BUSINESS NEWS - There could be bad news for South African online retailers, after leaked documents have revealed that Amazon.com plans to launch online shopping services in the country by 2023.
According to Business Insider, citing leaked documents, online shopping services are also expected to launch in four other countries.
The five markets that Amazon will expand to over the next year are South Africa, Nigeria, Belgium, Chile and Colombia, according to internal Amazon documents.
The South African launch, reportedly codenamed Project Fela (a codename it shares with Nigeria), is expected in February 2023.
In January, MyBroadband reported that Amazon was shopping around for warehouse space in the country.
This means Amazon has been planning this expansion for quite a while, slowly working out the kinks before an official launch.
Amazon has also reportedly begun talks with courier companies and local fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) retailers.
The launch of Amazon.com is likely to put pressure on many online retailers, particularly Takealot.com which includes Superbalist, and Mr D Food, which has shown exceptional growth.
Other retailers that could feel the pinch of Amazon’s grip on the South African retail market include OneDayOnly, and some major retailers who have implemented online shopping following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Naspers’ results for the year ended 31 March 2021 revealed that Takealot Group increased revenues by 65% to US$606 million (R8.7 billion).
Meanwhile, the New York Times in March reported that a plan to build African headquarters for the tech giant Amazon in Cape Town was in peril after a judge ordered construction to stop, arguing that the developers had not properly consulted Indigenous South Africans.
The $300 million development had fueled a nasty feud within Indigenous, or First Nations, communities over whether building on what many consider sacred land would desecrate their history and culture, or uplift it, since the developer had promised to include an Indigenous heritage center.
