South Africans will have to wait a little longer for the holy grail of e-commerce to arrive. Regardless, Amazon’s widespread local launch has been proven, but its launch has been delayed until next year.
“We look forward to launching Amazon. co. za in South Africa, offering local sellers, homeowners and marketers (small and giant) the opportunity to grow their businesses with Amazon and offer great prices and a convenient grocery shopping experience for customers in the South. . Africa,” says Robert Koen, Amazon’s general manager for sub-Saharan Africa.
“The launch of amazon. co. za in 2024 will give independent distributors across the country the opportunity to launch, grow, and temporarily grow their businesses while taking advantage of the innovation features provided through Amazon,” the announcement reads.
Amazon’s marketplace, where it allows other distributors to use its delivery infrastructure, is vital to its business model. Amazon says that 60% of what it sells in its store comes from other distributors “who offer a huge variety of products, competitive prices, and wonderful prices. “convenience for consumers. “
Obviously, Amazon will sell all of its personal brands and labels when it launches, but the way it (and frankly demands) those independent distributors for its strategy is telling.
Takealot, the e-commerce operator owned by Naspers, is the dominant service in the country, but it is not yet profitable. It lost R300 million last year, despite a decade of operation. Like Amazon, the company also offers a marketplace to other sellers, but the Competition Commission found this to be a “conflict of interest” and ordered Takealot to create two separate companies.
“Takealot faces a clash of interests at its site because its retail department competes with distributors in the market, creating a habit that has put distributors at a disadvantage,” according to the commission’s Online Intermediation Platform Market Research Report (OIPMI), released in August. after a two-year investigation. The U. S. government recently sued Amazon over the same issue.
Amazon will eventually face a similar challenge in South Africa, though not immediately. It has other pressing challenges to face, in addition to the depression in the South African economy. The post-Covid recovery has been as weak as the poor state it was pre-Covid. Skyrocketing inflation, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the resulting rise in gas and diesel prices, as well as grain and fertilizer shortages, have already hit our faltering economy.
The ANC’s colossal mismanagement of the country’s infrastructure means that the water formula is now as decrepit as Eskom’s electric power, while Transnet has also been derailed. Economists say last year was brutal for South African retailers, who also have to shell out tens of millions. to buy diesel and prevent food from spoiling in refrigerators.
Apart from Takealot, the good fortune of e-commerce in South Africa is due, so to speak, to a new way of exploiting physical assets.
Shoprite’s Sixty60 can make its deliveries in 60 minutes because it has enough outlets to do so, Neil Schreuder, Shoprite’s chief strategy officer, told me. These delivery motorcycles in this ominous blue spawned countless web memes about the “hyper-jade” of the Springboks. colour choice suits, no doubt helped by Sixty60’s sponsorship of Rugby World Cup broadcasts on SuperSport.
After buying the Bottles Covid delivery app and renaming it as soon as possible, Pick n Pay opted to use Takealot-owned Mr D for its deliveries, giving the delivery service an attractive twist.
Meanwhile, Sixty60 has introduced its own Amazon Prime-like subscription service: for R100, you get free shipping if you order more than R350. I subscribed this month.
Prime is one of the e-commerce giant’s big ideas. Originally, it only featured next-day delivery to countries where Amazon operated. But it has evolved to offer an option to Netflix, a similar music streaming option, and now offers same-day delivery. deliveries, among other things.
Obviously, Amazon knows how to compete in other markets and has a very good supply chain. Your operating style has been refined, but have you already dealt with #loadshitting and its impacts?
This column first appeared in the Daily Maverick.
There’s a new Stuff logo, if it’s on the horizon, at least in. . .
South Africa Consumer Technology News Centre