“We Had A Great Day” Claims Amazon Despite Listing A $24 USB Cable For $13K
US retailer Amazon has claimed record sales on day one of its operation in Australia but they have not yet revealed which categories were the most popular nor have they revealed why goods that are $24 at JB Hi Fi are listed on their site by a truck Company at over $13,300.
Rocco Braeuniger, country manager of Amazon Australia, says Amazon’s customer numbers far exceeded expectations however Amazon is refusing to release revenue figures or how many orders they actually took.The Company who also prides itself on “fast deliveries” appear to be plagued by a uniquely Australian problem poor, and costly transport problems with a $49 pair of Sennheiser headphones taking up to 3 days to be delivered.
The Company claims their first day orders on Amazon.com.au were higher than for any other launch day in Amazon history.
“Tens of thousands of customers visited the website during the first 24 hours placing orders across all 23 categories,” Amazon said in a statement.
“From early in the day, we experienced visitor numbers that far exceeded our expectations. We are thankful to Australian customers for making this a landmark day in Amazon history.
“Yesterday was day one for our retail offering in Australia. We will be working hard today and in the long term to continue to enhance our offering and to provide customers with an ever-increasing selection of products at low prices.”
Amazon has also configured their Australian system to collect GST with buyers now charged GST. Overseas shippers on the Amazon website who are shipping goods into Australia appear to not be collecting GST even on products over $1,000.
Amazon have also not revealed how many people visited the site and failed to buy any goods after finding that many of the products ranged were more expensive that at retailers such as JB Hi Fi and The Good Guys.
The Australian said that Australian media outlets were almost unanimous in branding Amazon’s launch a fizzer, with a range that was patchy and with many goods that were more expensive.
That later saw shares in JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman jump more than 6 per cent.
But it is early days, with the Seattle-headquartered retailer just gearing up for what it regards as a long-term fight for Australian market share.
Amazon’s premium customer membership system Amazon Prime and its operation where it dispatches products on behalf of third-party merchants called “fulfilment” are yet to operate in Australia and won’t until mid next year.
It also appears that Amzon is struggling to police what their Marketplace participants are posting.
A USB -C to USB adapter that is selling at JB Hi Fi for $24 is listed on Amazon by a Company called Twin City Truck Centre Pty Ltd for $13, 308.95.
When ChannelNews contacted the Company they said that it was “An Amazon” mistake.
According to David Burn a director of the Twin City Truck Centre a Company whose prime business is trucking he is taking advantage of the reach of the Amazon site by “listing goods from Synnex”.
“We thought we would have a go on Amazon, we are selling furniture, Computers and cables that we source from distributors like Synnex”. He said.
