Earlier Amazon confirmed to the Australian market that it was actively pursuing land on which to house its goods storage and distribution center. But now Australia Post has confirmed it was in advanced talks with the retail chain about securing a deal by July.
Australia Post chief operating officer Bob Black told earlier that his company, and its express delivery subsidiary StarTrack, has an 82 percent share of the local goods delivery market, and said Amazon was close to signing a deal which would open the door to a revolution in online shopping for Australian consumers.
“We are talking to them now; we will continue to talk to them,” Black said.
“When there is a memorandum of understanding between both of us, we will obviously publicize that. But we hope to have something agreed in the next two months. Amazon is a significant inbound international customer for us already.”
In the United States, Amazon currently uses postal companies UPS and Fedex, but it is reportedly pursuing the option to set up its own delivery service, something which could save the company more than a billion U.S. dollars per year.
Black said he expects a similar development in the Australian market, but admitted it was likely well down the track, opening the door for Australia Post and StarTrack to carry the load for a significant amount of time.