Finally, it’s happening. Amazon is coming to Australia next year with both online stores and Bricks and Mortar businesses.
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<p>Tell me Americans, what can we expect?</p>
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Premium Member<blockquote><em><a href="#24834">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/anchovylover">anchovylover</a><a href="#24834">:</a></em></blockquote>
<p>A thinner wallet.</p>
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Premium Member<blockquote><em><a href="#24834">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/anchovylover">anchovylover</a><a href="#24834">:</a></em></blockquote>
<p>I’ve never seen such a store. 🙂 You’ll have to tell us what it’s like.</p>
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<blockquote><em><a href="#24840">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/paul-thurrott">paul-thurrott</a><a href="#24840">:</a></em></blockquote>
<p>Doesn’t Amazon already have actual stores in America? http://www.businessinsider.com.au/amazon-to-open-brick-and-mortar-stores-in-australia-2016-11</p>
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<blockquote><em><a href="#25053">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/anchovylover">anchovylover</a><a href="#25053">:</a></em></blockquote>
<p>Looking at that article, it appears they are trying to emulate apple and sell the Amazon devices at least at their Pop-Up Stores. In a regular store I would imagine they would stock whatever people are buying most in the area where its located. They are pretty smart that way. </p>
Patrick3D
<blockquote><em><a href="#24834">In reply to anchovylover:</a></em></blockquote><p>The only "Amazon Store" I have seen in the US was a tiny kiosk in a mall with a few popular items for sale in the $100-$300 price range and none of it something I would personally want to buy. That was about 3 years ago. Haven't seen one again. For any gamers in Australia, pester Amazon to offer Twitch Prime support in your country. Twitch Prime gives Amazon Prime subscribers free premium membership on Twitch.tv which gives you ad-free viewing and lets you "subscribe" to one Twitch channel a month for free which would normally cost $5 a month and supports the channel you subscribe to. There are a few other minor benefits as well.</p>
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Premium Member<p>The benefit is that you can get Prime which makes 2 day shipping on anything free…so what Amazon does is make you hate any other online store that doesnt ship in that same time window.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And it gets worse.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If you live in an area with Prime Now, you can order lots of things that can arrive in 2hrs…if you pay $5 extra.</p>
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<blockquote><em><a href="#24861">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/brad-sams">brad-sams</a><a href="#24861">:</a></em></blockquote>
<p>I am already a Prime member. I just don’t see enough ‘value add’ to my life with this device. I looked at the Google Home thing and it’s woefully non-functional out of the gate. Apple and Microsoft don’t even have a product yet. My guess is wait a year.</p>
5812
<blockquote><em><a href="#24861">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/brad-sams">Brad Sams</a><a href="#24861">:</a></em></blockquote>
<p>I tried to just buy when we had enough items to get free delivery and then we ended up buying stuff that we didn’t need because I wanted to hit the $$ amount for free shipping and that was a waste not only of $$ but the time to think of something to put me over the $$ amount to get free shipping that I might use. Then certain things we wanted to get soon just sat in the cart till we had enough of them to go over the $$ amount for free shipping which made my wife mad. It’s so much easier to just pay then $99 a year and order whatever you want even something as cheap as a few $$ and not have a care in the world about just buying it since shipping is free. We purchase lots of stuff and 99 % + comes in perfectly. Can’t be more happy with Amazon and I plan on getting a Nvidia Shield Android TV when I get my 4k tv so I can start taking advantage of the free streaming video service.</p>
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<p>What’s the benefit of using an Amazon Echo if my music subscriptions are Google & Apple?</p>
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<p>Be honest Amazon Prime in the Uk is just not worth the money.<br />I use Amazon loads for all kinds of things.<br />Mostly its free shipping, but if not just add it to a bundle so its £20 and its free shipping for all.<br />Anything from amazon always arrives the next day without fail, even third parties from the UK.<br />So no need to pay for any other shipping as free works so quick.<br />Anything from China though and its about a week or two :)</p>
<p>Thing is though we will all want to see The Grand Tour (new Top Gear) so may have to sub the £75 for it :(<br /><br />Cannot believe you never had Amazon in Australia, I thought it was everywhere.</p>
<p>We know have that Amazon echo thing here, tried it in store and it was pretty naff and the speaker was rubbish for any serious music. Not sure really se the point of it, you might as well just ask cortana or use Google now on your phone or tablet.</p>
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Premium Member<blockquote><em><a href="#25073">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/J_Numan">J_Numan</a><a href="#25073">:</a></em></blockquote>
<p>I find it’s worth it, if only for Amazon Video, Prime Now and the odd same day delivery when Now doesn’t have an item but the main site does. And as long as you’re happy staying in the Amazon ecosystem, you can claw back some of the cost of Prime by selecting slow delivery – usually you’ll get a quid off Kindle/Music/Video purchases (the exact kickback varies, for awhile it was a free Amazon Pantry delivery which was useless).</p>
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<p>Amazon is my bae… I have a package arrive from them practically every week.</p>
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<p>I don’t shop on Amazon that much. Bit when I do, I sign up for the 30 day free trial.</p>
<p>And than go and cancel it in 29 days.</p>
5664
Premium Member<p>Christ. God save you all.</p>
5615
<p>It is strange that it took them so long to crack the nut there. I remember having a conversation last year with someone there about some PC hardware I got from Amazon only to find out, to my surprise, that in Australia Amazon still basically only sells books.</p>
<p>As I understand it, the main issue was setting up efficient distribution for goods other than books. It will be very interesting to see how their arrival to the online space in Australia affects local prices.</p>
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Premium Member<p>I admit to being one of the Canucks that is drawn to Prime not for the shipping (you can’t get the video-only service here, like you can in the US), but because of one show – The Grand Tour. For less than what I pay netflix a month, given that I’ve cut my cords… yeah, I’m flirting with trying it.</p>
<p>Just so the others in the ROW know – Amazon has sold a lot of their original programming already to both networks and streaming services around the world where Prime has not been available. Reading reports are that there is a lot of geo-blocking on the site if another network/service in your country has the program, ala the old Netflix days.</p>
<p>When I’m at my trailer in Washington, I get far better Netflix choices than I do when I’m home in Canada, so we are still geo-blocked. I figure it’s about 50% of the available library that is licenced in Canada at any time. I don’t envy Netflix their licencing headaches having to deal with multiple countries, frankly. </p>
<p>So, I will see what Amazon is like. Being able to use the account in both countries, I’m willing to bet the US experience is far better than what I get in Canada. We will see.</p>
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