Amazon has launched in Australia, ending months of speculation around the timing of when it would finally open its full offering Down Under and setting up a sales frenzy ahead of Christmas.
The e-commerce giant has already been selling Kindle e-reader devices, audio books and content from its Australian website but it has now activated its full-service local offering, featuring its own products and items sold by small local retailers.
The US retailer is known for sacrificing profit for sales through aggressively low prices and its greater presence in Australia is expected to benefit customers but bring more pain for local retailers.
Retail analysts at Citi believe large local electronics retailers JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman will be among the hardest hit by the disruption the global behemoth is expected to create.
