[ad_1]
After several years of speculation, Amazon confirmed this summer that the launch was underway. Now the Swedish site has opened and has not been without criticism.
When DN comes to Amazon’s expansion manager Alex Ootes, he’s still happy with the first day in Sweden.
– So far today looks great, he tells DN.
Highlights the wide range, more than 150 million products, and notes that thousands of them are from Swedish companies. But according to analysts, Amazon hasn’t rounded up enough Swedish players yet to fit in.
– It doesn’t seem like a very ambitious launch. The prices, the texts and above all the range, the general offer, do not feel very locally adapted, says Jonas Arnberg, CEO of the analysis company HUI.
– It does not seem that so many Swedish players have joined, he continues.
But Alex Ootes remains positive, pointing out that this is just the beginning of Amazon’s existence in Sweden.
– Of course, we must continue to work with brands and retailers to get more people to sell on Amazon. But overall it has been very positive and I think sellers and brands are very happy to be able to be both on amazon.se and to be able to sell in Germany, France, Great Britain, Spain and the Netherlands at the same time, he says.
Alex Ootes, responsible for Amazon’s expansion within the EU.
Photo: Press photo
In domestic market in the United States is the company is completely dominant in terms of deliveries thanks to the very infrastructure they have built. That the package arrives at the door the same day it is requested is in many cases a matter of routine. In Sweden so far it is mainly Postnord who delivers and for goods not in the Swedish warehouse, delivery times can be long.
It will probably be a while before Amazon has deliveries under its own auspices in the Swedish market, but they are working hard with their Swedish partners to shorten delivery times as much as possible, Alex Ootes assures and points to the Eskilstuna warehouse.
– There we plan to have our best-selling products on the Swedish market, so that we can deliver them in one day, he says.
Another part of the Amazon world what is missing in Sweden is Prime. A kind of membership that, among other things, provides access to special offers and faster delivery, for an annual fee. When it may be relevant here it cannot be answered according to Ootes.
What has perhaps attracted the most attention in connection with the launch is the poor translations of product names and descriptions. Alex Ootes confirms that they have used a lot of machine translation technology and have not done very well.
Gender words and many other inappropriate things have infiltrated the texts of products for children’s clothing, books and home furnishings.
– We have processes to make sure we avoid these types of problems, but sometimes some products run, unfortunately, says the Amazon manager.
The most popular and best selling products are manually translated by real people. But the vast majority of translation software seems to be behind this. You’ll get better over time when you learn about manual translators and the on-site markup feature, explains Alex Ootes.
– Today is the first day in Sweden. Rest assured that we will work hard to improve the customer experience every day, he says.
Also read: Linus Larsson: Amazon is a steamroller that crushes markets
