What will Amazon sell in ZA?

[ToxicBunny]

It contradicts your assertion.

It doesn't really...

If I buy something on Amazon.co.uk there is an expectation I can return the item to a postal address in the UK.

Not I buy something from amazon.co.uk in south Africa, then Amazon.co.za will handle the return.

 

[backstreetboy]

Chinese junk.

 

[CrypticZA]

I work for a skincare distributor and we setup our account with Amazon and we have done two deliveries to them already...

Pain in the a$$ to deal with them but local stuff for now only

 

[WAslayer]

I work for a skincare distributor and we setup our account with Amazon and we have done two deliveries to them already...

Pain in the a$$ to deal with them but local stuff for now only

Deliveries to them for their local distribution warehouse..?

 

[Napalm2880]

It doesn't really...

If I buy something on Amazon.co.uk there is an expectation I can return the item to a postal address in the UK.

Not I buy something from amazon.co.uk in south Africa, then Amazon.co.za will handle the return.

Sellers on Amazon get hit hard with fees for returns. Wouldn't be surprised if it's actually profitable for Amazon to do this.

 

[CrypticZA]

Deliveries to them for their local distribution warehouse..?

Yip they got a warehouse setup in JHB.

They did a test order about a month ago and last week Friday we got our second order and it was being delivered today i think it is

 

[R4ziel]

Yip they got a warehouse setup in JHB.

They did a test order about a month ago and last week Friday we got our second order and it was being delivered today i think it is

So basically a "soft" launch and then they will announce it when they think they are ready for the mass orders to begin

 

[SauRoNZA]

Not initially or likely the foreseeable future.. when they launch, it would be for third party sellers..

Maybe one day Amazon will also sell here, but I doubt that once they launch, we will see Amazon selling anything..

I very much doubt Amazon won’t be selling anything themselves.

You can be sure they will be selling their own products at the very least as those enable them to make deeper in roads into the consumer consciousness which is how they’ve taken over business everywhere else.

What you won’t see happening very quickly js them selling third party goods directly due to the deals that will need to be put in place for local distribution (or augmenting existing intensional ones) and instead letting third party sellers do that for them.

You can be damn sure their Kindles, Fires and Echos will be on sale here from day one and probably some of the Amazon Basics kit as well.

 

[SauRoNZA]

One thing I’d love to see based purely on big brand recognition is that we end up getting products we never did previously at scale like IKEA and that kind of thing.

Amazon will have the scale and warehousing to make those deals and bring their brands to Africa.

 

[CrypticZA]

So basically a "soft" launch and then they will announce it when they think they are ready for the mass orders to begin

Yea so they procuring stock at the moment and testing their system before they launch.

We initially dealt with EU people with setup but since then its changed to locals who never get back to you and are beyond useless

 

[R4ziel]

Yea so they procuring stock at the moment and testing their system before they launch.

We initially dealt with EU people with setup but since then its changed to locals who never get back to you and are beyond useless

So they will be taking on Takealot in more than just e-commerce but in incompetence as well, truly a competition for the ages

 

[deweyzeph]

Amazon will be subject to the exact same customs and import restrictions and problems that every other retailer in South Africa is subject to so I wouldn't expect their offerings to be that much different from anyone else.

 

[Gnome]

Amazon will be subject to the exact same customs and import restrictions and problems that every other retailer in South Africa is subject to so I wouldn't expect their offerings to be that much different from anyone else.

You postulate this as if this is the biggest blocker for business in this country?
But why do you think this is a problem?
Every country in the world has customs, most are significantly more onerous that SA (especially EU and to some extent the US also)

And what import restrictions do you mean, because I literally buy stuff daily from other places in the world.
I have deliveries near daily from overseas, I order from Amazon.com, AliExpress, eBay, Digikey, RS, Mouser, etc. constantly.
Some courier, some post office.
To date, not a single thing has ever been denied or restricted by SA customs.
I've even had wrong assessments by customs and sent it back and STILL got the parcel with significantly reduced customs.

SA customs doesn't care unless it is on a restricted list, like firearms, nuclear materials, animals, plants, etc. (thing you can probably buy with a permit anyway).
They just want their cut, that is all they are about.

 

[Gnome]

Yea so they procuring stock at the moment and testing their system before they launch.

We initially dealt with EU people with setup but since then its changed to locals who never get back to you and are beyond useless

Any chance you could detail the problems?
And what are the pain points?
Btw. I totally believe you, I'm not asking you to defend yourself here, it is all about it is like dealing with them.

 

[saor]

Amazon will be subject to the exact same customs and import restrictions and problems that every other retailer in South Africa is subject to so I wouldn't expect their offerings to be that much different from anyone else.

Amazon also have the advantage of regularly shipping large volumes of stuff here which gives them wiggle room to bring a lot more diversity than the retailer who has to be very specific about what they're importing.

 

[Gnome]

Amazon also have the advantage of regularly shipping large volumes of stuff here which gives them wiggle room to bring a lot more diversity than the retailer who has to be very specific about what they're importing.

I suspect customs will be similar for them, as eluded to above.
But I don't see how that is different than other countries.
Like there was no data provided that says, actually customs is what is keeping SA business back by above poster.

But in terms of shipping, it is a whole different ball game to other companies.
Amazon has direct integrations with all the courier companies, they hold them to SLAs, they track the stats.
Because Amazon is most courier company's biggest customer, they definitely go the extra length to keep them happy.
Though that obviously has limits else Amazon wouldn't started their own delivery arm in the US.

So yeah shipping I think is where they have an enormous advantage.
Takealot locally will have a stronger local delivery presence however, IMO, having MrD.
But bringing stuff in is the biggest problem most SA companies likely face (due to costs).

 

[SauRoNZA]

You postulate this as if this is the biggest blocker for business in this country?
But why do you think this is a problem?
Every country in the world has customs, most are significantly more onerous that SA (especially EU and to some extent the US also)

And what import restrictions do you mean, because I literally buy stuff daily from other places in the world.
I have deliveries near daily from overseas, I order from Amazon.com, AliExpress, eBay, Digikey, RS, Mouser, etc. constantly.
Some courier, some post office.
To date, not a single thing has ever been denied or restricted by SA customs.
I've even had wrong assessments by customs and sent it back and STILL got the parcel with significantly reduced customs.

SA customs doesn't care unless it is on a restricted list, like firearms, nuclear materials, animals, plants, etc. (thing you can probably buy with a permit anyway).
They just want their cut, that is all they are about.

I think he’s just highlighting the realities for many people who are deeply misinformed and expect us to get everything on the American market all of a sudden at the same prices, which is simply not possible.

We’ll hopefully get more variety and more reasonable pricing but nobody should be expecting things to magically be super cheap just because it’s Amazon.

 

[Tinuva]

I think he’s just highlighting the realities for many people who are deeply misinformed and expect us to get everything on the American market all of a sudden at the same prices, which is simply not possible.

We’ll hopefully get more variety and more reasonable pricing but nobody should be expecting things to magically be super cheap just because it’s Amazon.

We have all the variety we could ever want. Just go aliexpress and a new world awaits you

 

[Gnome]

We have all the variety we could ever want. Just go aliexpress and a new world awaits you

+1

Now if only we could have a good postal system to go with that.
My life would be complete.

In SA the PO is so bad at collecting taxes, you pretty much pay 1/2 the price as anywhere else for exactly the same item.
The cost is you wait like 2-3 months to get it.

 

[Tinuva]

+1

Now if only we could have a good postal system to go with that.
My life would be complete.

In SA the PO is so bad at collecting taxes, you pretty much pay 1/2 the price as anywhere else for exactly the same item.
The cost is you wait like 2-3 months to get it.

That only works if the sender under declare. When I got something off ebay, I definitely had to pay the full customs tax.