Robert (Rob) Koen grew up in South Africa, studied at Wits, and is quite partial to Simba salt and vinegar potato chips. He’s met Oprah Winfrey and when he is not on his Peleton exercise bike, or humming Learning to Fly by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, he runs Amazon Sub-Saharan Africa as MD. Currency caught up with him at the global e-commerce giant’s new Cape Town offices.
Amazon has a longer history in South Africa than just opening the online shop in May last year. When did it actually start?
Few people realise that Amazon Web Services (AWS) has had a significant footprint in Cape Town since 2004, when we established one of our first international software development centres outside of Seattle. Some of Amazon’s core technologies, including aspects of EC2, which powers much of AWS’s cloud computing services, were developed right here in the Mother City. [EC2 refers to elastic compute cloud, a technology built by a team headed by Chris Pinkman.]
The new Amazon HQ in Observatory has been a multiyear building project and is very noticeable when heading to Cape Town’s southern suburbs. Is there anything in the rest of the country?
We actually have our biggest fulfilment centre in Joburg, as well as one in Cape Town, and we have teams based in provinces across the country. So while our HQ is in Cape Town, we’re committed to serving customers across the entire country, and our operations, delivery network, and seller relationships extend nationwide.
Your title says you run Sub-Saharan Africa, but how quickly will you really move into more countries in the region?
Right now my focus is on South Africa. The Amazon.co.za store launch in May was a major milestone in Amazon’s journey in South Africa, it is still early days for the store.
How tired are you of getting questions about how you stack up against the incumbent (let’s say the word: Takealot.com)?
Our customer obsession means we prioritise customer needs over focusing on competition. Starting from the customer and working backwards, we focus on the things that matter most to our customers: great value, vast selection, reliable delivery, and an overall good experience, which remains unchanged in every country we operate in.
Competition is a constant in every country where we operate, and we believe that healthy competition benefits customers and businesses, and drives innovation.
Sure, client experience and selection, that is what my local bar also claims. Can you give us an example or two?
There are some products that you won’t find anywhere else in South Africa. For example, America’s fastest-selling mop has been doing very well in our store. And many of our patrons would have noticed some unique offerings when it comes to products aimed at pet owners. There is some interesting stuff in the luggage category. And you will see more and more of it in the near future. Books [where it all started for Amazon in the US some three decades ago] is a great example of our focus on the client experience – a lot goes into delivering every copy in pristine condition.
I couldn’t help but notice that since Amazon.co.za’s arrival, the local incumbent has responded by wrapping books individually in plastic before boxing and shipping. That aside … you spent time in London and then nearly two decades in the US before returning to South Africa – what did you miss about doing business here?
South Africans have an unparalleled ability to solve problems creatively with whatever resources we have at hand. “Making a plan” is truly our special sauce.
I’ve seen small businesses pivot overnight during difficult circumstances, entrepreneurs build thriving ventures with minimal resources, and teams collaborate across diverse backgrounds to solve complex problems in ways that wouldn’t happen elsewhere.
What makes our approach special is the combination of optimism and pragmatism – we believe obstacles can be overcome, but we’re also practical about what it takes to do so. There’s less rigidity in our business culture; we’re comfortable with fluidity and finding unconventional paths forward.
You’ve been with Amazon since 2015 – what did you launch and are there some learnings that will be useful in Africa?
In 2022, we launched Buy with Prime, which extends Amazon Prime benefits beyond Amazon.com to other online stores. This initiative is particularly exciting because it brings Prime to customers shopping across the internet while helping merchants increase their conversion.
I also launched Oprah’s Favourite Things on Amazon.com, where we made Oprah’s list of favourite brands and products available to our customers in one place. These products typically come from small businesses and entrepreneurs that Oprah loves.
The learnings from these experiences are very relevant to what we’re doing in South Africa. First, the importance of building with local needs in mind – understanding that solutions must be adapted to address the unique challenges and opportunities in the South African market. Second, the power of focusing relentlessly on reducing friction in the customer experience. And third, the critical importance of building trust with both customers and the businesses that we work with.
Something like 60% of the units you flog globally are by other sellers, right?
Yes, so that is what I want to do here: help get South African businesses online, give them a broader customer base. If they can crack it here, then maybe the rest of the world is next.
What interesting questions are you getting from third-party sellers about the platform?
Many sellers are particularly interested in our tools that help them grow their business. They ask about Fulfilment by Amazon, which allows them to store products in our fulfilment centres while we handle picking, packing, shipping, customer service and returns. This is especially valuable for small businesses looking to grow without the overhead of building their own logistics infrastructure.
We also get many questions about our seller analytics tools. Our dashboards provide detailed information [to] optimise their offerings and run their businesses.
What are the biggest challenges in South Africa for a business with such a large logistics component to it?
We’ve partnered with two local last-mile delivery companies which bring deep local knowledge and expertise – they understand the local nuances of different neighbourhoods, delivering to residential estates, and 100% attended delivery. Another offering I’m particularly proud of is our network of over 4,000 pickup points across the country. This gives customers convenient alternatives when home delivery isn’t ideal. The reach of this network is remarkable – when we look at the heat map of our coverage across South Africa, it’s impressive to see how we’ve managed to establish a presence even in traditionally underserved communities.
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