US e-commerce giant Amazon has quietly launched its online storefront in South Africa, as reported by TechCentral. The website, amazon.co.za, offers a wide range of products at local prices and promises next-day delivery.
The soft-launch of Amazon.co.za follows previous speculation about the company's plans to enter the South African market. It was also rumoured that Amazon would launch in Nigeria, but those plans were apparently put on hold.
Amazon South Africa is currently providing free delivery on customers' first orders and offers delivery to pick-up points, including those operated by Pargo and Pudo.
In an official statement, Amazon confirmed the launch of retail operations in South Africa. The company stated that customers in South Africa can now shop from a variety of local and international brands across 20 product categories. The website aims to provide a reliable online shopping experience with features such as same-day and next-day delivery, over 3,000 pickup points, easy returns, and 24/7 customer support.
Robert Koen, Managing Director of Amazon in sub-Saharan Africa, expressed excitement about the launch and highlighted the value, broad selection, and convenient delivery experience that Amazon.co.za aims to offer.
During our initial examination of the website, it was observed that some listed products were unavailable due to lack of stock.
Amazon has a history in South Africa through its cloud business, Amazon Web Services (AWS). The roots of AWS can be traced back to the establishment of the first Elastic Compute (EC2) instance in Cape Town in 2006. AWS has development and support centres in Cape Town and has built data centre infrastructure to serve the South African and other African markets with cloud computing services.
The anticipation of Amazon's entry into the South African retail market was fuelled by speculation about the introduction of its Prime service. However, there is currently no indication on the Amazon.co.za website regarding the availability of Prime in South Africa. The limited product catalogue suggests that the company may be testing its logistics infrastructure and refining its operations before expanding its offerings.
Notably, Amazon's Kindle e-readers are not currently available on Amazon.co.za.
For more information, you can visit the newly launched website here.
