Amazon Sweden is expected to land in the next twelve months according to local pundits. And it’s not entirely welcome, it would seem. It’s not clear whether this means there will be a dedicated Amazon Sweden website though. Doubtless Swedes have been using Amazon in some way shape or form for years.
Nicklas Storåkers is the CEO of shopping comparison site Pricerunner and he says he’s “as sure as I can be” that Amazon will be opening up in Sweden in the next 1 to 12 months, probably operating out of Germany, although Amazon has bought up some locations apparently.
He says: “You don’t just buy three pieces of real estate in Eskilstuna, Västerås and Katrineholm.” And he adds not so much a word of caution but a warning of doom for Swedish ecommerce: “Then we’re all dead. All ecommerce players will become slaves under Amazon, and there will be no space left for us. That’s how you should think.”
There are reflections of the very lukewarm greeting Amazon is getting in Australia where is a fear that the ecommerce titan will stifle local enterprise, damage big national retailers and irrevocably change the face of Australian retail. You can read about that here.
If you’re familiar with Swedish then you doubtlessly be interested in this article which has greater insight: Amazon till Sverige – nu är jag (nästan) helt säker.
There can be no doubt that Amazon can appear as the all encompassing conqueror and anything that stamps out individuality and distinctiveness is a bad thing. But more often it seems that Amazon can also be a catalyst for tired, staid industries to reassess their position.
Publishing was dismissive of the nascent Amazon in the 2000s and then hostile. But arguably it has since given the dusty book business a much needed kick up the arse.
That said, perhaps now Amazon is so utterly powerful, and arguably unstoppable, maybe such concern is justified.
5 Responses
We were speaking with a RMG sales manager today, and he says more and more people are getting tired of Amazon.
Saying that they like to wake up think long term and think how to take the likes of Amazon on.
They are not in general a good place to do business. They are killing everything off. People really need to stop- sending them products, they will not till it is too late and soon all Tamebay will be able to write about it Amazon as everything else will be gone, including all these ads.
Plus the Swedish market for the size of it does not need a shake up it is actually very vibrant. Amazon will of course destroy that along with many local businesses just like they have elsewhere and put nothing back into the country expect LOW paid jobs (they will not get away with the worker exploitation they have here in the Nordics), and it won’t just be Sweden they will want it will be all the Nordics.
Not good at the moment as Amazon have issues with the bank to actually pay sellers. We have been waiting since Monday to pay out as there is a glitch between Amazon and the banks, not a bank but all banks, not only in this country but also in France and Germany. We have been told numerous causes to the problem and they have senior engineers on the case, but now on the third day and still not resolved. We have over £2500 waiting to be paid out and they can’t do it so we have stopped all Amazon listings until they do as nobody knows how long this will take to sort out. No good selling items and not getting paid.
@James, we have sold on Amazon for a few years now, with limited success when it comes to actually making any money for us. We will sit on stock till we are the only ones left in the UK with it then move it.
Now I can understand it from the customer point of view, people are busy just trying to keep their heads above water these days, not getting it! it is the likes of Amazon that keep wages down for a start, as their own employers feel the direct effect.
The only jobs around here are at that Dunfermline FBA center all Flex all low paid. I could not even go to Hampden for our latest failed world cup bid a few weeks ago without seeing Amazon all over the stadium advertising low paid jobs.
Amazon is turning over billions and making pennies, none of us can afford to live on these margins. I admire them for being so innovative, I do not admire what they are doing to society as a whole. Once everyone is gone they will control the market then we will see prices go up.
The Sweden thing bugs me as we do well there, just for these people to come in and take that market out. (4 centers means they will hit Finland and Norway also)
People are complaining about the drop of sales on eBay (this is the Amazon effect) eBay themselves do not help and have run out of ideas. There is nothing I can do about it, we wrote to our new Tory MP and aired our concerns but that is about it. From our own point our OWN website traffic has actually grown a lot it is our one saving grace now as a true independent. This is where we are going to concentrate on for 2018 it is the only chance we will have long term my other option is to give up and drive white van around for Amazon because it is all that is left.