It may already have a big presence in Ireland, but Amazon has announced that it’s to open its first Irish store in 2025.
The online retailer has a fulfilment centre here as well as customer service hubs in Dublin, Cork and Drogheda where it employs around 6,500 people in different roles, but this will be the first Irish-focused store.
The full details of Amazon.ie, when it is due to go live, and the projected impact it will have on the Irish market hasn’t been revealed just yet.
With its opening, Isih customers can expect a faster turn-around when they are ordering items on Amazon and will avoid customs charges incurred through the US and UK operations.
There will also be more Irish-based items and products on offer, while the returns process will be more straight-forward.
Before Brexit, Irish customers were directed to Amazon in the UK for goods and services but once Britain left the EU it became more difficult and more costly to use the site. The opened its first fulfilment centre here in 2022 to tackle these issues.
Amazon recently did a five-year deal with An Post for faster and more convenient deliveries.
At the moment more than a thousand Irish businesses sell through Amazon generating around €150million in revenue in 2022 but it’s hoped that the opening of the new Irish store will encourage more Irish merchants to sell goods and services through the platform.
