The ‘soft launch’ of Amazon Australia has begun with promises the marketplace giant will forever change the face of shopping in this country.
While the ‘internal testing phase’ was limited to a small number of customers who were able to order from the local site, the full launch is due sometime Friday morning.
Some analysts have predicted Amazon’s prices would be up to 30 per cent cheaper than other local retailers.
The company aims to provide a wider range of products, cheaper and faster than everyone else.
Despite the hype, Amazon Australia’s website still looked the same on Thursday afternoon as it has in recent years.
Welcome Amazonians: Amazon Australia has begun trading with a ‘soft launch’ on Thursday
Amazon Australia is expected to stage its full business launch sometime on Friday morning
The Amazon ‘fulfillment centre’ in Melbourne pictured on Thursday as the company launches
eBay Australia and New Zealand managing director Tim MacKinnon welcomed all competition which he said was ‘great for the market and great for consumers, as long as the competition is fair.’
‘We let every retailer big and small compete,’ Mr MacKinnon told news.com.au.
Mr MacKinnon said there had been ‘a lot of hype about Amazon in Australia. ‘It will be interesting to see what they actually launch with, to see if they live up to the hype,’ he said.
Investment bank UBS has said the launch of Amazon would accelerate the uptake of online shopping in Australia, according to news.com.au.
A survey of more than 1000 consumers found 42 per cent were expecting to spend more money as a result.
The Australian Financial Review has said Amazon ‘will trigger the biggest shake-up in retail in a generation’.
Amazon Australia’s ‘fulfillment centre’ in Melbourne on Thursday as the business launches
Amazon Australia launched on Thursday; pictured is the Melbourne ‘fulfillment centre’
The truck entrance to Amazon Australia’s Melbourne ‘fulfillment centre’ on Thursday
Amazon did not make any official announcement about its launch but a leaked email confirmed speculation Amazon Australia would launch ahead of the famous Black Friday sales.
The email, obtained by Lifehacker on Tuesday, informed sellers the international raider would open for business at 2pm on Thursday.
There had been little official detail provided by Amazon on its local offerings.
Amazon contacted sellers to be prepared with pricing and stock ahead of the ‘testing phase’, with a select number of customers being able to trial the systems and begin making orders.
‘Dear Seller, to prepare for the launch of the Amazon Marketplace in Australia we will start an internal testing phase with a small number of customers on Thursday 23 November 2017, 2pm AEST,’ the email reads.
The news was well received by Australians, with Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales beginning in the coming days.
A leaked email has confirmed speculation that Amazon Australia will launch ahead of the famous Black Friday sales
The email, obtained by Lifehacker on Tuesday, informed sellers the marketplace giant will open for business at 2pm on Thursday
Australians can already buy Amazon products from offshore, but having a warehouse locally cuts sometimes sizable international shipping cost
The email was sent to an unknown number of sellers in what appeared to be a soft launch for the company.
‘Once you have passed Seller Identity Verification you will be part of this testing phase and you should be prepared to receive orders from this point onward … We are very excited to have you on board during this testing phase. Let’s Make History!’
Sellers were required to have all their shipping and bank details ready to go so customers could begin purchasing their products immediately.
Since confirming plans to open in Australia in April, Amazon has signed up ‘many thousands’ of sellers, boss Rocco Braeuniger said, who relocated from Germany to take up the role
Since confirming plans to open in Australia in April, Amazon has signed up ‘many thousands’ of sellers, boss Rocco Braeuniger said, who relocated from Germany to take up the role
Since confirming plans to open in Australia in April, Amazon has signed up ‘many thousands’ of sellers, boss Rocco Braeuniger said, who relocated from Germany to take up the role.
Australians can already buy Amazon products from offshore, but having a warehouse locally cuts sometimes sizable international shipping costs, adding to pressure on retailers already struggling with the overheads that come from maintaining shopfronts and employing checkout staff.
Nielsen data released this week showed the US site was the second most popular mass merchandise retailer for Australians, below Woolworths.
UBS Australia released a survey earlier this year which said Amazon was in talks with almost a quarter of Australia’s food and grocery suppliers.
Earlier this month, Australia’s top department store chain Myer Holdings Ltd cut its growth targets, citing weak trading conditions.
Rival David Jones recently contributed to the first profit decline in eight years for its owner, South Africa’s Woolworths Holdings.
In a sign of further headwinds for offline retail, Mr Braeuniger said Amazon planned to bring more services to Australia, from the outset, than it had previously flagged.
Workers prepare to ship orders at Amazon’s ‘fulfillment centre’ in Peterborough in the UK
The site for Amazon’s first Australian distribution centre in Dandenong, Australia
While Amazon said earlier that it would offer Australia its Marketplace service, he said the company would also run its own retail unit, ordering and shipping its own product.
He suggested Amazon would wait, however, before taking on Australia’s grocery market.
The firm took years to offer the service in other countries and ‘it’s really, really complicated to make fresh food delivery a great customer experience.’
Amazon, among the latest tech heavyweights to expand in Australia, has snapped up a sprawling nine-floor office in Sydney’s financial hub, with sweeping views of the Harbour Bridge and Hyde Park.
In August, it said it had picked a distribution warehouse in Melbourne, also on the east coast – where about four-fifths of the country’s 24 million people live.
The ‘fulfillment centre’ at Amazon Australia’s Melbourne operating base pictured on Thursday