Amazon Opens For Business In Poland

Amazon has debuted its new Polish website as of Tuesday morning (March 2), but that won’t come without competition in the country’s eCommerce boom, Reuters writes.

Amazon announced the site in January with the intent of better serving local customers, who were previously using its German site.

But there was no set date for opening at first. The initial announcement of the site caused Polish eCommerce firm Allegro to see sharply falling shares.

Allegro chief executive Francois Nuyts said the company was focused on its customers, though it did not mention Amazon’s imminent competition.

“We are thrilled to launch Amazon.pl and to be able to offer Polish customers a selection of more than 100 million products, including tens of thousands of products from local Polish businesses,” Alex Ootes, vice president of European expansion for Amazon, said in a statement, according to Reuters.

The Polish eCommerce market has seen a further boost from online pandemic-related shopping. In October, Allegro, which is seen as a homegrown eBay alternative, was able to enjoy a strong stock market debut. Then in January, parcel storage firm InPost followed that, Reuters writes.

Amazon has pulled its weight during the pandemic, with a record-breaking holiday season with over 1.5 billion packages delivered last year. Jeff Wilke, CEO of worldwide consumer at Amazon, said the numbers showed “what it means to be customer-centric and support our communities this year.”

Wilke said the company and its employees had gone “above and beyond” to help deliver essential supplies for workers as well.

And he added that the company had its own COVID testing protocol to help things keep getting delivered. Some of the most popular 2020 holiday items were the iRobot Roomba 675, Lite-Brite Ultimate Classic Retro Toy, Jenga Classic Game, Just Dance 2021, Nintendo Switch Standard Edition.

In addition, the company saw a new surge in Alexa video calling as people tried to cope with new COVID restrictions.