Amazon: “We are going to destroy the retail environment in Australia”

Amazon is coming to Australia in 2017 and Watermark Funds’ Justin Braitling thinks it will be bad for local retailers. "They [Amazon] will be dropping distribution centres and performance centres in every state next year. They will be doing general merchandise and they will be doing fresh as well. They will also be putting physical stores on the ground which I don't think anyone knows about. These will mainly be in regional areas because fulfilment is a lot harder in regional areas than in the cities.” Local retailers don’t have long to prepare themselves either. “It has been deferred for six months - they were originally launching in the first quarter of next year. They have decided they want to do fresh at the same time as the general merchandising offer so that has put them back six months.” Read the full story on the AFR: (VIEW LINK) (subscription required)