Amazon's new site opens! The per capita income is comparable to that of Northern Europe

Whenever Amazon opens a new site, it always attracts a wave of sellers to wait and see. However, the recent new sites have more or less some defects. Australia is sparsely populated, India has low income and consumption levels, and the logistics channels are very rudimentary. Although the Middle East is relatively wealthy, logistics and language are also problems.

However, Amazon has recently started offering entry opportunities at a new site – the Singapore site has started registration!

Is this site worth a try for sellers? Let me first talk about the market situation in Singapore, and then analyze whether the Singapore site is worth entering based on the corresponding advantages and disadvantages.

Market in Singapore

As one of the four Asian Tigers, Singapore is the only developed country in Southeast Asia (yes, a real developed country). As early as 1995, it was recognized as a developed country by the OECD with a per capita GDP of US$240 million.

Now, with an annual per capita income of US$55,000, China is on par with old developed countries such as Iceland and Denmark, ranking sixth in the world in per capita income, with only a slight gap from the United States.

The data is from 2018. By the way, the Japanese site, which was the dark horse of Prime Day this year, had an average income of 34,000 US dollars per person, ranking 25th.

A high per capita income means a high level of consumption, and people are more willing to pay a high price for high-quality products. Such a market is very suitable for us to pursue a high-profit and refined route.

Another very special situation of the Singapore market is that among the more than five million people in Singapore, more than 70% are Chinese (Han ethnicity) .

In other words, most consumers have similar consumption habits and aesthetics as us sellers, so we can choose products with our eyes closed. This situation is unique to all Amazon sites around the world (except for the Chinese site, of course).

There are more benefits than just having Chinese consumers. Think about why Amazon's Chinese site is doing so badly. It's because the American way of thinking about operating e-commerce doesn't work in China . It was defeated by domestic platforms such as Alibaba and had to cancel its Chinese site in disgrace.

However, the probability of this happening in Singapore is relatively small. Firstly, there is no particularly strong leading platform in Southeast Asia. Secondly, Singapore is a younger brother of the United States, and Amazon will not make things difficult for it like it does for the Chinese site.

Moreover, e-commerce platforms are also a very popular shopping method in Singapore. According to surveys, the Internet penetration rate in Singapore has reached 84%, of which 73% of Singaporean netizens are currently or have used online shopping.

Even in terms of logistics, which other emerging sites lack, Singapore is also a leader. Singapore is located in the Strait of Malacca, one of the world's most important golden waterways. 25% of the world's shipping ships pass through here, and the cost of shipping is quite cheap.

In addition, Singapore itself is not very large, so it is easy for Amazon to build a complete logistics system here. In fact, Amazon has already established a logistics center with an area of ​​more than 100,000 square feet in Singapore as early as 2017, and has been providing customers with Prime Now service (for some products) with a 2-hour fast delivery.

There is no problem with the logistics system, the local consumption level is high, and consumption habits are similar to ours. Could Singapore really be the next gold mine for us Amazon sellers?

What are the disadvantages of the Singapore site?

As mentioned above, Singapore is very small, with an area of ​​only 700 square kilometers, which is about the same size as the urban area of ​​Nanjing. Although it is very cheap for Amazon to build a logistics system, it is estimated that only a few operation centers can achieve full coverage, but the disadvantage is that the storage fee is definitely expensive.

Amazon has made it clear that the FBA site in Singapore does not accept oversized items. It is obvious that this decision had to be made due to limited inventory space.

▲Standard parts cost, in SGD

Apart from the fact that future warehousing costs are likely to be the highest among all major sites in the world, the only disadvantage may be the uncertainty of the Amazon platform itself.

Because of the precedent of Amazon China, there is a question mark on the degree of acceptance of Amazon by the Chinese. In addition, Lazada and Shopee are already competing vigorously in Southeast Asia, so Amazon still has a long way to go if it wants to get a piece of the pie.

To sum up, Amazon will definitely not let go of the fat piece of meat in Southeast Asia. The Singapore station is the bridgehead to open up Southeast Asia. Amazon will definitely spend money to pave the way for platform share. We sellers don’t need to worry about the platform issues for the time being.

So we need to consider whether we can accept the higher storage costs. For small, lightweight, and high-value products, the Singapore site is worth a try. However, for sellers whose FBA storage costs account for the majority of their costs, they should carefully consider this.

In order to attract sellers to settle in the Singapore site, Amazon now has a very good offer for new professional plan sellers, which can waive all professional plan fees until March 31 next year, including commissions and monthly rent, etc. It can be said to be quite conscientious.

If you think your storage costs are not high and want to try the Singapore site, scan the QR code below to ask me for the official registration link~

PS. If you want to join the seller discussion group, you can also private message me to let me add you to the group