On Tuesday, the eagerly awaited Amazon.co.za website launched without featuring any of the retail behemoth’s own goods or services.
With minimal fanfare, Amazon’s retail operations in South Africa were opened on Tuesday. The US online retailer is providing customers with a variety of incentives, such as competitive price, free delivery coupons, and a specials tab called “Today’s Deals” for additional savings.
However, a lot of South Africans who have been waiting impatiently for the megaretailer to debut will be dismayed to hear that none of the Amazon-only goods and services that go along with its retail operations elsewhere are offered locally.
The Fire TV smart TV, Ring video doorbell, Kindle e-reader, and Amazon smart speakers with Alexa speech assistant are not listed. Paradoxically, a brief exploration of takealot.com, the South African e-commerce platform regarded as Amazon’s most potent competitor, reveals several listings for Amazon products, such as the Echo Dot smart speakers and a variety of Fire TV sticks, Fire tablets, and other items.
Additionally, none of Amazon’s digital services are accessible, not even Amazon Music or the eagerly awaited Amazon Prime, which combines a variety of digital services with its e-commerce platform into a single membership package. Customers in South Africa can only access Amazon Prime Video, even though it was introduced there years prior.
Takealot’s and Amazon’s offerings in South Africa are comparable when compared like for like. However, the vast majority of products marked as out of stock on Amazon.co.za, including smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy S24 and iPhone 15 series, imply that Takealot now has a greater selection of products than its competitors.
Considering that none of Amazon’s own products are offered, nothing in its offering shouts Amazon.
Customers can receive free shipping on their first order from Amazon without having to meet any minimum expenditure limitations. The “priority” and “same day” delivery options are not covered by the deal; only the basic delivery option is. This promotion is only valid for products supplied by Amazon, not for products sold by third parties.
Organizational Logistics
After that, delivery is only free with a minimum purchase of R500 (equal to Takealot). Moreover, Takealot’s returns policy and ours are remarkably similar.
Most items can be returned to Amazon or commercial marketplace sellers on Amazon.co.za within 30 days after the item’s shipment. For products that are dispatched by Amazon, we will reimburse your money within a maximum of 14 days and send you an automatic email to confirm it,” the company stated.
For fulfillment, the business has alliances with several regional logistics service providers. When placing an order on the Amazon website, one finds that in addition to direct courier delivery, clients can choose to pick up their items from a number of pickup locations, such as Pargo, the Courier Guy (Pudo), and TCK Kiosks.
Amazon.co.za is Operational
Amazon, a massive US internet retailer, has discreetly opened an online presence in South Africa without even making an announcement.
MzansiTrust saw that a large selection of products was offered with next-day delivery at local prices when they visited amazon.co.za on Tuesday.
The platform’s apparent soft launch comes after Amazon confirmed last year that it will begin operating a marketplace in South Africa, a rumor that had been circulating in the industry. According to reports, there were also intentions for it to start in Nigeria, but those preparations seem to have been abandoned.
Customers can receive free shipping on their first order from Amazon South Africa. Additionally, it offers deliveries to pick-up locations, such as those run by Pudo (the Courier Guy) and Pargo.
Amazon announced that it has started retail operations in South Africa in a follow-up announcement on Tuesday. South African consumers “may now shop from a wide variety of local and international brands across 20 product categories,” according to the statement.
Amazon.co.za
The statement read, “Amazon.co.za offers a dependable online shopping experience featuring great value, easy returns, over 3,000 pickup points, same-day [and next-day] delivery, and round-the-clock customer support.”
“We, along with thousands of independent merchants in South Africa, are thrilled to launch Amazon.co.za. Robert Koen, MD of Amazon in sub-Saharan Africa, stated in the announcement, “We offer customers great value, a broad selection – including international and local products – and a convenient delivery experience.”
Nevertheless, based on TechCentral’s preliminary review of the website, it seems that a large number of the products aren’t available since they’re out of stock.
Amazon has a long history in South Africa. The company’s cloud computing division, Amazon Web Services, was founded there in 2006 when local engineers under the direction of Chris Pinkham constructed the first Elastic Compute (EC2) instance. In addition to building data center infrastructure to supply cloud computing services to the South African and other African markets, AWS maintains development and support centers in Cape Town.
Though there has been conjecture on Amazon’s potential for local retail operations since 2022, the US-based online retailer finally revealed its plans to launch local operations in October 2023.
The launch of Amazon in South Africa was much anticipated due to the company’s Prime program and the form it would take in the region. Shipping perks are included with US$14.99/month or $139/year Prime membership, which offers free two-day shipping on eligible purchases as standard. There is no minimum purchase amount needed, therefore delivery is free even for a single inexpensive item that just costs a few dollars.
Movies, TV shows, and documentaries can be streamed indefinitely on Amazon Prime Video, which is free for Amazon Prime members. Prime Music, an audio streaming service from Amazon, is also included with the Prime membership. On the Amazon website, users of Prime Music can access over 100 million songs and a podcast library without any interruptions from advertisements.
Prime Photo, a storage service that provides infinite image storage in original resolution, and Prime Gaming, which consists of games and a Twitch Prime subscription with extra games, special in-game content, and more, are two other digital services that are included with a Prime membership.
No Prime Yet
Hundreds of books, magazines, and other reading materials are also available to readers; however, access to this content is limited to Amazon reading devices, such as the Kindle e-reader and Fire tablet.
On the Amazon.co.za website, there aren’t any indicators as of yet that the Prime service is offered locally. The megaretailer may be testing its logistics infrastructure and working out any glitches before releasing a broader product selection, as suggested by the product catalog’s sparseness.
Interestingly, Amazon.co.za does not carry Amazon’s own Kindle e-readers.
Leave a Reply