The Amazon and Brazil are synonymous. But the ecommerce giant isn’t big there despite the fact it takes its name from the mighty river that flows through it and meets the sea at Brazil’s Atlantic coast.
But that seems set to change, albeit quietly at the moment. Amazon has been operating in Brazil for about five years but stayed true to its original concept and has pretty much been selling books. It has also opened up bookselling But now it’s started eyeing up the electronics and tech market too. And it’s also opening its doors to third party sellers too.
A new Amazon Brazil electronics and technology marketplace has opened this week. You can find it here.
Alex Szapiro, Country Manager for Amazon in Brazil, said: “We know how much Brazilians love technology, which is why we are thrilled to launch this new category on our website. Since our launch in Brazil, we are constantly obsessed about offering our customers an amazing experience when it comes to buying Kindle devices, print or digital books, and self-publish an eBook.”
“Today, more than half of total paid units sold on Amazon worldwide are from small businesses that offer their products through Amazon Marketplace. Our goal is to provide an amazing experience to consumers, while helping local entrepreneurs to grow, just like we have done with booksellers since we opened our Marketplace for Books only a few months ago.”
It’s interesting that Amazon is increasingly building propositions specifically for different international markets. And the news that Amazon was making a foray into South America made a dent on local ecommerce concerns and their stocks after the news broke.
The marketplace approach makes sense predominantly because Amazon has notably high import taxes on goods shipped into the country. By encouraging peer to peer and 3P selling they can likely nurture a local business and jumpstart Trade that’s good for Amazon and Brazil.
