More than 300 entrepreneurs gathered at Amazon’s offices last week for the company’s first South African Seller Summit — a marketing and education event that signals Amazon’s growing interest in local e-commerce and its intent to court small businesses as it expands deeper into the continent.
The event comes just months after Amazon launched its local marketplace, amazon.co.za, in October 2024 — nearly two decades after it first registered a South African domain name. For many of the attendees, the summit was a chance to learn how to navigate the platform’s backend systems, understand fulfilment and advertising tools, and gain visibility in an increasingly competitive digital marketplace.
Amazon executives, including Robert Koen, managing director for sub-Saharan Africa, framed the summit as a moment of partnership with South African sellers. “Our third-party sellers are fundamental to our customer-centric business model,” he told attendees. The company says it adds thousands of new products to the site each week, many of them supplied by local entrepreneurs.
The summit included product demos, workshops on Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA), and talks about advertising optimisation and automation — all aimed at making it easier for sellers to operate within Amazon’s ecosystem. A video message from Doug Herrington, CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores, reiterated the company’s now-standard message: that small and medium-sized businesses are not just included, but central to Amazon’s success.
But for some, the timing raises questions.
Amazon’s entry into South Africa comes as local online retailers — from Takealot to Makro and independent Shopify storefronts — have matured significantly in recent years. Infrastructure remains a challenge for many smaller merchants, especially those outside major metros, and concerns persist about whether global platforms like Amazon will level the playing field or dominate it.
“It’s important to look at who wins when a platform like Amazon expands into a new market,” said one Cape Town-based e-commerce consultant, who asked not to be named to avoid jeopardising client relationships. “Yes, it brings opportunity. But it also centralises more power in a single platform. Local sellers are still subject to whatever fee changes, rule updates, or algorithm shifts Amazon decides on.”
Still, for some attendees, the draw is undeniable.
“It’s opened up global reach for my brand,” said Nadia Michaels, co-founder of local skincare label Yearn Skin, who also spoke at the summit. “But it’s a steep learning curve. Events like this help humanise the platform — it’s not just a dashboard.”
The presence of South African business strategist Vusi Thembekwayo and discussions on generative AI applications in retail suggested Amazon is positioning itself not just as a marketplace, but as a business partner and digital infrastructure provider.
That framing may resonate with some sellers. But as Amazon continues to grow its presence in South Africa, it will likely face questions about its long-term commitments to local economic inclusion — and whether the tools it provides are enough to offset the power it wields.
For more information about selling on Amazon South Africa, visit sellercentral.amazon.co.za.