Amazon launched in Singapore on Monday, October 7th. Singapore is Amazon’s 16th global marketplace after launching in the United Arab Emirates in April and Turkey in September last year. The company has first launched in Singapore more than two years ago with its fast delivery service through the Prime Now app.
Amazon launched in Singapore with close to 500 third-party marketplace sellers, according to Marketplace Pulse research. To kickstart the marketplace, the company is waiving the monthly professional selling account fee until March 31st, 2020.
It opened with the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) available on day one; a service two hundred sellers are already using. Altogether the marketplace is providing over a million products, on top of the assortment by Amazon SG first-party.
Prime membership is available for S$2.99/month, offering one-day delivery on domestic selection. Amazon in Singapore continues to sell international assortment from Amazon US. With Prime membership, free standard delivery for Amazon US products is available on orders over S$60.
Other e-commerce companies, including Lazada, mainly operate via a marketplace model in Singapore. Alibaba has invested $4 billion into Lazada to date, as well as $1.1 billion in Tokopedia, which competes with Lazada in Indonesia.
Singapore is the smallest country Amazon has launched yet in terms of population - Singapore population is estimated at 5.8 million people according to UN data. However, Singapore is often seen as a launchpad for companies into much bigger Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, and the world’s fourth most populous country. Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam combined have a consumer base of approximately 560 million, with estimated internet users hovering around 300 million.
