U.S e-commerce firm, Amazon on Tuesday, October 17, announced that it would launch its online shopping service in South Africa in 2024.
With the launch of Amazon, South Africa will be among 21 countries to have a local domain website .This will provide a challenge to other online retailer’s such as Nasper’s and Takealot.
“The launch of Amazon in 2024 will provide independent sellers throughout the country an opportunity to rapidly launch, grow, and scale their businesses,” Amazon said in a statement.
The online retail giant said starting on Tuesday, independent sellers in South Africa can register their businesses on its marketplace website.
Many European tech giants have seen Africa’s economies as a beachhead for investing and expanding. Some analyst’s have suggested that the e-commerce giant could be doing the same.
South Africa has lately seen a sharp increase in Online shopping. This comes after the shocks of the pandemic created an opportunity for e-commerce services to take over with retailers increasing their investments.
However, Amazon will need to intensify competition with other South Africa’s online and traditional retailers. This will help in increasing its presence in the country.
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Despite the firm’s intention to launch in south Africa, it will have to comply with local competition rules that allow retailers.
However, the management did not give details about configuration of the firm. This is because it will have to comply with the local competition rules which mandate online retailers to separate their retail division from their place of operations.
The launch of the e-commerce website will provide an opportunity for local sellers, brand owners and entrepreneur’s an opportunity to grow their business.
What Amazon Will Offer
“Local sellers, brand owners, and entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to grow their business with Amazon,” Robert Koen, general manager of the Sub-Saharan Africa region for Amazon, said in a statement.
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The launch of Amazon is going to provide independent sellers throughout the country with an opportunity to easily launch, grow and scale their businesses. This will be important in leveraging the innovative capabilities provided by Amazon
Amazon is an American multinational technology company that focuses on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence.
In addition, the firm offers a range of valuable tools, programs and services to empower sellers and foster their business growth. They including hundreds of thousands of hours of free educational content to support sellers at every stage of their journey. Some of the contents it sells include articles, videos, webinars and case studies.