China’s JD is set to close its e-commerce services in Indonesia and Thailand, retreating from Southeast Asia after a bruising year for China’s retail and technology sectors.
The services will end on 3 March in Thailand whilst its operations in Indonesia will cease at the end of that same month. Both units will stop taking orders on 15 February. A spokesperson for JD said in a statement on Monday that the company will continue to serve global markets, including Southeast Asia, through its supply chain infrastructure.
The company, which did not give a reason for the closures, started its e-commerce operation in Indonesia under the name JD.ID in 2015 as a joint venture with Provident Capital, while the Thai platform was launched two years later with the country’s largest retailer Central Group.
Despite this, JD failed to gain traction when pitted against larger market players such as Alibaba Group’s Lazada, Sea Ltd’s Shopee and GoTo Group’s Tokopedia.
