Amazon has made a commitment to its plans to launch a South African marketplace, and the company is currently advertising 30 full-time positions in the country, a fair portion of which are marketplace-related.
The online retail company is currently for the hunt for a marketplace manager, B-BBEE programme manager, marketing head, ER and HR compliance manager, and several vendor managers. This comes even though there were massive job cuts across its global operations towards the end of 2022 and early 2023.
Amazon CEO, Andy Jassy said in a January memo to staff that Amazon has weathered uncertain and difficult economies in the past, and they will continue to do so. “These changes will help us pursue our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure.” – he added.
When the jobs were being cut and the economy has been deteriorating, questions have been asked over whether Amazon would scrap its plans for a South African marketplace. A a source close to the project said Amazon has paused its Nigerian rollout but is progressing with its South African plans.
Plans for the South African launched surfaced in June 2022, when leaked documents revealed Amazon’s plans to expand to five new countries in Africa, South America, and Europe. Codenamed “Project Fela”, the African plan included an anticipated February 2023 launch date for a South African marketplace.
Plans included offering the Fulfilment by Amazon service for third-party sellers and Amazon’s Prime membership programme in the country, but Amazon delayed the launch due to the tech industry slump. It was in late May 2023 when a document on Amazon’s Carrier Central webpage for South Africa revealed that Amazon plans on having at least one fulfilment centre in Johannesburg and another in Cape Town.
The document also showed that the fulfilment centres can handle 7-ton trucks for palletised deliveries, with a maximum pallet height of 160cm, and they will also be able to accept deep-sea import containers.
Amazon first revealed that it has marketplace-related positions in South Africa back in August 2022. These included two managerial roles for the “ZA marketplace”. It now appears to be boosting its hiring efforts for marketplace-related roles. At the moment, the company is advertising 31 full-time positions in South Africa, several of which are marketplace-orientated managerial positions.
These jobs include:
- Marketplace Manager
- Head of Marketing
- Principle Business Developer
- B-BBEE Programme Manager
- ER and HR Compliance Manager
- Associate Vendor Manager
- Vendor Manager
- Senior Vendor Manager
- Catalogue Specialist
The positions require varying degrees of experience, with the highest requirement being more than ten years of sales, technical, business and product and programme management experience when it comes to the Marketplace Manager and B-BBEE Programme Manager roles.
Candidates should have the relevant qualifications to match their experience.
