Amazon South Africa may open later this year

Previously, news that Amazon planned to open a site in South Africa in February this year spread like wildfire, attracting the attention of many people in the cross-border circle.

However, people familiar with the matter recently revealed that Amazon may postpone this plan until the end of this year.

It is understood that Amazon's project in South Africa is code-named "Project Fela". The e-commerce giant's plan also includes launching FBA services for third-party sellers in South Africa. And Amazon's Prime membership program will also be open to South Africans shortly after the launch of its platform.

However, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said they were focused on addressing cost issues, including taking measures such as laying off more than 18,000 employees and closing some warehouses, which cast doubt on Amazon's South African plans.

"Amazon has withstood the test of the outside world and the declining economic conditions in the past year, and we will continue to do so in the future," Jassy said. "Controlling costs will help us to be invincible in the long run."

According to people familiar with Amazon's South African operations, the company has currently paused its planned site launch in Nigeria, but is continuing with the South African site.

However, due to the impact of the overall environment, Amazon may eventually decide to postpone the launch of the South African site to the third or fourth quarter of 2023.

Amazon did not comment on matters related to its South African site.

However, although Amazon has remained tight-lipped about its projects in South Africa, the fact that it is about to launch a new site in South Africa has long been known to everyone in the e-commerce industry.

Amazon has already acquired and built enough warehouse space in South Africa, and is negotiating cooperation with local express delivery companies and fast-moving consumer goods retailers.

Other sellers said that the Amazon.co.za domain name had previously appeared in the country/region drop-down list on the Amazon website.

Amazon has already been recruiting in South Africa for the new site. Last year, Amazon posted a large number of job advertisements, including management positions related to its South African market.

The news of the postponement of the new site may discourage some sellers who are eager to try, but if Amazon insists on launching the new site without sufficient preparation, the result will probably not be satisfactory. Instead of doing this, it is better to lay a solid foundation and spend more time providing sellers with a high-quality business environment.

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