Amazon “really, really close” to launching in Australia

Heather McIlvaine

13th Nov 2017

Rocco Braeuniger, Amazon’s country manager in Australia, has said the e-commerce giant is “really, really close” to launching in Australia.

This comes after Citi analyst Bryan Raymond told Internet Retailing the company is gearing up to launch in mid-November, according to conversations he has had with suppliers.

Speaking to an audience of several hundred potential Marketplace sellers at an event in Sydney today, Braeuniger said the company plans to launch with a wide selection of products across many categories, offering great prices and many delivery options. He said the company will continue to add new features over time.

Unlike in some markets, Braeuniger said Amazon will launch both its retail and marketplace offering in Australia at the same time. This involves products Amazon has purchased from suppliers and sells itself, as well as products offered by third-party sellers.

Fabio Bertola, head of Amazon Marketplace in Australia, said this decision was based on Australia’s landscape of small and medium businesses.

“We identified a lot of small and medium businesses with a unique selection that is intresting for customers…We decided we wanted to launch with this selection,” said Bertola, who previously helped launch the website in Italy in 2010.

Bertola later provided a high-level overview of Fulfillment by Amazon, the company’s logistics solution for Marketplace sellers.

Braeuniger, who previously lead Amazon’s consumer offerings, including Dash and Pantry, in Germany, added that the company now has thousands of sellers registered for Marketplace in Australia.

Both executives stressed the importance of Amazon’s focus on the customer, a key pillar of the company that undergirds everything from its pricing strategy to its innovation approach.