Amazon to flex its retail muscle

BRACE for a new online shopping battle, with insiders claiming tech giant Amazon is preparing an “aggressive” retail push in Australia this year.

The news comes just weeks before the company is set to host a meeting of third-party sellers to explain its supercharged Australian strategy, and arrives in the lead-up to its annual sale, Prime Day, criticised last year for its lack of genuine bargains.

Retail experts say the move could deliver “very large specials” for consumers — potentially below products’ actual costs — but also had the potential to put unprepared local retailers out of business.

To launch its new retail assault, Amazon Australia is understood to have asked third-party sellers to sell to the global company at wholesale prices.

One Australian seller, who spoke to News Corp anonymously, said the proposal came as a surprise to traders who had been listing goods on the website under their own brands for 15 months.

“Out of nowhere, they want to buy things off us as if they were a retailer,” he said.

“Amazon just gave me an empty spreadsheet and said ‘put anything and everything you want to sell to us on there’.

“They’re trying to get as many offers as possible.

“It will let them be a lot more aggressive.”

Amazon Australia also told third-party sellers it would hold a meeting in April to discuss the new strategy. Gartner global retail principal research analyst Thomas O’Connor said the move appeared to be part of a massive cost-cutting strategy so that Amazon could issue the most aggressive price discounts.

“Amazon seems like it’s planning to deliver some very large specials to sustain attention,” he said.

“This sounds like it’s built towards Prime Day (in August)

AMAZON SEEMS LIKE IT’S PLANNING TO DELIVER SOME VERY LARGE SPECIALS TO SUSTAIN ATTENTION

and they’re thinking about what big discounts to go after.”

The company’s move comes after the retail giant pledged to hire 500 permanent staff over the next 12 months.

Australian Retailers Association executive director Russell Zimmerman said that Amazon’s fresh effort to woo local shoppers shouldn’t come as surprise to its rivals after it suffered a disappointing beginning.

“They’ve had a fairly soft launch and I think we’re now going to see concerted efforts to make themselves felt in the market,” he said.

“Australian retailers have been on notice for a long time.”