Amazon Officially Confirms Australia Plans

We here at the Cin7 blog have seen the writing on the wall since late 2016 about Amazon’s plans to go full-on in Australia. Until now, we could only go by media speculation and industry analysis. Last week, Amazon officially confirmed in writing that it will launch its services full-scale.

Amazon Officially Planning Marketplace Launch

If you’ve been following the Amazon in Australia story closely, you’ve probably seen the coverage already. If not, here’s Amazon’s full statement about Australia:

“Amazon Web Services launched an Australian region in 2012, we launched a Kindle Store on Amazon.com.au in 2013, and we now have almost 1,000 employees in the country. The next step is to bring a retail offering to Australia, and we are making those plans now. We are excited to bring thousands of new jobs to Australia, millions of dollars in additional investment, and to empower small Australian businesses through Amazon Marketplace. We are optimistic that by focusing on the things we believe customers value most – low prices, vast selection, and fast delivery – over time we’ll earn the business of Australian customers.”

Opportunity Awaits

The Amazon Marketplace is the key point for businesses to take notice.

While the news of Amazon officially coming to Australia continues to ruffle feathers among established retail chains, the Amazon Marketplace is where companies can excel.

As Cin7 Founder and Chief Architect Danny Ing has said, Australian companies looking to expand their customer base will now have a sales channel with the potential to reach 300 million or more customers.

“You don’t have to put everything on Amazon,” Ing said during a March 30 Breakfast Event. “You can put your fast-moving range on Amazon and anything that is more of a specialized item on your website. We have a customer that sells one-third of his products on Amazon, and keeps two-thirds of his products he sells through his other channels.”

We still don’t know the exact launch of the Marketplace. But if the earlier educated guesses are accurate, it should be around September.

There’s time to prepare. Decide what you will sell through Amazon, take steps to avoid unnecessary storage fees by keeping your inventory optimized for the channel, package and label everything correctly, and manage your Amazon sales as part of an over omnichannel strategy.