Yahoo! Hong Kong is to close its commerce operations, including Yahoo! Auctions, Yahoo! Store and Yahoo! Group Buy.

The company posted a message in Chinese on its website yesterday, announcing the move. 

Yahoo! Hong Kong said the decision reflected a “strategic directional change” and said new shopping experiences will come. 

Citing “fierce competition”, the platform will suspend buying and selling features on March 24 and close on May 31. Until then, transaction history, past communications and other relevant data can be downloaded for users. 

The peer-to-peer marketplace Yahoo! Auction has been running for more than 20 years, and was considered a pioneer of Hong Kong’s e-commerce scene by many. Throughout the decades, several Yahoo! Auctions marketplaces have been terminated around the world, but the concept found success in Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan, until now. Only the latter two will continue to operate for now.