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by nehene 2876 days ago
> That, plus the fact that China will just pull the plug on any American business gaining too much traction.

So did they? We all know why Google and Facebook isn't in China, but as far as I can tell I don't find similar conflicts regarding companies like Amazon and eBay. The consensus online seems to be that they have been failing in the Chinese market by their own hand. Which does sound pretty plausible considering they aren't even that good in Europe.
2 comments
qiqing 2876 days ago
Starbucks is doing very well in China (as well as KFC, Pizza Hut, and McDonalds, and their compatriots), and also Apple, Nike, Tesla, Coach, Carrefour, Tesco, and more. (Latter 2 are from Europe.)

Prior to the rise of Taobao, most of my family members didn't really use eBay in China. Most of them prefer using mobile (like the bulk of consumers in China), but if you prioritize the browser experience and 'consistency across the global platform' over what your local users want, well, shrug, let's pretend there's nothing to learn here from a UX perspective...

In contrast, Starbucks has a different user experience when you walk into one in Shanghai or Hangzhou. You place your order and pay for it via phone and pick it up at the register and you don't have to stand in a line. I wish they'd replicate that in the US.

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nehene 2876 days ago
I still haven't seen a suggestion engine (including the image search verity) nor chat system (in terms of utility) that could compete with what Taobao had a couple of years ago. (It does probably exist in China though). I think people confuse Taobao with AliExpress. The latter being about as useless as eBay. Once you build some history on Taobao, you can spend days just browsing.
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mahranch 2876 days ago
> Starbucks is doing very well in China

Starbucks is considered extremely high-end/luxury in China. It's not just an overpriced coffee shop like it is here in the U.S. It's considered 'exotic'.

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onetimemanytime 2876 days ago
Google didn't have any problems with China...until it did. No court to sue either, unless you want to waste your time and money.
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nehene 2876 days ago
I am not sure which part of my comment you are addressing. As far as I know the official story from Google was that gmail users were being targeted by the Chinese government. Google deliberately stopped complying with Chinese law by no longer censoring search result and therefor became blocked. Yahoo and Microsoft didn't and are still in China.
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