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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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Why Amazon's Marketplace Failed In China”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: China, Amazon, commerce, consumer, Chinese. This video has 68 sentences and 1436 words to shadow. The speech runs for 10:42. The speaker talks at a steady 134 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 79% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| marketplace noun | An open area in a town housing a public market. | |
| measly adjective | /ˈmizli/ | Particularly of pigs or pork: infected with larval tapeworms or trichinae (parasitic roundworms). |
| competitor noun | /kəmˈpɛt.ɪ.tɚ/ | A person or organization against whom one is competing. |
| logistics noun | /ləˈd͡ʒɪstɪks/ | The process of planning, implementing, and controlling the efficient, effective flow and storage of goods, services and related information from their point of… |
| entrepreneur noun | /ˌɑn.tɹə.pɹəˈnɝ/ | A person who sets up a business; generally, a person who owns and manages a business and assumes its financial risks. |
| tablet noun | /ˈtæblət/ | A slab of clay, stone or wood used for inscription. |
| closure noun | /ˈkloʊ.ʒɚ/ | An event or occurrence that signifies an ending. |
| acumen noun | /ˈækjəmən/ | Quickness of perception or discernment; penetration of mind; the faculty of nice discrimination; acuity of mind. |
| advantageously adverb | In a manner which provides an advantage; in an advantageous manner. | |
| behemoth noun | /bəˈhi(ː).məθ/ | A great and mighty beast which God shows to Job in Job 40:15–24. |
| compute verb | /kəmˈpjuːt/ | To reckon, calculate. |
| conglomerate noun | /kənˈɡlɑ.mɚ.ət/ | A cluster of heterogeneous things. |
| dissolve verb | /dɪˈzɑlv/ | To terminate a union of multiple members actively, as by disbanding. |
| expansive adjective | /ɪkˈspænsɪv/ | Comprehensive in scope or extent. |
| hyphenate verb | /ˈhaɪf(ə)ˌneɪt/ | to break a word at the end of a line according to the hyphenation rules by adding a hyphen on the end of the line. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| break out verb | To escape, especially forcefully or defiantly. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | can be transferred · are attracted · were required |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | haven't really seen · hasn't been · has existed |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 5 contractions and reduced forms, such as couldn't, hasn't, haven't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: behemoth /bəˈhi(ː).məθ/, forthcoming /fɔɹθˈkʌmɪŋ/, authentic /ɔˈθɛn.tɪk/, withdraw /wɪðˈdɹɔ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: closure /ˈkloʊ.ʒɚ/, exceptionally /ɪkˈsɛp(t)ʃənəli/, proposition /ˌpɹɑpəˈzɪʃən/, assumption /əˈsʌm(p).ʃ(ə)n/, intentions /ɪnˈtɛnʃənz/
- Long words — get the stress right: competitor /kəmˈpɛt.ɪ.tɚ/, entrepreneur /ˌɑn.tɹə.pɹəˈnɝ/, conglomerate /kənˈɡlɑ.mɚ.ət/, overconfidence /oʊvɚˈkɑnfɪdənts/, profitability /ˌpɹɑ.fɪ.təˈbɪl.ɪ.ti/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like marketplace, measly, competitor.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.