Amazon.ie online shopping site to launch next year

The move should mean more one-day delivery service around Ireland as well as a wider range of products free from customs charges or trade restrictions.

The launch of an Irish Amazon.ie store has been in development since the tech and retail giant established its first Irish ‘fulfilment centre’ in Dublin in 2022, with hundreds of thousands of products stocked.

Amazon says that the launch of Amazon.ie will allow for quicker delivery and returns, helped by a five-year agreement struck between An Post and Amazon last year aimed at more efficient deliveries and returns.

The new store should also lessen custom charges sometimes imposed on products currently bought from the UK.

However, the company has yet to say whether Irish ‘Amazon Prime’ members, estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands will move over to Amazon.ie as their primary account or remain with Amazon.co.uk. It has also to confirm what the price of an Amazon Prime account in Ireland might be. At present, Amazon Prime, which facilitates free delivery on many products and entitles users to unlimited free photo storage online, costs £8.95 (€10.39) per month. Prime members in Ireland will also see UEFA Champions League football on Prime Video from next season.

“The launch of Amazon.ie will be great news for Irish customers and we’re looking forward to opening its virtual doors in 2025,” said John Boumphrey, Ireland and UK country manager at Amazon.

“This underscores our continued commitment to Ireland, and will bring a wide selection of great value products with fast delivery to Irish customers, as well as provide great opportunities for small and medium sized Irish businesses to reach a bigger audience at home and abroad.”

Amazon says that Irish customers can currently shop among 100m products on its website.

It also says that over 1,000 small and medium sized Irish businesses already sell on Amazon and claim that these small firms generated over €150 million in export sales in 2022.

Amazon says that it employs around 6,500 people in Cork, Dublin and Drogheda from data engineers, operations management and finance. A major data centre operator here, the giant says that it has invested more than €17 billion in Ireland since 2020.