Following a few false starts, online juggernaut Amazon has finally launched in Australia.
The online retail giant is expected to make $200 million before Christmas – just three weeks after its launch date.
Despite a false start on Black Friday, Amazon expected a successful launch, releasing ‘millions’ of products across 23 categories including electronics, clothing, beauty and homewares.
Following a few false starts, online juggernaut Amazon has finally launched in Australia
Despite a false start on Black Friday, Amazon expected a successful launch, releasing ‘millions’ of products across 23 categories including electronics, clothing, beauty and homewares
Amazon is offering 30 per cent discounts on major brands including children’s toys, men’s and women’s underwear and Sunbeam appliances, the Australian Financial Review reported.
The US-based company also offered a month’s supply of Huggies nappies for a total price of $65, including shipping.
The e-commerce company will offer one-day delivery to customers in major Australian cities including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane Adelaide and Canberra for $9.99 and one to two-day delivery to other major cities including perth for $11.99.
Amazon is expected to fulfil orders at its new 24,000-square-metre distribution centre in Dandenong South in Melbourne.
The retail giant opened its first local warehouse in Dandenong South earlier this year, where it began an order-taking trial in November.
Amazon has reportedly bought 2.11 hectares of vacant land in the industrial suburb of Smeaton Grange (above
The e-commerce company will offer one-day delivery to customers in major Australian cities including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane Adelaide and Canberra for $9.99 and one to two-day delivery to other major cities including perth for $11.99
Amazon also bought 2.11 hectares of vacant land in the industrial suburb of Smeaton Grange, 50km south of Sydney’s CBD, according to Fairfax Media.
The company’s entry into the Australian market was far more aggressive than that into other countries including Canada, the Australian Financial Review reported.
Amazon launched into Australia’s retail sector with 23 different categories, which was well above the handful of categories it rolled out in Canada in 2002.
Similarly, the company entered Spain in 2011 with about half a dozen categories, far fewer than its 23 in Australia rolled out on Day One.
Amazon is expected to take over about 25 per cent of sales in the Australia’s $24b e-commerce market.
The company’s impact on the current retail sector is expected to be great, driving retail prices down and forcing retailers to invest in e-commerce business models.
The company’s impact on the current retail sector is expected to be great, driving retail prices down and forcing retailers to invest in e-commerce business models (cushions pictured)
‘It’s still day one! Are you ready to make a difference?’ a sign at Melbourne’s fulfillment centre reads
Despite hype that the online giant would launch its website in time for Black Friday, Australian customers were left hanging
While online vendors are excited about the opportunities, more traditional shopkeepers have faced pressure to convince investors they can compete against the US giant since it confirmed its plans for Australia in April.
Shares of Harvey Norman, Australia’s biggest electronics retailer, are down 9 percent since April 17, the day before Amazon said it was coming to Australia.
Shares of Australia’s biggest department store chain Myer Holdings Ltd are down 39 percent.
‘It’s not as if the majority of retailers in Australia are making a fortune and growing their businesses,’ said Gerry Harvey, executive chairman of Harvey Norman.
‘If you’re in clothes and shoes and handbags, you can’t take a lot more pressure.’
Amazon set up its warehouse in Australia’s second-biggest city of Melbourne, on the east coast where four-fifths of the country’s 24 million people live.
Shoppers will watch delivery times closely with Christmas just around the corner.
‘It will be really interesting to see whether it lives up to the hype,’ said Tim McKinnon, the Australian managing director for eBay Inc, an Amazon competitor.