Business

Tue, 7 May 2024

US based e-commerce market leader Amazon.com have quietly gone live with the local amazon.co.za domain.

This comes after a series of delays had pushed back the launch, which was scheduled for 2023.

The launch of the e-commerce giant's local marketplace will increase competition in the local sector, which is currently dominated by Naspers-owned Takealot.com.

Pickup locations currently available appear to be Pargo and Pudo (Courier Guy) lockers around the country, with a limit of R500 for free delivery. Payment options available to us included credit card instant EFT.

According to Robert Koen, managing director of Sub-Saharan Africa, “Today is only the start of Amazon.co.za. We will continue to improve and enhance our shopping experience to serve customers and sellers across South Africa.”

An initial inspection suggested that the products showing at reasonable prices were mainly items currently available through other South African marketplaces, which products that were in our wish list for Amazon abroad were still showing at significantly higher prices.

We could not find any of the items that were not available from other marketplaces at comparative South African prices yet, suggesting that Amazon were not currently keeping stock of items available on markets abroad.

According to Amazon, 60% of sales in their store are through independent sellers — most of which are small and medium-sized businesses.

Amazon offers a range of tools, programs and services for sellers, including articles, videos, webinars and case studies via their seller portal.

It was also not clear if the Amazon Affiliate Program/Amazon Influencer Program, which allows publishers and influencers to earn a commission on sales, will be available in South Africa.

Amazon currently have 75 jobs listed in South Africa, including IT and technical support, software development, management, business and merchant development.

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