The international online retail giant, Amazon, is set to shake up the online retail space in South Africa. Amazon launched its operations in South Africa this week. About 60 percent of its products are supplied by small businesses globally. It says it wants South Africa to benefit from its efforts to help grow local businesses.
With three decades of experience in online retail, Amazon arrives in the country when South Africa is seeing a significant rise in online shopping.
Just a week in, Amazon is already posing a threat to its local competitor Takealot.
Arthur Goldstuck, from World Wide Worx, says the arrival of Amazon saw Takealot having a “fifty percent Amazon deals special” on certain products.
Goldstuck says Takealot’s market share is feeling the presence of the ‘new kid on the block.’
The international online retailer has already partnered up with two local courier companies, CourierGuy and Pargo to ensure smooth operations. Goldstuck says the expansion of Amazon to the South African market will have a positive economic impact as it will create job opportunities.
“Where it will make a big difference is with employment certainly in terms of fulfilment and logistics of the massive additional orders that will come from Amazon which will see a large amount of additional people employed in supply chain, courier services and warehousing.”
South African consumers will get to experience a wide variety of products through Amazon.
