Amazon Australia To Open Thursday

Amazon.com is coming to Australia, notifying third-party sellers to prepare to accept retail orders on Thursday (Nov. 23).

According to news from Reuters, citing a retailer, this marks the first time Amazon has given a start date for doing business in Australia, although expectations have been growing in recent days that it was about to enter the market.

Amazon already has registered sellers in the country, but they were focused on shipping goods outside the country. However, now that Amazon has set up a warehouse in Melbourne, the eCommerce giant will enable local merchants to ship goods within the country.

“There’s a trial starting tomorrow at 2:00 p.m., and (Amazon) is saying that you need to be prepared to receive orders from that point on,” Adam Mills, co-founder of child internet monitor provider KoalaSafe, Inc. — an Amazon-registered seller — told Reuters. Amazon declined to comment.

In April, Amazon confirmed it was entering the Australian retail market but wouldn’t say when. With the trial apparently happening on Thursday (Nov. 23), Amazon Australia will be open and running just in time for Black Friday, the busiest holiday shopping day for U.S. retailers.

Lifehacker Australia confirmed the launch of Amazon Australia by posting a screenshot of an email that Amazon sent to Australian businesses registered to sell on the eCommerce giant’s platform, Reuters stated. “You should be prepared to receive orders from this point onward,” it read.

Earlier this month, The Age announced that Amazon had confirmed plans to expand its marketplace offerings into the land Down Under. “We have the long-term ambition to be successful and to earn the trust of Australian companies and the Australian customer,” said Rocco Braeuniger, Amazon’s Australian country manager during a suppliers’ summit held in Sydney covered by The Age. “We will be focusing on listening to the Australian customer, inventing on behalf of the Australian customer [and] delivering a great customer experience.”

Products sold to Amazon’s Australian consumer base will be fulfilled by an Australian Amazon warehouse, in addition to third-party partner retailers, according to Braeuniger.