Amazon Australia bracing for a record selling Prime Day event

Record selling Prime Day event expected in October as the COVID-19 pandemic keeps many at home or away from shops.

globally Amazon had invested $4bn in COVID-19 safe practices and protocols. Picture: AFP

Amazon Australia is bracing for a record selling Prime Day event in October as the COVID-19 pandemic keeps many Australians locked at home or away from the shops because of social isolation, making online marketplaces such as Amazon incredibly popular with shoppers.

However, Amazon will face intense competition from a vanguard of Australian retailers that have struck new-found success online since the health crisis emerged, especially traditional bricks and mortar stores from a range of retail categories such as JB Hi-Fi, Adairs, Super Retail Group, Solomon Lew’s fashion empire Premier Investments and Michael Hill Jewellery, which are witnessing stunning online growth.

Amazon will also be fighting local online marketplaces such as the highly successful Kogan.com and smaller pure play Australian websites that are taking customers away from the US global giant and which could wreck its plans for dominance in the region.

Matt Furlong, country manager for Amazon Australia, told The Australian the US online shopping site had benefited from the shift to online shopping in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis but he declined to disclose the actual lift in sales in that time.

“We have been focused on serving customers through this period and customers have migrated online during COVID as people look to stay closer to home and think about health and safety,’’ Mr Furlong said.

“We have seen that and we have responded to that by continuing to invest in our local business here in Australia, we recently announced the launch of our fourth fulfilment centre that is going to be opening in Brisbane in a month so that is about to go live and will help us serve the growing needs of Australian customers.’’

Amazon’s big sales global event will be occur in October, shifting from its traditional July timing as the online group focused on its infrastructure and staff as the COVID-19 pandemic emerged across the world.

“Holding Amazon Prime Day in October is new for 2020. Because of COVID we did reschedule Prime Day from earlier in the year (July). This year we ended up moving to October because we focused on the safety of our associates, customers and selling partners as our top priority.”

It will be Australia’s third annual Prime Day and will begin at 12AM AEDT on Tuesday, 13 October with local deals running for 48 hours until 11:59PM AEDT on Wednesday, 14 October. There will also be deals from the US available on through Amazon’s Global Store until 6pm AEDT on Thursday, 15 October, giving Aussie Prime members access to 66 hours of deals.

Small local businesses included

Prime Day offers Amazon Prime members savings on tens of thousands of products from both big brands and small local businesses, across all categories including Amazon devices, consumer electronics, pantry food and drink, toys, fashion, beauty and more.

“In addition, to help customers discover more local brands on Amazon.com.au, we are proud to put small Australian businesses front and centre through our ‘Shop Local’ store on Prime Day and beyond,’’ Mr Furlong said.

Mr Furlong said Amazon Australia had been preparing for the health implications of COVID-19 on its staff and key warehouse and distribution infrastructure by putting in place more than 150 changes to its work processes including temperature checks for staff and social distancing.

He said globally Amazon had invested $4bn in COVID-19 safe practices and protocols.

Mr Furlong said he felt confident in the supply chain to cope with the demand for Prime Day as well as later in the year with big selling days such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday and then Christmas.

“We are excited about Prime Day to kick off the holiday season … last year if I think about Prime Day, it was our largest single sales event in our history in Australia up to that point in time and then it was later surpassed by Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

“Clearly we are preparing for a big event this year as well.’’

Amazon Prime has more than 150 million paid members around the world.

Members get benefits of Prime in Australia including access to free shipping in as fast as two days on Prime eligible products, unlimited access to movies and TV episodes with Prime Video, ad-free listening of two million songs plus thousands of stations and playlists with Amazon Music, unlimited access to more than 1000 books and magazines with Prime Reading, free in-game content and games with Prime Gaming.