Amazon’s market value surpassed the A$3 trillion mark overnight, with the US giant who yesterday announced an extended Prime Day sale period for Australia, now looking to take on Australian retailers in the appliance and large TV market with the Company currently building out warehousing for same day delivery to metro Australia of “Large heavy items” that in the past they have not been able to move because of a lack of logistic capability.

The Company is also looking to claw back consumers who have moved to Chinese web sites Temu and Shein with the online retailer setting up a new operation in China that ships goods similar to what is sold by Temu and Shein direct from the manufacturer to a consumer.

The new China based marketplace, is Amazon’s most aggressive response to the growth of the bargain sites that Australians have flocked to delivery is set to be between 5 sand 10 days door to door.The e-commerce giant in a recent closed-door meeting told Chinese sellers it would start signing up merchants during the next 3 months and begin accepting inventory in last quarter according to sources.

Sellers joining the bargain site can determine their product selection and pricing and can produce in small batches to test the demand for any new products they plan to launch, the report added.

“We are always exploring new ways to work with our selling partners to delight our customers with more selection, lower prices, and greater convenience,” an Amazon spokesperson told Reuters when contacted for comment on the report.The move to expand their operation in Australia is set to hurt retailers such as Winnings the owner of Appliances Online along with the likes of Harvey Norman and The Good Guys, are set to be hit by Amazons move to sell big appliances and deliver on the same day with the global retailer, also set to have an advantage when it comes to “They’re buying power” said one retailer who is concerned.

In the TV market consumers are moving away from TV panels with local program tuners built in and this could play into the hands of Amazon who have TV buying power especially if a TV does not need a local TV tuner or customisation for the Australian market. The fear is that large display panels manufactured by the likes of Samsung TCL, Hisense and Sony will cut global deals based on global volume with the same panel being sold into multiple markets.
Free TV recently claimed that over 50% of the Australian TV market is today made up of consumers using apps with over 500,000 people watching last night’s State Of Origin via the Nine Now app.

Industry executives are concerned that organisations such as Amazon will be able to sell the same TV display panel worldwide with consumers promoted when they initially activate the panel to pick which Country or State, they are in with local Smart OS apps automatically downloaded to a TV.

Latest accounts filed with the corporate regulator show Amazon Australia recorded total sales of $3.1 billion in the year to the end of December 2023, up from $2.6b in 2022.

They also reported an $8.8 million loss with the business quite happy to continue investing in the Australian market as they build out infrastructure for what executives describe as “Future growth”.