Amazon plans to expand into Nigeria and South Africa in 2023

eCommerce giant, Amazon, is said to be planning to enter into Africa and South Africa in 2023. As reported by Business Insider, this is part of its expansion plans into Africa, Europe, and South America. The report stated that Amazon intends to expand into Belgium, Chile, Colombia, Nigeria, and South Africa next year.

According to the report, the expansion to Africa, specifically South Africa and Nigeria, is codenamed Project Fela and states that it plans to launch in South Africa in February 2023 and Nigeria in April 2023.

“Belgium’s marketplace, called Project Red Devil, is slated for late September 2022 and the one in Colombia, dubbed Project Salsa, is scheduled for February 2023 ” the report reveals.

“Chile is planned for April 2023, too. It shares the Project Salsa name with Colombia.”

The report also revealed that all countries intend to launch their marketplace and access Amazon’s fulfilment service, ‘Fulfillment by Amazon’. It said that Amazon’s prime membership programme is expected to be available at launch in Belgium, while other countries will get it shortly after their introductions.

“For example, Belgian shoppers, who are already able to sign up for prime through some of Amazon’s other European sites, will get their own dedicated prime service for a more consistent pricing and shopping experience,”  it added.

The entrance of Amazon eCommerce offering will certainly pose a threat to the incumbents in these countries. For instance, in Nigeria, Jumia and Konga need to find out ways of competing against this giant; Takealot in South Africa and Mercado Libre in South America.

Amazon opened its first Amazon Web Services (AWS) datacentre in Africa located in Cape Town, South Africa in 2020.

Globally, it has not been a good story for the eCommerce giant. Amazon reported its first quarterly loss since 2015, which was due to a slowdown in pandemic-induced online shopping and a huge write-down of its investment in an electric-vehicle startup, Rivian Automotive.

It reported a loss of $3.84 billion, or $7.56 a share, for the first three months of the year. A year ago, it reported a profit of $8.1 billion, or $15.79 a share, for the first quarter.