Right now, all you can order from Amazon.nl is ebooks, and nobody wants them (I say, sobbing and hugging my bookcase frantically). But later this year, the website will begin to offer millions of products, all shippable to your home, RTL Nieuws reports.
Today, Amazon.nl opened its doors to retailers in the Netherlands and elsewhere, allowing them to sign up in preparation for the grand opening later this year. At the moment, Dutchies can only buy Amazon products via the German website, which is clearly oppression.
Amazon has had offices in the Netherlands since 2013, which is unsurprising given the country’s status as a tax haven.
Amazon.nl opening in the Netherlands may spell doom for small businesses, and ismost likely bad news for Dutch high street stores.
https://t.co/lpLz9hgAOw komt en dat is slecht nieuws voor de roerige Nederlandse retailhttps://t.co/KwBRSXPU2P
— Trouw Economie (@Trouw_economie) January 15, 2020
Amazon is also famous for treating its workers extremely poorly and paying them badly, especially in the US. Perhaps we should have enjoyed e-book-only Amazon.nl while the company’s only offence was to offer books on a screen.
What do you think of this news? Let us know in the comments below.
Feature image: Tobias Dziuba/Pexels
I may be ignorant, but what is the difference with bol.com, or wehkamp, except that those online buy-all are Dutch? Online ordering here is already very advanced, so I don’t think Amazon will make much of a difference.
This is not good news for anyone. Amazon is one of the worst companies to work for and to deal with. Check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Amazon. People should not use Amazon. Just pay a little more to support local businesses. Amazon is a destroyer of mom-and-pop and independent businesses. Think “we” not “me.” Why make Jeff Bezos richer? He currently has a net worth of $110 billion, Bloomberg estimates. Care more about your neighbors than a multi-billionaire.
I wouldn’t give Jeff Bezos money without reason. I will just keep shopping with bol.com, Coolblue, etc… unless I don’t find the item I am looking for.
People in th Netherlands shop online aready especially if, like me, they live in a small village far from a big city and where public transport is terrible. To get people to get back to shopping in shops rather than on line governments need to improve accessibility. Also the cost of having a shop in a city center is huge so that needs to be addressed.
I hope this is going to push Dutch shops to become better. Right now – they usually are more expensive and present much-much smaller selection. Plus the idea of – it the person looks for something to DIY or some material – let’s overcharge that dude double or triple. For example I was looking for “rieten vezel” also know as “rotan vlechtmaterialen” in Dutch (that’s rattan or wicker in English)… Sooo. turns out that you can buy that 2 times cheaper and faster on Amazon in Germany, plus prime delivery, then looking here in the shops where you need to wait for some weeks often. Or fight for your delivery. Or like i’ve bough Stanley Fat Max clamps..in .. November, and the seller delivered me 6 bike chains instead, and it is Jan 18 – and I still don’t have them. Can continue ..
But in short, if I bough something from Amazon, in middle of November, and transaction failed, long time ago I would have my money.Simple as that.
So, it maybe bad, or maybe good.
bol.com is just bad, late deliveries, overpriced product compared to other stores, limited products as well.
Very happy that amazon will start to operate in The Netherlands, it was about time
bol.com has excellent customer service and same or next day delivery for 10 euros a year. Coolblue’s service is awesome. However, as Andrii mentioned, the selection in the NL is, in general, more limited and the prices for the same products higher (more than the VAT difference) than in Germany. It goes as far as buying Dutch cheese in Germany is cheeper. That’s ridiculous. Amazon used to be very good 10 years ago, got much worse IMO with all the cheap Chinese products on Marketplace in the recent years. I will support the Dutch shops as long as I can buy there the products I need for the same price as on Amazon. I will buy on Amazon otherwise. Happy to see it coming and hoping this will give the Dutch businesses a refreshing kick.