advertising for its business in China." In other words, price wars broke out.
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Amazon did have Prime Day, a day-long event featuring special discounts and deals, as it does in the U.S.
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But the other platforms' connection with consumers was just stronger.
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Both JD and Alibaba break their sales records nearly every year.
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In America, Amazon's competitive pricing is what attracts many consumers.
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But in China, the playing ground was leveled.
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The consumer experience between shopping, ordering and delivery was also lackluster by comparison.
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Amazon's selection, previously seen as expansive, proved to be narrower than competitors in later years.
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Alibaba's exclusive payment system, Alipay, was not only convenient and favored by consumers, but has existed in China since 2004, and on top of charging for delivery, Amazon's delivery times lagged behind competitors in China.
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"Consumers value speed more than anything else.
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Amazon still relied on third-party couriers for the last mile delivery.
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But JD already built its own in-house delivery team, so those drivers would ride on three-wheeled electric bikes and get the goods very fast to consumers." Amazon's leadership was also ill-equipped to compete with Chinese entrepreneurs.
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The local team in China was actually aware of the company's missteps, but unable to get on the same page with Amazon's domestic leadership.
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"We know Amazon is a global company.
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It generates more than half of its revenue from international markets.
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But JD or Alibaba, they are local companies.
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The majority of their revenue comes from the Chinese market, so they couldn't afford to lose China.
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So the Chinese entrepreneurs are much more aggressive than their counterparts in the West.
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For them, it's a life or death battle." Despite a strong logistics network and familiar name, according to some China-based analysts, Amazon's insistence on implementing Western business practices ultimately led to an unsustainable operation.
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With no sign of growth or profitability, it decided to withdraw most of its marketplace efforts in 2019 and refocused its China business on cross-border operations.
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"It allowed Chinese consumers to buy products from some of its foreign sites.
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Now that business is tiny, and by this point, it really lost the battle. JD.com and Alibaba's e-commerce sites still dominate, particularly as well, in that cross-border part of the business." It's worth noting that Amazon itself recognized all of these challenges in its 2012 report and yet were unable to overcome them anyway.
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Today, Amazon's presence in China is led by its cloud and selling services.
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Amazon Web Services operates in the Beijing and Ningxia regions.
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To be clear, Amazon's presence in China has not dissolved to a full absence.
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The company continues to operate cross-border services and announced plans to open a front-end bonded warehouse in the Ningbo, Zhejiang province in 2023.
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Other services include Amazon Global Selling, Amazon Advertising, Amazon Global Logistics, among others.
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On the other hand, Amazon struggles in China persist.
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In summer 2022, it announced the closure of its Kindle e-book store.
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In Q3 2022, Amazon's international segment sales decreased 5% year-over-year to $27.7 billion from $29.1 billion.
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The international segment operating loss was $2.5 billion. Despite its China marketplace closure, Amazon's international scope otherwise hasn't ceased to expand.
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Germany and Britain are Amazon's biggest markets after the U.S. This year, Amazon announced a plan to launch new Amazon Web Services local zones in 32 new metropolitan areas in 26 countries globally.
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AWS is a multi-service cloud platform that provides compute, storage and data functionalities, among others.
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Amazon provided CNBC the following statement: "We have become much more than an online store in China and will continue to expand the services we offer to our Chinese customers." For now, Amazon has shown no intentions of reinstating its China market, but given that it still has operations in the largest e-commerce market in the world, it remains to be seen whether or not Amazon will attempt a revival in the future.
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Vocabolario e note di pronuncia per questa lezione
Questa lezione di conversazione di livello B2 si basa sul video “Why Amazon's Marketplace Failed In China”. Le parole che ritornano più spesso: China, Amazon, commerce, consumer, Chinese. Questo video contiene 68 frasi e 1436 parole da ripetere con lo shadowing. Il parlato dura 10:42. Chi parla mantiene un ritmo costante di circa 134 parole al minuto, comodo per lo shadowing. Solo il 79% delle parole rientra nelle 3.000 più comuni dell’inglese, quindi il lessico è impegnativo.
Vocaboli chiave di questo video
Le 15 parole più avanzate del video, con pronuncia e significato:
| Parola | Pronuncia | Significato |
|---|---|---|
| marketplace sostantivo | mercato | |
| competitor sostantivo | /kəmˈpɛt.ɪ.tɚ/ | avversario, rivale |
| logistics sostantivo | /ləˈd͡ʒɪstɪks/ | logistica |
| entrepreneur sostantivo | /ˌɑn.tɹə.pɹəˈnɝ/ | imprenditore, imprenditrice |
| closure sostantivo | /ˈkloʊ.ʒɚ/ | chiusura, termine |
| acumen sostantivo | /ˈækjəmən/ | acume, perspicacia |
| advantageously avverbio | proficuamente, vantaggiosamente | |
| compute verbo | /kəmˈpjuːt/ | computare, elaborare |
| expansive aggettivo | /ɪkˈspænsɪv/ | espansibile, espandibile |
| insistence sostantivo | /ɪnˈsɪs.təns/ | insistenza |
| lackluster aggettivo | /ˈlæklʌstə/ | pallido, spento |
| ordeal sostantivo | /ɔːˈdiːl/ | calvario, tortura |
| pedigree sostantivo | /ˈpɛd.ɪ.ɡɹi/ | di razza, purosangue |
| plunge verbo | /plʌnd͡ʒ/ | immergere |
| recognizable aggettivo | riconoscibile |
I phrasal verb che sentirai
| Parola | Significato |
|---|---|
| break out verbo | evadere |
La grammatica di questo video
Le strutture che chi parla usa di più, con le parole esatte del video:
| Struttura | Nel video |
|---|---|
| Forma passiva be + participio passato — conta ciò che accade, non chi lo fa | can be transferred · are attracted · were required |
| Present perfect have/has + participio passato — un’azione passata che conta ancora adesso | haven't really seen · hasn't been · has existed |
Pronuncia a cui fare attenzione
Chi parla usa 5 contrazioni e forme ridotte, come couldn't, hasn't, haven't. Pronunciale nella forma breve, così come le senti.
- I suoni “th”: behemoth /bəˈhi(ː).məθ/, forthcoming /fɔɹθˈkʌmɪŋ/, authentic /ɔˈθɛn.tɪk/, withdraw /wɪðˈdɹɔ/
- I suoni “sh” e “zh”: closure /ˈkloʊ.ʒɚ/, exceptionally /ɪkˈsɛp(t)ʃənəli/, proposition /ˌpɹɑpəˈzɪʃən/, assumption /əˈsʌm(p).ʃ(ə)n/, intentions /ɪnˈtɛnʃənz/
- Parole lunghe — attenzione all’accento: competitor /kəmˈpɛt.ɪ.tɚ/, entrepreneur /ˌɑn.tɹə.pɹəˈnɝ/, conglomerate /kənˈɡlɑ.mɚ.ət/, overconfidence /oʊvɚˈkɑnfɪdənts/, profitability /ˌpɹɑ.fɪ.təˈbɪl.ɪ.ti/
I suoni difficili per chi parla italiano:
- /h/ — va soffiata, non è muta: behemoth /bəˈhi(ː).məθ/, hyphenate /ˈhaɪf(ə)ˌneɪt/, warehouse /ˈwɛə(ɹ)haʊs/
- Consonante finale — senza aggiungere una vocale dopo: logistics /ləˈd͡ʒɪstɪks/, tablet /ˈtæblət/, behemoth /bəˈhi(ː).məθ/, compute /kəmˈpjuːt/, conglomerate /kənˈɡlɑ.mɚ.ət/
- /æ/ — più aperta della “e”: tablet /ˈtæblət/, acumen /ˈækjəmən/, expansive /ɪkˈspænsɪv/, lackluster /ˈlæklʌstə/, rebrand /ɹiːˈbɹænd/
Come esercitarsi con questo video
- Ascolta tutto il video una volta senza parlare e annota le parole che non conosci.
- Fai shadowing frase per frase a velocità normale, ripetendo ognuna finché il tuo ritmo coincide con quello di chi parla.
- Registrati e confronta con l’originale, facendo attenzione a parole come marketplace, competitor, logistics.
Cos'è la tecnica dello Shadowing?
Shadowing è una tecnica di apprendimento delle lingue supportata da studi scientifici, originariamente sviluppata per la formazione dei traduttori professionisti e resa popolare dal poliglotta Dr. Alexander Arguelles. Il metodo è semplice ma potente: ascolti un audio in inglese di madrelingua e lo ripeti immediatamente ad alta voce — come un'ombra che segue il parlante con un ritardo di solo 1–2 secondi. A differenza dell'ascolto passivo o degli esercizi di grammatica, lo shadowing costringe il tuo cervello e i muscoli della bocca a elaborare e riprodurre simultaneamente i modelli di discorso reale. La ricerca dimostra che migliora significativamente la precisione della pronuncia, l'intonazione, il ritmo, il discorso connesso, la comprensione dell'ascolto e la fluidità del parlato — rendendolo uno dei metodi più efficaci per la preparazione alla prova di speaking dell'IELTS e per la comunicazione reale in inglese.