Shadowing Practice: Why Amazon's Marketplace Failed In China - Learn English Speaking with 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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Woordenschat en spreektips bij deze les
Deze spreekles op niveau B2 is gebaseerd op de video “Why Amazon's Marketplace Failed In China”. Deze woorden komen het vaakst terug: China, Amazon, commerce, consumer, Chinese. Deze video bevat 68 zinnen en 1436 woorden om na te spreken. Het gesproken deel duurt 10:42. De spreker praat in een gelijkmatig tempo van ongeveer 134 woorden per minuut, prettig om te shadowen. Slechts 79% van de woorden hoort bij de 3.000 meest gebruikte Engelse woorden, dus de woordenschat is pittig.
Belangrijke woorden in deze video
De 15 moeilijkste woorden uit de video, met uitspraak en betekenis:
| Woord | Uitspraak | Betekenis |
|---|---|---|
| competitor zelfstandig naamwoord | /kəmˈpɛt.ɪ.tɚ/ | concurrent, concurent |
| logistics zelfstandig naamwoord | /ləˈd͡ʒɪstɪks/ | logistiek |
| entrepreneur zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˌɑn.tɹə.pɹəˈnɝ/ | ondernemer, entrepreneur |
| tablet zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈtæblət/ | kleitablet |
| closure zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈkloʊ.ʒɚ/ | beëindiging, afsluiting |
| acumen zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈækjəmən/ | scherpzinnigheid, inzicht |
| compute werkwoord | /kəmˈpjuːt/ | uitrekenen, berekenen |
| conglomerate zelfstandig naamwoord | /kənˈɡlɑ.mɚ.ət/ | conglomeraat |
| dissolve werkwoord | /dɪˈzɑlv/ | ontbinden, oplossen |
| expansive bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /ɪkˈspænsɪv/ | omvattend |
| lackluster bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /ˈlæklʌstə/ | dof |
| misstep zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈmɪs.stɛp/ | misstap |
| ordeal zelfstandig naamwoord | /ɔːˈdiːl/ | kwelling, ontbering |
| pedigree zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈpɛd.ɪ.ɡɹi/ | stamboom |
| profitability zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˌpɹɑ.fɪ.təˈbɪl.ɪ.ti/ | winstgevendheid, rentabiliteit |
Grammatica in deze video
De structuren die de spreker het meest gebruikt, met de exacte woorden uit de video:
| Structuur | In de video |
|---|---|
| Lijdende vorm be + voltooid deelwoord — het gaat om wat er gebeurt, niet om wie het doet | can be transferred · are attracted · were required |
| Present perfect have/has + voltooid deelwoord — iets uit het verleden dat nu nog telt | haven't really seen · hasn't been · has existed |
Uitspraak om op te letten
De spreker gebruikt 5 samentrekkingen en verkorte vormen, zoals couldn't, hasn't, haven't. Spreek ze kort uit, zoals je ze hoort.
- De “th”-klanken: behemoth /bəˈhi(ː).məθ/, forthcoming /fɔɹθˈkʌmɪŋ/, authentic /ɔˈθɛn.tɪk/, withdraw /wɪðˈdɹɔ/
- De klanken “sh” en “zh”: closure /ˈkloʊ.ʒɚ/, exceptionally /ɪkˈsɛp(t)ʃənəli/, proposition /ˌpɹɑpəˈzɪʃən/, assumption /əˈsʌm(p).ʃ(ə)n/, intentions /ɪnˈtɛnʃənz/
- Lange woorden — let op de klemtoon: competitor /kəmˈpɛt.ɪ.tɚ/, entrepreneur /ˌɑn.tɹə.pɹəˈnɝ/, conglomerate /kənˈɡlɑ.mɚ.ət/, overconfidence /oʊvɚˈkɑnfɪdənts/, profitability /ˌpɹɑ.fɪ.təˈbɪl.ɪ.ti/
Klanken die Nederlandstaligen lastig vinden:
- Stemhebbende eindmedeklinker — /b/, /d/, /g/, /z/, /v/ niet verscherpen: dissolve /dɪˈzɑlv/, expansive /ɪkˈspænsɪv/, plunge /plʌnd͡ʒ/, rebrand /ɹiːˈbɹænd/, lag /læɡ/
- /æ/ — opener dan de Nederlandse “e”: tablet /ˈtæblət/, acumen /ˈækjəmən/, expansive /ɪkˈspænsɪv/, lackluster /ˈlæklʌstə/, rebrand /ɹiːˈbɹænd/
- /g/ — een harde plofklank, geen Nederlandse “g”: conglomerate /kənˈɡlɑ.mɚ.ət/, pedigree /ˈpɛd.ɪ.ɡɹi/, lag /læɡ/, gradual /ˈɡɹæd͡ʒuəl/, globally /ˈɡloʊbəli/
Zo oefen je met deze video
- Luister de hele video één keer zonder te spreken en noteer de woorden die je niet kent.
- Spreek zin voor zin na op normale snelheid en herhaal elke zin tot je ritme gelijk is aan dat van de spreker.
- Neem jezelf op en vergelijk met het origineel; let daarbij op woorden als competitor, logistics, entrepreneur.
Wat is de Shadowing-techniek?
Shadowing is een wetenschappelijk onderbouwde taalleermethode die oorspronkelijk is ontwikkeld voor professionele tolkentraining en gepopulariseerd door polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. De methode is eenvoudig maar krachtig: je luistert naar native Engelse audio en herhaalt het onmiddellijk hardop — als een schaduw die de spreker volgt met slechts 1–2 seconden vertraging. In tegenstelling tot passief luisteren of grammaticadrills, dwingt shadowing je hersenen en mondspieren om echte spraakpatronen tegelijkertijd te verwerken en te reproduceren. Onderzoek toont aan dat het de uitspraaknauwkeurigheid, intonatie, ritme, verbonden spraak, luisterbegrip en spreekvaardigheid aanzienlijk verbetert — waardoor het een van de meest effectieve methoden is voor IELTS Speaking-voorbereiding en echte Engelse communicatie.