Retailer has no fear of Amazon’s arrival

yesterday. Speaking at Harvey Norman’s annual meeting, he assured shareholders the launch of Amazon Australia would have a minuscule effect on the retail chain’s bottom line.

Amazon had been trying to work out what Harvey Norman sold through its suppliers, but most refused to supply the US e-commerce group, he said.

Most manufacturers worldwide preferred not to work with the online retailer, Mr Harvey said.

“I’m happy to tell you, a lot of our suppliers will not be supplying Amazon – in fact a large percentage won’t be,” he said.

“Amazon won’t be selling a lot of the products we sell.”

Chief executive Katie Page noted to shareholders that Harvey Norman already operated successfully in Singapore and Malaysia, where online retail heavyweights Alibaba and Tencent operated.

“We sit comfortably with those pure online players – in fact our business is growing,” she said.

Ms Page said analysts and media were hyping up the Amazon launch in Australia as though it was something the nation had never seen before.

“Australia has had Amazon shipping in here for about eight years in huge amounts,” she said. “Amazon.com is shipping into this country now.”

Harvey Norman’s Ireland and Northern Ireland operations already successfully ran alongside Amazon, Ms Page said, and she did not expect Amazon in Australia to affect Harvey Norman here any differently.

“We’ve been sitting with Amazon in Northern Ireland for a decade,” she said.

She added that Amazon was likely launching in Australia because it would soon have to start paying GST here regardless under a federal government initiative to levy the tax on all goods purchased online, even from overseas, from July 1. Currently, orders below $1000 from offshore retailers are not subject to the tax.

Harvey Norman shares rallied 14¢, or 3.7 per cent, yesterday to close at $3.91.