Online retail giant Amazon is set to open in Australia this Thursday the 23rd November, the day before black Friday. This is excellent news for consumers in Australia and the opposite for retailers such as JB HI FI, Harvey Norman and any other electronic/tech sellers. Amazon is renowned for its customer service along with speedy delivery, something which the retail sector in Australia has its weak points. Not only this but Amazon will offer the lowest prices and have the greatest range all online.

Amazon in Aus

Consumers love competition or well… competition is good for consumers if they know it or not. If you can buy something online, get it later that day and have no risk of problems because of outstanding customer service then you will use and love Amazon in Australia. If you want pushy sales people, shitty up selling and poorer prices well drop into Harvey Norman. Will Amazon take victims and eat one of these established retail outlets alive? i wouldn’t think directly, they will apply the squeeze and force scale backs yes. But the biggest take of this is making these places pick up their game, even if the trust or willingness to purchase with them is gone.

An under spoken positive to Amazon, i hope anyway is the bigger range they will bring on shore. Meaning what could not have been shipped here or would take a couple of weeks is now available express! This is big for items like computer parts, camera, audio and phone accessories.  It will also be interesting on what Amazon does for clothing and home wares. Honestly I don’t think this will be their focus and rightly so, ASOS and the Iconic plus the many many online stores sell clothing the right way with good service.

Adapt is what retailers are going to have to do, we can thank Amazon for landing in Australia and giving the whole sector a shake out. I for sure am excited to see how retail and e-commerce plays out in Australia over the next year or so.