Google may be an ever-expanding force here in the US, but it is shrinking in capacity in China. The search giant announced today it is closing its Google Shopping service in China.

“In order to better optimize resources, we have decided to close our shopping search service in China,” Google stated on its Chinese blog, according to translation. “The original intent of this product was to set up a bridge between consumers, retailers and traders. The impact of the product, however, did not meet our expectations. But we remain committed to helping Chinese businesses export their products to countries around the world and helping Chinese retailers use Google Shopping to reach consumers in other markets. In the future we will focus on in-app mobile advertising with AdMob, mobile and desktop display, and export-oriented search advertising.”

The decision to close Google Shopping in China is the company’s second withdrawal from the world’s largest Internet market in the past three months. In October Google closed its Music Search in China after it was unable to adequately compete with Baidu, a similar service that has signed a licensing deal with One-Stop China—a partnership between Universal, Warner and Sony BMG. Google Shipping faced its own tough competition from eTao, a retail search service owned by Yahoo-affiliate Alibaba.

“Google should focus on non-search business,” in China, Wallace Cheung, a Hong Kong-based analyst with Credit Suisse, told Bloomberg. “They posed no competition to Alibaba from day one. AdMob and mobile/desktop display are good businesses for Google, without any concern about their government relationship.”

Google’s battle in the Chinese marketplace is nothing new. In 2010 the company said it was not willing to comply with Chinese government regulations requiring Web content to be self-censored, and started redirecting Chinese Google users to a Hong Kong site. Google’s Chinese landing page, however, still offers translation services.

“We’ve never been afraid to try big, bold things, and that won’t change,” Google said in the statement announcing the closure of the shopping search service. “By targeting our resources more effectively on our core mobile, display, and export ads products, we can better help Chinese businesses grow and thrive on the Web.”

[Image via testing/Shutterstock]