Amazon South Africa’s big problem

Amazon’s South African online marketplace has plummeted in popularity since launching around a month ago.

Google Trends data for “Amazon.co.za”, “Amazon South Africa”, and “Amazon” show that online searches for the marketplace skyrocketed at launch.

Queries jumped from single digits in the week up to Monday, 6 May 2024.

At launch on Tuesday, 7 May 2024, searches skyrocketed into the triple digits.

However, they quickly cooled down the next day and continued to decline over the following week.

By Saturday, 11 May 2024, search traffic for the three Amazon-related phrases was around where it had been before the launch.

Apart from a small jump on 15 May 2024, search traffic has remained low.

It should be expected that a launch will draw unusually high traffic and that interest will subside in the following days.

However, Amazon’s average daily search traffic is struggling against its main local rival — Takealot.

The graph and table below show how Google searches for Amazon.co.za, Amazon South Africa, and Amazon compared with Takealot in the past month.

There could be several reasons for Amazon’s quick plunge in local popularity.

Many people were disappointed at the lacklustre selection of products available on the marketplace at launch.

It offered none of Amazon’s own popular products, such as its TVs, Ring security devices, or Kindle e-book readers.

Others were surprised to find that Amazon.co.za’s prices were often identical or similar to Takealot’s.

MyBroadband compared the prices of various tech products from the two stores and found they were largely aligned.

In many cases, the same resellers were offering products on both platforms at the same prices.

Another pricing comparison showed that many tech products were cheaper on Amazon’s US marketplace than in South Africa, even with all import taxes and shipping included.

In addition, Amazon.co.za launched without support for the company’s highly popular Prime subscription service, which offers same-day and next-day delivery perks bundled with streaming, gaming, and e-book services.

Taking on a well-established market

Several seasoned e-commerce experts in South Africa have pointed out that South Africans should not expect Amazon.co.za to completely upstage the market.

Bob Group CEO Andy Higgins previously told MyBroadband that Amazon would have an uphill battle against incumbents and that its local success was not guaranteed.

Higgins said although Amazon’s brand already gave it a huge advantage, merchants and shoppers should not expect the company to perform miracles, particularly when it comes to fulfilment and pricing.

“I believe local skills and expertise will outperform international resources, which means it will be difficult for Amazon to beat Takealot,” he said.

MyBroadband tested Amazon.co.za on launch day and was impressed by its quick and efficient service.

We ordered a USB thumb drive with same-day delivery early in the morning, and it arrived at our office at 14:53.

However, the same item ordered from Takealot at the same time arrived less than an hour later.

While Amazon had a slightly better price on the product itself, both platforms charged the same amounts for same-day delivery.

Takealot, Game, and Makro have proven themselves to be generally reliable and have often delivered well within their promised timeframes in our recent tests.

Takealot, in particular, appeared to be well prepared for Amazon’s local entry, launching its own delivery subscription service just two days after Amazon.co.za’s debut.

TakealotMore offers shoppers similar same-day and next-day delivery perks on Takealot.com as Amazon Prime does for its customers.