Amazon has opened a Cape Town walk-in center as it strives for market share

Nkobile Dludla

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon.com opened a foothold in South Africa on Thursday, saying its independent sellers are looking to attract more customers and expand their businesses as well as gain market share.

For Amazon – which is trying to catch up with market leader Takelot, which is owned by Naspers – the center will increase its product range and increase potential revenue.

“The biggest thing for our customers is product breadth. We just want to have more products that people will buy,” said Robert Kuhn, Amazon’s managing director for sub-Saharan Africa, after the event.

Globally, more than 60% of sales in Amazon stores come from independent sellers – the majority of which are small and medium-sized businesses.

Located at Amazon’s headquarters in Cape Town, the center offers local sellers services such as on-site registration to sell on Amazon.co.za, training, product imaging and catalog assistance, and shipping and logistics support.

The Seattle-based retailer launched in South Africa in May last year, its first in the sub-Saharan country.

“I think Q4 (fourth quarter) is actually very encouraging,” said Cohen, speaking on holiday season performance. We exceeded all the goals we had set for ourselves.

He added that first-time shoppers are returning to his online store and have commented favorably on the speed of delivery.

(Reporting by Nkobile Dludla; ​​Editing by Barbara Lewis)