Amazon South Africa has officially launched, offering shoppers free delivery on their first purchase. The South African marketplace for Amazon quietly went live this morning, using the domain name Amazon.co.za. This follows confirmation from October 2023 in which region manager Robert Koen revealed that the company had plans to launch in 2024. The site links to your official Amazon account though it doesn’t seem to support Prime yet.
The Amazon South Africa e-commerce website is now live, offering some great first-time specials for shoppers such as free delivery on a first purchase and good deals. The catalog available is pretty decent as well. Gamers in the country looking to grab some accessories and gear off Amazon have a selection of TVs, headphones, keyboards and PC components to browse.
For the most part, it looks like Amazon South Africa is focusing primarily on local businesses, brands and products as there isn’t a method in place to import from other countries – at least not yet. It also appears that on the gaming side, some brands have yet to officially sign up including Nintendo which doesn’t have any consoles listed. However, you can find plenty of PlayStation and Xbox licensed products including the respective consoles on the storefront.
In addition to direct delivery, Amazon is also supporting 3,000 pick up points at launch. The company has apparently teamed up with Pargo for the pick up points along with The Courier Guy (including Pudo).
For sellers, Amazon Easy Ship (ES) will let them store and pack their own products with Amazon handling the delivery process of the items. There’s also the option for Self Ship, which will let sellers handle their own warehousing, packaging and deliveries, simply using the Amazon.co.za platform to list products for shoppers.
If you were looking for a decent alternative to Takealot, this might be your answer. With Temu also gaining plenty of traction in the country, it seems like South African shoppers might be spoiled for choice when it comes to online stores offering a wide selection of items. We imagine Amazon will bulk up its product offerings in the coming months as more local sellers sign on but at the moment, the selection is quite limited compared to other regions.
Visit the Amazon South Africa website now to start browsing.
