The launch of a dedicated website for Ireland by the online retailing behemoth Amazon has been welcomed most fulsomely by the Government. Taoiseach Micheál Martin has described it as “good news for all” while Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke said it will “enhance customers’ experiences” and provide a sales platform for Irish business.
These claims are at best only partly true. There will be winners and losers as a result of easier and potentially cheaper access for Irish consumers and retailers to the platform, which already accounts for more than one-in-10 euros spent online by Irish consumers. It is hard to predict with certainty who they will be, but it will certainly increase the pressure further on many small retailers. Such is the reality of a market economy and the disruptive nature of online services.
One thing that is certain is that the investment by Amazon in an Irish site further anchors the US multinational to Ireland. It follows the opening in 2022 of a 630,000 sq ft warehouse in west Dublin which employs 500 people.
Amazon is now one of the biggest employers in Ireland, with 6,500 staff. It has invested more than €22 billion here since 2004, much of it in data centres. Ireland was chosen in 2007 as the first international location for Amazon Web Services, which provides the technology that powers the Amazon website, as well as cloud computing services around the globe.
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The company now operates more than 30 data centres here which it claims have led to an €11.4 billion increase in Irish economic output since 2012. The enthusiasm exhibited by the Taoiseach for the opening of an Irish version of a website which millions of Irish people already access with ease is best seen in this context.
These are uncertain times and the Government has its reasons for showing appreciation for Amazon’s move. But many of Ireland’s small retailers will be decidedly less enthusiastic about the arrival of a behemoth whose service will at best profoundly challenge them and, at worst, put them out of business entirely.
