As Americans go berserk over Prime Day sales, will New Zealand ever get an Amazon warehouse?
Photo: Unsplash
It’s tough with the global force of social media, especially the happenings thrown at us from those cultural imperialists in the northern hemisphere.
We think we’re having a Brat Summer even if it’s the middle of the New Zealand winter.
We turn up to vote on Tuesday 5 November and realise it’s not our election.
And now, our social feeds and US news sites are full of something called Prime Day. It’s a ridiculously good sale with online retailer Amazon where prices are slashed on everything from electronics to pet care products to clothing to anything you can think of really.
But many New Zealanders can’t capitalise on the sale because it requires a monthly or yearly Prime membership, which 75 percent of US shoppers have as well as about 35 percent of Australian households.
As New Zealand does not have one of those massive Amazon warehouses for fast shipping, a full Prime membership isn’t really worth it. A full Prime membership gives you access to fast shipping, Amazon’s media catalogue of movies and TV shows, and you get to join in Prime Day sales (Kiwis can sign up for only Amazon’s streaming platform for about $12 a month.)
It’s a reminder that New Zealand – for now, anyway – is too small and too far away to get much love from one of the biggest retailers in the world. However, for our local retailers and even New Zealand consumers, that might not be a bad thing.
What is Prime Day?
Okay. Amazon makes this confusing, as behemoth companies tend to do.
Officially, Prime Day is a two-day sale in July that Amazon Prime members look forward to with giddy anticipation. In the weeks and days before, they research deals and write shopping lists.
Amazon recently announced a two day sale on 8 and 9 October in the US that it is calling Prime Big Deal Days. American media is full of reporters singling out the best deals with Crest Whitening Kit going from $81 to $39, a Swarovski bracelet going from $193 to $120 and the price of a Sony 65-inch TV dropping from $4055 to $3079.
The last Prime Day sale in July was Amazon’s biggest ever and generated $23 billion in sales. That’s four times New Zealand’s military budget.
New Zealanders can technically be full Amazon Prime members to take advantage of Prime Day sales, but in a quick survey of Americans living in New Zealand it apparently isn’t worth the $24 monthly fee.
Why I don’t miss Amazon
Amazon seemed an absolute necessity to life when I lived in the US up until four years ago. You can order almost anything, even live snails. You’re two clicks away from whatever you want turning up on your doorstep in a day or even an hour.
It encouraged extreme impulse – or in many cases, drunk – buying. A pen, some pegs, a blender and then purchase. An Amazon employee is then dispatched around one of their giant warehouses, sometimes walking more than 30 kilometres a day to collect all the crap you think you want.
Access to Amazon is not always a good thing.
Photo: Sean Robbin/Unsplash
The amount of boxes and packaging I accumulated each week was insane. Then, I had to keep watch over my doorstep for “porch pirates” who stalk Amazon’s delivery trucks and swoop in to steal packages.
I very rarely miss Amazon. I don’t end up with tons of tons of junk that I don’t really need. There’s great deals to be had at retailers such as Briscoes and Farmers. Online shopping might not get to you in hours here, but it’s quick enough to keep me happy.
Amazon radically changes shopping habits in a short time. It’s been dubbed the Amazon Effect where consumers demand speed and convenience with a personal shopping experience.
Take the example of my editor’s Australian friend who recently bought a ream of plain paper, something else and a bucket (a classic random Amazon order). But he had already ordered a bucket and forgot. He ended up with two buckets
Before Amazon, which opened its first Australian warehouse in 2017, he would have gone to Bunnings and wouldn’t have made the same two-bucket mistake. And if you write a list of what you need, by the time you get to the store you have time to question what you really need.
Will New Zealand ever get an Amazon warehouse?
It’s something that seemed inevitable before Covid, but now, the golden age of online retails appears to be over or its at least one pause, said retail expert Chris Wilkinson, from First Retail Group in Wellington.
Amazon is closing warehouses rather than opening them. So are other big online retailers such as Boohoo and ASOS, which are cutting warehouses or perks like free shipping on returns.
“They’ve been growing at a great rate of knots but not necessarily in terms of profitability and we’ve seen some changes,” said Wilkinson.
The Warehouse tried to mimic Amazon’s efficiency and variety of products with its Marketplace website, which allowed other sellers to list items on its website. It was an attempt to get ahead of Amazon’s assumed entry into the New Zealand market.
“It didn’t work because it was very complex and costly and [the Warehouse] had to pull back from that,” said Wilkinson.