Amazon Australia likely to launch on Black Friday
November 21, 2017 8:07 PM Subscribe
Black Friday as a commercial concept probably shouldn't have gotten off the ground in Australia, but the rumour mill suggests a hard launch of the local site this Friday.
Local marketplace hopefuls attended a "summit" last Monday to get the lowdown on what Amazon is proposing. Reactions from local businesses are mixed but it's apparently nothing to worry about. Unless it is? Chief Antipodean Rip-Off Merchant Gerry Harvey is sore about it of course, which is gratifying.
Just in time in any event, with the feds recently ruling that "low-value imports" (e.g. online sales) will attract the 10% GST in the new financial year. Let's hope that Amazon Corporate has actually realised that Australia has minimum workplace entitlements, unlike, it seems, the United States.
Local marketplace hopefuls attended a "summit" last Monday to get the lowdown on what Amazon is proposing. Reactions from local businesses are mixed but it's apparently nothing to worry about. Unless it is? Chief Antipodean Rip-Off Merchant Gerry Harvey is sore about it of course, which is gratifying.
Just in time in any event, with the feds recently ruling that "low-value imports" (e.g. online sales) will attract the 10% GST in the new financial year. Let's hope that Amazon Corporate has actually realised that Australia has minimum workplace entitlements, unlike, it seems, the United States.
I wonder if they are going to skip directly to the we-marked-this-up-2-weeks-ago-just-so-we-can-claim-it's-40%-off / this-tv-deliberately-crippled-to-meet-a-price-point model or if the Australia will get the entire "Remember when Black Friday meant actual sales" nostalgia.
posted by madajb at 8:45 PM on November 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by madajb at 8:45 PM on November 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
The utterly stagnant and ultimately monopolized (like anywhere, really) retail market in Australia has long needed a shake-up (and ideally predators like Harvey Norman need to go bankrupt), and as a big consumer of all kinds of media I have to say I'm cautiously optimistic because we have been ripped off for a long long time.
Of course, the ongoing LNP battle against the abovementioned minimum workplace entitlements adds something incredibly caustic to the mix, so this could all go catastrophically wrong and have real negative and ongoing impacts for this country.
posted by turbid dahlia at 8:57 PM on November 21, 2017 [3 favorites]
Of course, the ongoing LNP battle against the abovementioned minimum workplace entitlements adds something incredibly caustic to the mix, so this could all go catastrophically wrong and have real negative and ongoing impacts for this country.
posted by turbid dahlia at 8:57 PM on November 21, 2017 [3 favorites]
Amazon has pulled off some impressive shit in the past, but flipping the "on" switch on the biggest retail weekend of the year sounds completely batshit.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 8:57 PM on November 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 8:57 PM on November 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
I genuinely had a brief moment of confusion: but Amazon is already in Australia! One of the Asia/Pacific availability zones is out of a Sydney-area data center, after all.
It is still a bit mind-boggling that this huge cloud services provider that seems to back half the English-speaking internet is also in the business of selling stuff to people like some sort of store.
posted by traveler_ at 8:57 PM on November 21, 2017 [5 favorites]
It is still a bit mind-boggling that this huge cloud services provider that seems to back half the English-speaking internet is also in the business of selling stuff to people like some sort of store.
posted by traveler_ at 8:57 PM on November 21, 2017 [5 favorites]
flipping the "on" switch on the biggest retail weekend of the year sounds completely batshit
It's just another weekend here. We don't really do the 'Black Friday' thing, unless you're talking about bushfires. We're sort of aware it's a thing over there, and some savvy shoppers take advantage of that, but otherwise, not a thing.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 9:07 PM on November 21, 2017 [5 favorites]
It's just another weekend here. We don't really do the 'Black Friday' thing, unless you're talking about bushfires. We're sort of aware it's a thing over there, and some savvy shoppers take advantage of that, but otherwise, not a thing.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 9:07 PM on November 21, 2017 [5 favorites]
Sure, but it's probably not entirely separated from the infrastructure under the American store.
posted by the agents of KAOS at 9:28 PM on November 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by the agents of KAOS at 9:28 PM on November 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
It's just another weekend here. We don't really do the 'Black Friday' thing, unless you're talking about bushfires.
We didn't do Black Friday in the UK either - until the rise of Amazon a few years ago meant that it has spawned itself as an idea that has dutifully been taken up by all retailers. (And I can see that Amazon are promoting a Vendredi Noir in France, for example). So enjoy the bushfire association while you can!
posted by rongorongo at 10:54 PM on November 21, 2017
We didn't do Black Friday in the UK either - until the rise of Amazon a few years ago meant that it has spawned itself as an idea that has dutifully been taken up by all retailers. (And I can see that Amazon are promoting a Vendredi Noir in France, for example). So enjoy the bushfire association while you can!
posted by rongorongo at 10:54 PM on November 21, 2017
It is still a bit mind-boggling that this huge cloud services provider that seems to back half the English-speaking internet is also in the business of selling stuff to people like some sort of store.
I give it five years time before they spin off AWS*. Why else would they build a HQ2? It's not like there's a good reason to host a cost cutting retailer in one of the worlds most expensive housing markets when their primary competitor's HQ is in some random town in Arkansas. And AWS is responsible for something like 300 percent of Amazon's profits in Q3**, so threats to the growth curve like Target's move to leave AWS are not taken lightly.
*Or spin off Amazon.com, if you think the glass is half full.
**Because the rest of amazon continues to lose money.
posted by pwnguin at 10:56 PM on November 21, 2017
I give it five years time before they spin off AWS*. Why else would they build a HQ2? It's not like there's a good reason to host a cost cutting retailer in one of the worlds most expensive housing markets when their primary competitor's HQ is in some random town in Arkansas. And AWS is responsible for something like 300 percent of Amazon's profits in Q3**, so threats to the growth curve like Target's move to leave AWS are not taken lightly.
*Or spin off Amazon.com, if you think the glass is half full.
**Because the rest of amazon continues to lose money.
posted by pwnguin at 10:56 PM on November 21, 2017
If board games are in the initial offering, I am screwed.
posted by fFish at 2:34 AM on November 22, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by fFish at 2:34 AM on November 22, 2017 [3 favorites]
As predicted by Steely Dan, though they had the location off by a bit:
When Black Friday comes
I fly down to Muswellbrook
Gonna strike all the big red words
From my little black book
Gonna do just what I please
Gonna wear no socks and shoes
With nothing to do but feed
All the kangaroos
posted by He Is Only The Imposter at 7:06 AM on November 22, 2017 [2 favorites]
When Black Friday comes
I fly down to Muswellbrook
Gonna strike all the big red words
From my little black book
Gonna do just what I please
Gonna wear no socks and shoes
With nothing to do but feed
All the kangaroos
posted by He Is Only The Imposter at 7:06 AM on November 22, 2017 [2 favorites]
I can’t imagine that it would be much of a sales success if Amazon promoted products in Australia that weren’t in Australia, then had to somehow set everyone’s expectations that their shit was gonna cost $50 to ship, then take a month to arrive and get through Customs.
As for “we marked this up 2 weeks ago just so we can claim it’s 40% off”, that practice is illegal in the US (though individual stores and some companies may still engage in illegal behavior). And since online shopping and the ability to compare prices has changed consumer behavior significantly, if your prices aren’t competitive then people are just gonna go buy it from the seller with the best price. That’s why most major retailers price-match, because it eliminates the competitive advantage.
Many of the doorbuster items are manufactured specifically for Black Friday and are probably not as feature-rich as a result, true. That’s why there are only like 12 per store and they sell out in 30 seconds. But the ones on sale that are part of the regular stock are legitimately sold at about the biggest discount that you’re going to see during the year. You will get an objectively good deal if you buy a regular-stock TV on Black Friday.
posted by Autumnheart at 10:54 AM on November 22, 2017
As for “we marked this up 2 weeks ago just so we can claim it’s 40% off”, that practice is illegal in the US (though individual stores and some companies may still engage in illegal behavior). And since online shopping and the ability to compare prices has changed consumer behavior significantly, if your prices aren’t competitive then people are just gonna go buy it from the seller with the best price. That’s why most major retailers price-match, because it eliminates the competitive advantage.
Many of the doorbuster items are manufactured specifically for Black Friday and are probably not as feature-rich as a result, true. That’s why there are only like 12 per store and they sell out in 30 seconds. But the ones on sale that are part of the regular stock are legitimately sold at about the biggest discount that you’re going to see during the year. You will get an objectively good deal if you buy a regular-stock TV on Black Friday.
posted by Autumnheart at 10:54 AM on November 22, 2017
Gerry Harvey Wants Australia To Ban Amazon 'Like Donald Trump Not Letting The Muslims In'
Oh go get stuffed. Gerry's been bleating about online sales for over a decade, asking the government for protectionism. Hey, Gerry, maybe you should have used that time to leverage your market share and beat Amazon to it.
Anyway, he's a colossal asshole and if this annoys him then good.
posted by adept256 at 11:50 AM on November 22, 2017 [3 favorites]
Oh go get stuffed. Gerry's been bleating about online sales for over a decade, asking the government for protectionism. Hey, Gerry, maybe you should have used that time to leverage your market share and beat Amazon to it.
Anyway, he's a colossal asshole and if this annoys him then good.
posted by adept256 at 11:50 AM on November 22, 2017 [3 favorites]
If board games are in the initial offering, I am screwed.
Same here fFish, but remember there are plenty of good honest local retailers here (Vault Games, Advent Games, Tabletop Games, Joe Dodgy/Milsims, Spieledeluxe, Games Empire, etc.) who need our business, so where the difference is going to be ten or so bucks, I do implore you to keep shopping locally!
Games Paradise and Mind Games can sink, though, as far as I'm concerned.
posted by turbid dahlia at 2:13 PM on November 22, 2017
Same here fFish, but remember there are plenty of good honest local retailers here (Vault Games, Advent Games, Tabletop Games, Joe Dodgy/Milsims, Spieledeluxe, Games Empire, etc.) who need our business, so where the difference is going to be ten or so bucks, I do implore you to keep shopping locally!
Games Paradise and Mind Games can sink, though, as far as I'm concerned.
posted by turbid dahlia at 2:13 PM on November 22, 2017
It's amazing how happy people are to trade away worker's rights to save a few bucks on their online shopping.
posted by chiquitita at 5:15 PM on November 22, 2017
posted by chiquitita at 5:15 PM on November 22, 2017
Do you know anything, at all, about worker's rights in Australia?
posted by smoke at 6:50 PM on November 22, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by smoke at 6:50 PM on November 22, 2017 [4 favorites]
By which I mean to say, I don't think Amazon's presence here has much to do with the steady erosion of worker's rights in Aus, which predates them by a couple of decades at least. Amazon Australia workers will be no worse off than workers in any other Australian warehouse, and tbh if I was looking for evidence of exploitation, I'd be more wary of the blueberries and chicken at Woollies...
posted by smoke at 6:53 PM on November 22, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by smoke at 6:53 PM on November 22, 2017 [3 favorites]
/bangs computer
Stupid Amazon AU! Be more awesome!
posted by obiwanwasabi at 3:23 PM on November 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
Stupid Amazon AU! Be more awesome!
posted by obiwanwasabi at 3:23 PM on November 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
"Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an Earth-shattering kaboom!"*
*I suspect a measure of excited overhyping by the Australian media.
posted by prismatic7 at 5:24 PM on November 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
*I suspect a measure of excited overhyping by the Australian media.
posted by prismatic7 at 5:24 PM on November 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
I stayed up until midnight clicking refresh, then slept like a kid on Christmas Eve (ie, not at all), then tried again in the wee hours, so chalk me up as a hype machine statistic.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 5:44 PM on November 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by obiwanwasabi at 5:44 PM on November 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
Oh yay let's play Are You Even From Around Here!
smoke, I'm as Australian as you are.
posted by chiquitita at 6:09 PM on November 23, 2017
smoke, I'm as Australian as you are.
posted by chiquitita at 6:09 PM on November 23, 2017
Fun fact, many Australians know nothing at all about laws in Australia and will instead rely on garbled versions of American laws that they learned on the internet and assumed were universal, so "I am Australian" doesn't actually answer the question of "do you know anything about workers rights in Australia?".
posted by the agents of KAOS at 1:07 AM on November 24, 2017
posted by the agents of KAOS at 1:07 AM on November 24, 2017
Apologies, chiquitita, I jumped to an assumption, there.
It just seems a bit of a nonsequitur to talk about sacrificing worker's rights by shopping at Amazon Australia, when it won't be sacrificing worker's rights any more than shopping at a gazillion other places Australians shop at all the time?
posted by smoke at 2:35 AM on November 24, 2017
It just seems a bit of a nonsequitur to talk about sacrificing worker's rights by shopping at Amazon Australia, when it won't be sacrificing worker's rights any more than shopping at a gazillion other places Australians shop at all the time?
posted by smoke at 2:35 AM on November 24, 2017
@smoke is there full transparency of what Amazon will be paying in tax in Australia ?
posted by doogyrev at 10:45 PM on November 25, 2017
posted by doogyrev at 10:45 PM on November 25, 2017
... Not sure what that has to do with workers' rights?
I'm not even a huge defender of Amazon, here, honestly. But let's see what happens before making assertions that they will be any different from a swathe or large companies operating here.
posted by smoke at 2:36 AM on November 26, 2017
I'm not even a huge defender of Amazon, here, honestly. But let's see what happens before making assertions that they will be any different from a swathe or large companies operating here.
posted by smoke at 2:36 AM on November 26, 2017
is there full transparency of what Amazon will be paying in tax in Australia ?
As much as there is for any other foreign company operating in Australia.
Or any Australian company smart enough to have offshore 'subsidiaries', for that matter.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 6:52 PM on November 26, 2017
As much as there is for any other foreign company operating in Australia.
Or any Australian company smart enough to have offshore 'subsidiaries', for that matter.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 6:52 PM on November 26, 2017
Here we are on the brink of December. Amazon Australia must be having an interesting conversation right now since they blew the Black Friday hype machine cycle. Now, comes the Christmas season and I wonder if they are going to make it. As newly arrived to Australia and a Prime Member here are some very, very rough observations:
1) Amazon Australia, presently, only does books. ONLY Kindle books. Which is why I ended up shipping a few thousand books of mine to the Antipodes;
2) This lack of inventory includes carrying none of their own product lines such as, Amazon Basics;
3) I checked for Australian news announcements to see how Amazon was going to partner with delivery firms in Australia and did not find anything. I am not sure if they are planning to do anything with Australia Post or DHL or heck, the delivery model they use in the states with individual contractors. Australia Post would be interesting because if you use My Post then you can have all your packages delivered to a designated pick up point, usually a post center. I was kind of shocked how bad the delivery times are for online shopping in Australia e.g.,Priceline (not THAT Priceline with the Shat), online cosmetics and pharmacy material (non prescription) took 10 business days.
Australians are RIPE for prompt delivery and maybe more tolerant about picking up their stuff to a drop off point with 24 hour locker access like the ones that Aus Post offers. Also, that whole waiting for crap to be delivered is kind of done with MyPost as an option. Australia Post also would be willing to bargain since they need revenue;
4) Ebay's third party resellers could definitely be brought over to Amazon. It is not as if Ebay is charming to the Australia customer base;
5) Amazon, if nothing else, tries to make you giving them money easier than their competitors. I do not want to open an account for every time I buy something online. An example, is buying school supplies. Give a $10 Amazon credit to the first person to upload the supply list for a certain school and create a cart. Since Amazon checks your IP you can geo target that pre-filled cart. If that is just too sophisticated, you could just offer the standard pick list of school supplies and make it, "people in your area are buying this..." I do not have to drive to multiple places; find parking and deal with the time suckage of school supply buying;
6) Customer service, well, if Amazon carries its model of empowering their frontline to resolve issues up to returns then they will get some traction. To be honest, the best customer service I have had in years was dealing with Amazon Customer Service. Yeah, the product sucked BUT Amazon was great;
7) For Amazon to CRUSH their competitors they need inventory and delivery in combination with excellent customer service. Also, price points. Australians pay CRAZY money, by American standards, for items. Unrelated, but $10-20 for a kilo of limes makes guacamole serious GOLD;
8) American Prime customers are seriously spoiled in the US. US mail delivers 6 days of the week, including package delivery. The USPS is also used by major shippers, especially in rural areas for the last few miles. Australia is as large as the US, geographically, and a majority of the population is found in coastal regions. Anecdata indicates a concern for remote/rural Australia and Amazon but the bar is LOW to satisfice on delivery.
9) I wonder how Amazon is doing in India. The logistics questions, in addition to rolling out in another country would make for good reading;
10) [cue in in the naaa-naaa sound from the 6 Million Dollar Man/Bionic Woman] Amazon has the technology and the logistics I am just not sure that they will be great in Australia, if the lack of soft launch is an indicator.
posted by jadepearl at 12:33 AM on November 30, 2017
1) Amazon Australia, presently, only does books. ONLY Kindle books. Which is why I ended up shipping a few thousand books of mine to the Antipodes;
2) This lack of inventory includes carrying none of their own product lines such as, Amazon Basics;
3) I checked for Australian news announcements to see how Amazon was going to partner with delivery firms in Australia and did not find anything. I am not sure if they are planning to do anything with Australia Post or DHL or heck, the delivery model they use in the states with individual contractors. Australia Post would be interesting because if you use My Post then you can have all your packages delivered to a designated pick up point, usually a post center. I was kind of shocked how bad the delivery times are for online shopping in Australia e.g.,Priceline (not THAT Priceline with the Shat), online cosmetics and pharmacy material (non prescription) took 10 business days.
Australians are RIPE for prompt delivery and maybe more tolerant about picking up their stuff to a drop off point with 24 hour locker access like the ones that Aus Post offers. Also, that whole waiting for crap to be delivered is kind of done with MyPost as an option. Australia Post also would be willing to bargain since they need revenue;
4) Ebay's third party resellers could definitely be brought over to Amazon. It is not as if Ebay is charming to the Australia customer base;
5) Amazon, if nothing else, tries to make you giving them money easier than their competitors. I do not want to open an account for every time I buy something online. An example, is buying school supplies. Give a $10 Amazon credit to the first person to upload the supply list for a certain school and create a cart. Since Amazon checks your IP you can geo target that pre-filled cart. If that is just too sophisticated, you could just offer the standard pick list of school supplies and make it, "people in your area are buying this..." I do not have to drive to multiple places; find parking and deal with the time suckage of school supply buying;
6) Customer service, well, if Amazon carries its model of empowering their frontline to resolve issues up to returns then they will get some traction. To be honest, the best customer service I have had in years was dealing with Amazon Customer Service. Yeah, the product sucked BUT Amazon was great;
7) For Amazon to CRUSH their competitors they need inventory and delivery in combination with excellent customer service. Also, price points. Australians pay CRAZY money, by American standards, for items. Unrelated, but $10-20 for a kilo of limes makes guacamole serious GOLD;
8) American Prime customers are seriously spoiled in the US. US mail delivers 6 days of the week, including package delivery. The USPS is also used by major shippers, especially in rural areas for the last few miles. Australia is as large as the US, geographically, and a majority of the population is found in coastal regions. Anecdata indicates a concern for remote/rural Australia and Amazon but the bar is LOW to satisfice on delivery.
9) I wonder how Amazon is doing in India. The logistics questions, in addition to rolling out in another country would make for good reading;
10) [cue in in the naaa-naaa sound from the 6 Million Dollar Man/Bionic Woman] Amazon has the technology and the logistics I am just not sure that they will be great in Australia, if the lack of soft launch is an indicator.
posted by jadepearl at 12:33 AM on November 30, 2017
It's here.
And underwhelmingly so. Board games are around $20 more than I can get from my regular Canberra suppliers, if they're available at all.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 2:59 PM on December 4, 2017 [1 favorite]
And underwhelmingly so. Board games are around $20 more than I can get from my regular Canberra suppliers, if they're available at all.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 2:59 PM on December 4, 2017 [1 favorite]
A good comment from ozbargain: "i feel like i'm walking around in myer/dj. looks nice but meh"
posted by obiwanwasabi at 6:26 PM on December 4, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by obiwanwasabi at 6:26 PM on December 4, 2017 [1 favorite]
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