Amazon Australia to begin selling products on Thursday

Amazon has told its Australian suppliers that it will begin selling products to ‘a small number of customers’ on Thursday 23 November.

Amazon said in an email to suppliers: ‘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.’

Suppliers who chose to be part of the testing phase are told they should be prepared to receive orders from this date.

Retail consultant Scott Kilmartin told the New Daily that Amazon Australia’s soft launch on Thursday will be followed by an official launch on Friday to coincide with the pre-Christmas retail event Black Friday.

As previously reported by Books+Publishing, Amazon has appointed Rocco Braeuniger as its country manager for Australia and opened its first Australian fulfilment centre in Dandenong South, in Melbourne’s south-east.

Australian booksellers have been anticipating the launch of Amazon’s Australian operations for some time. In October, communications agency Spectrum Group hosted a panel discussion on the impact of the company’s arrival on local booksellers with Booktopia CEO Tony Nash and Gleebooks co-owner David Gaunt. Readings managing director Mark Rubbo also recently penned an opinion piece for the Guardian Australia on why Australians should support local booksellers in the face of Amazon’s arrival.

Category: Local news