Amazon is the biggest e-commerce retailer in Europe, and today Amazon took the next step in making that effort more localized. Amazon has launched a dedicated portal for Sweden at Amazon.se — giving Swedish shoppers, third-party merchants, and itself, a local URL — and a local logistics system, and a local marketing push — for buying and selling goods and services online.
Sweden is Europe’s 10th biggest economy by GDP, is a key market for Amazon.
Amazon announced that the new local storefront will launch with 150 million+ products in 30 categories — examples of the popular Swedish brands that include Electrolux, Lagerhaus, OBH Nordica, Ellos, BRIO, Bonnierförlagen, and Ifö — and it will provide free delivery on eligible orders.
It becomes Amazon’s 17th local portal, after Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and the United States.
Amazon had already been doing a lot of retail business in Sweden.
This latest move from Amazon is about doubling down on the potential of the country, both as a place to tap merchants and shoppers, and compete potentially more aggressively against homegrown merchants like Ikea and H&M.
“We are thrilled to launch Amazon.se and to be able to offer Swedish customers a selection of more than 150 million products, including tens of thousands of products from local Swedish businesses,” said Alex Ootes, Vice President, European Expansion for Amazon, in a statement “Today is only the start of Amazon.se. We will continue to work hard to earn the trust of Swedish customers by growing our product range, ensuring low prices, and providing a convenient and trusted shopping experience.”
“The opportunities for Amazon are enormous. Amazon has grown to become our most important channel for exports, and within the first months of working with Amazon we were cash flow positive,” said Pierre Magnusson, head of e-commerce at N!CK’S, a Swedish healthy snack business, in a statement. “N!CK’S continues to grow and has become one of the best-selling brands within our category, and we are still seeing 50% year-on-year growth in the EU Amazon stores alone.”
Elisabet Sandström, CEO of Miss Mary of Sweden AB, a manufacturer of high-quality lingerie, added: “Amazon is an important channel for our expansion in Europe and the US, and we now look forward to selling through the Swedish Store when Amazon opens in our home country. Our sales on Amazon have increased steadily by over 50% per year, and Amazon is our fastest-growing channel. Germany is currently Miss Mary’s largest customer base, and when we entered Amazon.de we noticed an immediate sales increase. We now appreciate the opportunity to reach new Swedish customers and make them happy.”
