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Category: E-Tailing

Retail News Asia is committed to providing both local and global retailers with the latest E-Commerce & Etail news throughout the Asian market. This on a daily base.

  • Amazon expands anti-counterfeit program

    Amazon expands anti-counterfeit program

    Amazon is expanding its successful anti-counterfeiting program to more countries.

    Transparency is now available to sellers and customers in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, India and Canada, the e-commerce giant announced on Wednesday. Previously it only operated within the US.

    Online marketplaces are rife with counterfeit products sold cheaper than the genuine product, though often at a much lower quality.

    Fellow online marketplace Alibaba revealed its ‘Anti-Counterfeiting Alliance’, launched in early 2017, has resulted in the arrests of 1277 suspects, the shutdown of 524 manufacturing and distribution locations, and product seizures totalling US$536.2 million.

    EBay, as well, launched a program known as ‘eBay Authenticate’ which allows sellers to have items examined by a third-party to ensure the consumers can be confident they’re getting the real thing.

    Amazon’s Transparency program enables marketplace sellers to apply unique codes to their products when they are manufactured. These codes are scanned before orders are shipped to ensure the products are authentic. Online shoppers can also check the unique codes to verify the products they buy.

    “Counterfeiting is an industry-wide concern – both online and offline,” said Amazon customer trust and partner support vice president Dharmesh Mehta.

    “We created Transparency to provide brands with a simple, scalable solution that empowers brands an dAmazon to authenticate products within the supply chain, stopping counterfeit before it reaches a customer.”

    According to Amazon, more than 4000 brands are enrolled in the initiative in the US, and have generated more than 300 million unique codes, stopping over 250,000 counterfeits from reaching customers.

    The program also allows customers to scan products using a Transparency app, and see unit-level information about a product – though currently the app is only available in the US.

    Inside Retail has reached out to Amazon to see if this initiative will be expanded to Australia.

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  • VIPshop buys Chinese outlet malls

    VIPshop buys Chinese outlet malls

    Discount e-commerce platform Vipshop has acquired a chain of Chinese outlet malls.

    The online business has paid RMB290 million (US$42 million) for Shan Shan, extending its offline footprint.

    The Tencent and JD-backed site has been making strong moves to trade offline since opening a store in Beijing last October, and has gone on to launch retail outlets in Guangzhou, Changsha, Shenyang, Tianjin, and Hefei. The new acquisition adds five outlet malls to VIPShop’s network in Taiyuan, Harbin, Zhengzhou, Nanchang, and Ningbo, with five more outlets in the works.

    “This represents another milestone in our efforts to explore online and offline integration in our core business,” said Vipshop founder Eric Shen. “Through this highly strategic transaction, we will gain presence in the offline outlet business in China, which further enhances our ecosystem and fortifies our leading position in China’s discount retail segment.”

    Vipshop’s first 2019 financial quarter saw it take in RMB21.3 billion (US$3.1 billion) in revenues, providing a net income of RMB872.3 million ($127 million).

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  • iPhone loyalty drops to its lowest level in a long time as users flock to Samsung

    iPhone loyalty drops to its lowest level in a long time as users flock to Samsung

    Like many other major mobile device vendors, from Samsung to LG, Apple has seen its sales numbers decline recently, a trend that’s unlikely to be reversed anytime soon. But the Cupertino-based tech giant has largely relied on two things when maintaining a positive outlook. Namely, profit margins and loyalty rates.

    While companies like Samsung and Huawei still have a long way to go until catching up with Apple’s major cash cow, a new report compiled by BankMyCell suggests brand loyalty among iPhone owners might not be as impressive right now as just a couple of years back.

    Before sinking our teeth into this data collected from over 38,000 people in the last nine months, we should probably highlight brand and OS loyalty are significantly harder to measure objectively and accurately than things like shipment figures and profit margins. That’s why staggering differences can sometimes be found between similar reports released just six months apart.

    Case in point, iPhone loyalty sits at 73 percent today, according to BankMyCell, compared to 91 percent back in January, as per research conducted by CIRP (Consumer Intelligence Research Partners). Essentially, these numbers vary widely depending on who you ask and especially the sample size of your survey. Although the 38,000 aforementioned people represent a small piece of the US trade-in market, CIRP extrapolated its figures from a sample of only 500.

    With all that out of the way, let’s see if we can understand exactly what that 73 percent rate means. Basically, it means only 73 percent of those who traded in their iPhones since October 2018 chose a new model from Apple, with the other 27 percent instead picking an Android device. If that doesn’t sound too bad, you may want to contrast the number with the 92.3 percent loyalty rate of Samsung smartphone users.

    What’s even worse for Apple is that a whopping 18 percent of iPhone trade-ins migrated to a Samsung handset in June 2019 alone, presumably contributing to the box-office success of the Galaxy S10 family. Meanwhile, by using a combination of first and third-party data, BankMyCell claims iPhone loyalty has fallen to its lowest level in no less than eight years. The slide from as recently as 2017 is outright shocking, as 92 percent of iPhone users expected to stick with Apple just two years ago.

    While things might not be as bad in reality as this new report suggests, the enthusiasm of long-time iPhone owners to immediately upgrade to the next version has undoubtedly declined in recent years to a greater or lesser extent. You don’t have to dig very deep for a reason either, as the iPhone X, XS, XS Max, and XR have all racked up sales below expectations, failing to impress the masses with their designs and largely lacking groundbreaking new features.

    Of course, competition has also stiffened, as Samsung and other top Android brands have managed to make headlines with sleeker high-end designs and excellent price/quality ratios. Apple may need a major redesign to bring iPhone loyalty rates and sales numbers back up, but alas, it looks like we’ll have to wait until 2020 for that to happen.

    In the meantime, this fall’s iPhone 11 lineup will try to stand out primarily with a bunch of camera enhancements, although the new shooter arrangement remains just divisive enough to pose a big problem for Apple in terms of mainstream popularity.

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  • E-commerce, international sales help boost Uniqlo parent’s Q3 results

    E-commerce, international sales help boost Uniqlo parent’s Q3 results

    Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing’s healthy online sales and strong performance in overseas markets, particularly in China, have helped boost its third quarter results.

    The Japanese retailer said its online sales saw a 16.1 per cent year-on-year increase in the three months to May 31 to ¥19.0 billion ($176.1 million), increasing their proportion of total sales from 7.8 per cent to 9.1 per cent.

    For the three months from March to May 2019, Uniqlo’s international segment reported strong results, with revenue expanding 15.3 per cent year-on-year and operating profit expanding 14.9 per cent year-on-year over that period.

    Uniqlo continued to achieve significant year-on-year growth in both revenue and profit in Mainland China, and achieved double-digit growth in both revenue and profit in Southeast Asia and Oceania on the back of strong sales of its summer range.

    But Fast Retailing’s less-than-stellar domestic sales have overshadowed the company’s strong performance in its e-commerce and international segments, indicating that Japan’s market still has a huge influence on the retailer’s results.

    The company’s domestic sales saw a 0.5 per cent decline brought about by shifting a sales event to June.

    On the profit front, the retailer’s operating profit declined by 7.5 per cent year-on-year on the back of a higher selling, general and administrative expense ratio, and a lower gross profit margin, which was dampened by its decision to bring forward discounting of leftover Spring Summer inventory.

    China continues to be one of the main engines driving overseas expansion, with sales in the country rising in the double digits.

    The retailer said Uniqlo so far hasn’t been hurt by the trade war between the US and China, and sales there were strong even in the face of a weaker yuan.

    Uniqlo Europe reported a decline in profit caused by unseasonal weather patterns and political uncertainty. However, within that region, Russia continued to perform strongly and report expanding revenue and profit.

    In terms of new-store activity, Uniqlo opened its first store in the Netherlands in Amsterdam in September 2018, as well as its biggest Southeast Asian global flagship store in Manila, Philippines in October 2018, and its first store in Denmark in Copenhagen in April 2019.

    Fast Retailing said it is planning to focus its efforts on expanding its global e-commerce operation and its Uniqlo international and GU casual fashion brands to meet its medium-term vision to become the world’s number one apparel retailer.

  • Lazada to launch its first Mid-Year Festival

    Lazada to launch its first Mid-Year Festival

    Following its new theme ‘Go Where Your Heart Beats’, the festival will launch across all six of its markets in Southeast Asia for 24 hours. Lazada held its first Lazada Mid-Year Festival on July 12.

    Consumers will get access to a wide assortment of product deals on Lazada including branded goods and new arrivals. Other benefits during the festival include free shipping deals with participating sellers, and give-away vouchers.

    “Introducing our new Mid-Year Festival during a traditionally quieter shopping season presents more chances in a year for us to bring excitement to shoppers and provide our sellers more opportunities to boost their performance,” said Jing Yin, president of Lazada Group.

    As part of Lazada’s new Mid-Year Festival, the e-commerce company is expanding its ‘Shoppertainment’ strategy with its first region-wide live-streamed game show “Guess It” across six countries. The 30-minute in-app show combines a gameshow concept with professionally-generated live-streamed content.

    A local personality will play host, giving away clues for viewers to guess the price of products.=

    A total of 672 Guess It episodes across the region will feature more than 4000 items from a variety of sellers, with a focus on newly-launched and special edition products.

    Lazada’s live-streamed game show has already resulted in 68,000 new live-streaming account followers in the Philippines, 10 times the number of viewers per average livestream session in Thailand, and double the number per average livestream session in Singapore to-date.

    “Our professionally-generated Guess It content offers a new way to feature brands and sellers, while increasing in-app consumer dwell time and purchase,” said Mary Zhou, CMO of Lazada Group.

    “This is a result of a holistic approach to our shoppertainment strategy – tying in a seller collaboration approach and integrating seamlessly with our payments and customer engagement priorities.”

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  • E-Commerce Giant Lazada Joins Mobile Game EvergleamHill

    E-Commerce Giant Lazada Joins Mobile Game EvergleamHill

    HotNow, the retail marketing platform has announced the soft launch of Evergleam Hill, a casual mobile game where users mine their way to discounts, vouchers, and giveaways. After months of testing, the soft launch version is now available on both the Android Google Play and Apple App Stores, having successfully accrued over 3000 downloads in the past few weeks without any marketing efforts. The game includes new merchant partners including Southeast Asian e-commerce giant Lazada and leading Thai coffee chain D’Oro Coffee.

    Developed as HotNow’s flagship game for its proprietary in-game advertising solution, HotPlay, Evergleam Hill has seen approximately one thousand coupon downloads by avid consumers in the past few weeks. To date, the coupons on the game hold a total discount value exceeding THB 2.5 million (US$80,000), highlighting the benefits of HotPlay as merchants have been able to measurably engage with an ever-growing consumer base by effectively bridging virtual gameplay with real-world rewards.

    Nithinan Boonyawattanapisut, CEO and Co-Founder of HotNow said, “Following a rigorous testing phase with the help of a dedicated gamer community, we are thrilled to celebrate this milestone in the development of Evergleam Hill as we welcome new merchant partners onboard. By successfully bridging the worlds of gaming, retail, and virtual currencies, we’ve been able to leverage the existing synergies within these industries to the benefit of our merchant partners and users alike”.

    Set in the eponymous mining village, Evergleam Hill is a mobile role-playing game where players are rewarded with branded prizes, discounts, and promotions with real-world value from participating merchant partners. As a highly interactive game with stunning visuals, players currently have the opportunity to mine their gold chunks for HOT tokens by exchanging them at the game’s bank, the First Bank of Evergleam Hill. HOT tokens can then be used to purchase in-game items. Further updates to the game’s infrastructure will see branded coupons and discounts from retail partners sold within an in-game marketplace which can then be used in real-world transactions at partnering brick-and-mortar retailers. Users will also be able to sell these coupons and discounts to other players through the game’s marketplace in the near future.

    Benjamin Scherrey, Group CTO of HotNow said, “As we work towards the full global launch of Evergleam Hill, it’s important to recognise that our HotPlay platform offers a new, unprecedented form of mobile advertising that is truly the first of its kind. We are excited to be working with these merchants who have taken a progressive approach to consumer engagement and we look forward to supporting them along with our community of game developers as we work to revolutionise the in-game advertising landscape”.

    Participating retail partners at this time are local to Thailand, including American ice cream chain, Baskin-Robbins; Thailand’s coffee chain, D’Oro Coffee; and globally-recognised fast food chain and donut brand, Mister Donut. Apart from food and beverage discounts, Evergleam Hill now features discount coupons from Lazada along with a coupon for a free one-night stay worth THB 6,799 from five-star beachfront resort U Pattaya.

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  • Eventbrite ‘Buy on Facebook’ launches in Singapore

    Eventbrite ‘Buy on Facebook’ launches in Singapore

    Eventbrite Singapore has launched local ‘Buy On Facebook’ integration.

    The integration will allow event creators and attendees to more easily sell and buy tickets directly through the social media.

    ‘Buy on Facebook’ streamlines the ticket-purchasing process, allowing event attendees to secure a ticket with just two taps, and without having to leave Facebook.

    Since its launched, the integration has been found to drive 20-per-cent more paid ticket sales and twice the number of registrations for free tickets.

    When event-goers purchase a ticket on Facebook, their attendance can be shared with friends with a single tap, expanding the event’s reach and generating more of a buzz.

    “Hosting our myriad events and workshops on Facebook enables our page followers to register with one quick click,” said Angie Chew, Brahm Centre’s founder, a customer of Eventbrite for four years.

    ‘Buy on Facebook’ integration is also now available in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, the US and Canada.

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  • Amazon increases efforts to tackle counterfeit goods

    Amazon increases efforts to tackle counterfeit goods

    Online retail giant Amazon is expanding its product serialization service to Canada, India and some European countries to tackle counterfeit products in the supply chain.

    Amazon Transparency involves the application of unique codes to products to allow the retailer, its customers, brands and other members of the supply chain to authentic every unit of a product.

    “Counterfeiting is an industry-wide concern – both online and offline. We find the most effective solutions to prevent counterfeit are based on partnerships that combine Amazon’s technology innovation with the sophisticated knowledge and capabilities of brands,” said Dharmesh Mehta, vice president, Amazon Customer Trust and Partner Support.

    “We created Transparency to provide brands with a simple, scalable solution that empowers brands and Amazon to authenticate products within the supply chain, stopping counterfeit before it reaches a customer.”

    With Transparency, each brand puts the codes on its products, which is then scanned and verified by Amazon to ensure its authenticity.

    Customers can also use a mobile app to check for themselves, regardless of where they purchased the units.

    Brands also use Transparency to communicate unique unit-level information, including manufacturing date, manufacturing place or other product information such as ingredients.

    Over 4,000 brands are using the service in the US and Amazon said that it has proactively prevented over 250,000 counterfeits reaching customers.

  • Tmall offers new tools for retailers to revamp online storefronts

    Tmall offers new tools for retailers to revamp online storefronts

    Alibaba’s marketplace Tmall has rolled out a suite of tools for brands to customize their online storefronts and offer a more personalized experience for shoppers.

    The platform’s “Flagship Store 2.0” solution pulls both analytics and popular technologies together into the Tmall app, offering brands new tools to revamp their existing flagship online storefronts and provide each consumer a personalized page based on their previous shopping patterns. It also allows brands to display and order offline specials and inventory through their newly designed online stores.

    “We aim to offer new tools to all brands and merchants on our platform to transform their operations with digital technology,” said the president of Taobao and Tmall Jiang Fan. “By supporting players on our marketplace to push the New Retail boundary, we will reinforce Tmall’s position as the go-to platform for innovative e-commerce and brand new shopping experiences”.

    This is the most significant upgrade of Tmall’s flagship stores since its PC-based launch in 2008. With Flagship Store 2.0, Tmall is opening its back end to independent software vendors so they can develop new virtual shopping spaces for online store operators. At the same time, Tmall will start including 3D and augmented reality product-display technology in its apps, allowing customers to, for example, see how a piece of furniture will look in their own living room or let them “try on” lipstick in a virtual mirror before placing an order.

    Another feature of the Flagship Store 2.0 solution is the ability to connect brands’ Tmall flagship online storefronts to their offline outlets. This means online shoppers can browse and purchase from a similar product assortment as offered at the brands’ physical locations. The seamless integration can bolster store traffic, both online and offline.

    The use of demographic analytics and a shopper’s history by brands means customers will get a unique, more individualized product recommendations on the platform, along with privileges based on their Tmall membership status.

  • Tmall Offers New Tools to Revamp Storefronts, Customize Customer Experience

    Tmall Offers New Tools to Revamp Storefronts, Customize Customer Experience

    Tmall has rolled out a suite of tools for brands to customize their online storefronts and offer a more-personalized experience for shoppers.

    Called “Flagship Store 2.0,” the solution from Alibaba’s premier marketplace pulls together into the Tmall app both analytics and technologies that have proven popular with customers elsewhere in the group ecosystem. Tmall’s goal is to offer brands new tools to revamp their existing flagship store and offer each consumer a personalized page based on their previous shopping pattern. It’s also giving brands a New Retail twist, letting them display and order offline specials and inventory through their newly designed online stores.

    “We aim to offer new tools to all brands and merchants on our platform to transform their operations with digital technology. By supporting players on our marketplace to push the New Retail boundary, we will reinforce Tmall’s position as the go-to platform for innovative e-commerce and brand new shopping experiences,” said Jiang Fan, president of Taobao and Tmall.

    This is the most-significant upgrade of Tmall flagship stores since their PC-based launch in 2008. Back then, brands opened simple, modular storefronts. Over time, Tmall added some customization and options for content creation – short videos, animations and livestreaming – to engage and educate consumers and build a strong online shopping community.

    With Flagship Store 2.0, Tmall will open its back end to independent software vendors (ISVs), so that they can develop new virtual shopping spaces for online store operators. The idea is to let brands build stores that have their own, distinct “look and feel.” At the same time, Tmall will start including 3D and augmented reality (AR) product-display technology in its apps. That will allow customers, for example, to see how a piece of furniture will look in their own living room or let them “try on” lipstick in a virtual mirror before placing an order.

    Another feature of the Flagship Store 2.0 solution is the ability to connect brands’ Tmall flagship stores to their offline outlets. This means online shoppers can browse and purchase from a similar product assortment as offered at the brands’ physical locations. The seamless integration can bolster store traffic, both online and offline.

    The use of demographic analytics and a shopper’s history by brands means customers will get a unique, more-individualized product recommendations, along with privileges based on their Tmall membership status. With more discretionary income and a higher demand for exclusivity, Chinese consumers across the spectrum are showing stronger desire for a memorable experience with each purchase. They not only want high-quality products at a reasonable price, they are also seeking a fun, interactive experience.

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  • Shopee Boosts Online Baby Care Offerings For Millennial Mothers with Johnson’s

    Shopee, Southeast Asia and Taiwan’s leading e-commerce platform, today announced the expansion of their online baby care offering with Johnson’s®, a leading brand in the baby personal care category. Through this partnership, Shopee hopes to offer time-starved millennial mothers easy access to an even wider range of baby care products from Johnson’s®.

    The announcement comes on the heels of strong performance over close to three years of partnership. Overall sales of products on the Johnson & Johnson Official Store on Shopee has grown more than 10xyear-on-year. Some of the store’s best sellers include Johnson’s® Top-to-Toe Baby Bath, Desitin™ Diaper Rash Cream and Aveeno™ Dermexa range of products for eczema-prone skin.

    According to the latest data from App Annie, consumer spending in app stores is expected to surpass more than $120 billion in 2019. Millennial mothers are also using their phones for almost everything – from shopping online, to browsing social media and reading work emails. With over 95% of orders on Shopee made through mobile phones, including baby products like milk powder, diapers and other baby essentials, Shopee believes that this strategic partnership will help us to reach even more Singaporean parents by 2020.

    Zhou Junjie, Chief Commercial Officer, Shopee said, “The joint decision to expand Johnson’s® online baby care offering on Shopee is a natural extension of our partnership, as we have seen steadily growing demand for baby products since the brand’s launch on our platform in 2016. Millennial mothers are time-starved from juggling multiple roles, and we are thrilled to be able to provide increased convenience and a reliable shopping option for them by offering a wider variety of baby care products. Through this collaboration with Johnson’s®, a brand with 125 years of unwavering commitment to providing the best care for babies and children, we hope to create more meaningful shopping experiences and peace-of-mind to millennial mothers who want the best for their children.”

    Guillermo Frydman, Managing Director, Johnson & Johnson Singapore said, “Given the growth of e-commerce in Singapore and the increasing trend of millennial parents shopping online, we believe that by teaming up with Shopee, Johnson’s® will be able to reach out to even more parents. Parents who are searching for trusted baby care products online can rest assure that they can get Johnson’s® products via a reliable and secure platform like Shopee. As a market leader in the baby care category, Johnson’s®is committed to delivering the best for babies by advancing the science of baby skin care to meet the evolving needs of generations of parents. Parents trust that we will offer only the gentlest of care to their babies.”

  • Walmart to relist Seiyu in global business revamp

    Walmart to relist Seiyu in global business revamp

    Walmart says it plans to relist its Seiyu retail business in Japan on the stock market, freeing capital to focus on its China and India business units.

    While the US retailer will retain a majority interest in Seiyu, it believes floating the unit will allow it to operate more independently.

    The move is part of a three-year business plan for Seiyu, part of a broader push to reshape Walmart’s international business.

    “As the parent loses the wherewithal to support low-performing overseas units, revamping those operations has become imperative,” observed Nikkei writer Kento Hirashima.

    Walmart had previously been tipped to sell the Japanese business unit, but has discarded that option.

    Seiyu also plans to expand its online grocery retail business and boost its range of fresh produce and prepared foods.

    Walmart forged an investment and operational alliance in 2002 before Walmart took full control six years later and Seiyu was delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

  • Suning.com ranked China’s most-valuable retail brand

    Suning.com ranked China’s most-valuable retail brand

    Suning Holdings’ retail subsidiary Suning.com has been ranked China’s most valuable retail brand, finishing 13th on World Brand Lab’s 16th “China’s 500 Most Valuable Brands” list.

    This was the second consecutive year Suning finished in 13th place with its brand value totaling RMB269.198 billion (US$39.093 billion), an increase of 17 percent compared to last year. Its listed brand value has increased by a factor of six since 2009.

    In the past year, Suning.com announced operational revenue of RMB244.96 billion ($36.479 billion), up 30.35 percent year on year; and a sales volume of RMB336 billion ($50.16 billion), an increase of 38.39 percent.

    By the end of March this year, the company owned 12,329 offline brick-and-mortar stores in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Japan, covering diversified consumption scenarios that include Suning Retail Cloud Franchise Stores, SuFresh (fresh food supermarkets), Suning Xiaodian (providing neighbourhood products and services) and Redbaby (maternal and child supplies stores).

    Last February, the company announced the acquisition of 37 Wanda department stores nationwide and in June, it acquired 80 percent of Carrefour China to improve its full-scenarios ecosystem and expand its all-categories merchandise retailing by reinforcing its market competitiveness in fast-moving consumer goods operations.

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  • Tmall Global launches new English-language website

    Tmall Global launches new English-language website

    Tmall Global today launched its first English-language website to attract more merchants and businesses from around the world to join China’s largest cross-border online shopping platform.

    The portal makes it easier for sellers of all sizes to capitalize on burgeoning demand from Chinese consumers for high-quality imported products.

    Tmall Global already features 20,000 international brands in over 4,000 categories from 77 countries and regions. This outreach aims to make Tmall more appealing to small, medium-sized and niche brands from other countries with products that would sate the demands of China’s post-1995 generation.

    The website details Tmall Global and the solutions it offers to overseas merchants entering the China market. It includes steps on how to open a flagship store on Tmall Global and tap direct import tools, such as Tmall Overseas Fulfillment (TOF), a new initiative launched later last year to provide international merchants a low-cost, low-risk way to take a first step toward selling to China before making a more full-fledged market entry.

    The portal also provides tools that streamline the process to join Tmall Global. Businesses wanting to open a flagship store can fill out a questionnaire and input basic information about their operation. That information will be pre-screened, and qualifying applicants will be contacted within 72 hours. Apart from offering assistance during the onboarding process, Tmall Global will also advise merchants on how to optimize their operations after they establish a presence on the platform.

    “Tmall Global’s mission is to connect high-quality international brands across the globe with Chinese consumers. We believe the launch of this English-language website will expedite the process for brands and merchants to introduce their products to Chinese consumers. The website will widen our reach to merchants, especially to those medium and small sized businesses around the world,” said Yi Qian, Deputy General Manager of Tmall Global.

    In addition to English, Tmall Global plans to launch other language versions of its entry portal for merchants, including Spanish, Japanese and Korean.

    Tmall Global has notched significant growth in the past year and looks to continue the strong momentum. In 2018, the number of new flagship store openings on Tmall Global doubled from the previous year, and that growth rate is expected to accelerate further this year.

  • Amazon offering free international shipping on Prime Day

    Amazon offering free international shipping on Prime Day

    Amazon’s massive annual sale, Prime Day, will kick off on Monday, July 15th and run for 48 hours until 5pm AEST on Wednesday, July 17th.

    For the duration of the event, Prime members will also enjoy free expedited international shipping, with no minimum order threshold, on all Prime eligible products through the global store.

    “We all love a bargain, and last year’s Prime Day confirmed this, being our biggest day since the launch of amazon.com.au,” Amazon Australia country manager Rocco Braeuniger said.

    “We are excited to announce that this year will be even bigger, with Prime members down under not only being the first in the world to have access to Prime Day but also having the longest Prime Day event worldwide.”

    Prime Day deals will be split across all categories, including TVs, smart home, kitchen, pantry food and drinks, toys, fashion, video games, books, as well as everyday essentials.

    According to Amazon, small and medium-sized businesses surpassed US$1.5 billion in sales globally during last year’s Prime Day, with Brisbane-based Astivita noting it was the company’s “biggest single day of online sales ever.”

    “It was mainly down to one product, a monitor,” Astivita chief executive Joseph Mizlkovsky said.

    “We are excited to be taking part again this year and we will be discounting that same product at an even lower price, alongside a number of bathroom products.

    “We hope that customers will snap up the change to shop our products at brilliant discounts, making this Prime Day even bigger than last year for us.”

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