Here we, here we, here we bloody go. The retail landscape in Australia is about to change forever, with the official and long-awaited arrival of Amazon operations in the country.
After a lengthy period of setup largely shrouded in secrecy, it’s now confirmed that the global retail giant will begin selling products directly to Australian customers as of tomorrow, November 23rd.
An internal email obtained by Lifehacker confirms the company is gearing up for a soft launch commencing at 2pm tomorrow, giving a select handful of customers access to the Australian-based arm of the service in time for Black Friday sales.
Select sellers were sent the email earlier today, urging them to have their pricing, stock, and details up and ready on Amazon Marketplace in preparation for a soft launch tomorrow afternoon, after which time they have been told to “be prepared to receive orders from this point onwards.”
Amazon’s fulfilment distribution centre has been set up in Melbourne’s Dandenong South, at the Pellicano M2 industrial park; a location chosen to give drivers and road freighters easy and direct access to the South Gippsland Highway, the Monash Highway, and EastLink. This was a deliberate choice by the company in order to achieve their internationally notable fast delivery.
It’s not known exactly what products will be available in the soft launch, but it’s believed that as many as 500 retailers will be part of Amazon’s Australian marketplace from day one.
Amazon is remaining tightlipped on how many customers will be in the testing phase group, or how anyone can sign up for it. But as of tomorrow, you’ll be able to keep an eye on the Amazon Australia webpage for when it clicks over from “just books” to “a whole mess of good shit.”
Gird your wallets, mates. A new day is upon us.
