Amazon will "eat all our breakfasts, lunches and dinners," Wesfarmers boss Richard Goyder warned his fellow retailers in March. As the boss of the conglomerate that owns No. 2 supermarket chain Coles, Mr Goyder best mind his meals.
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Amazon, the world's biggest retailer, says it is coming.
An Amazon executive says the $US338.7 billion retailer could launch its fresh and frozen food delivery service, known as Amazon Fresh, in Australia as early as next year – and could quickly snaffle billions in sales in a grocery market worth $90 billion.
"We know there is value in Australia," Amazon's Brittain Ladd told Fairfax Media. "I definitely believe Amazon will be in Australia."
Mr Ladd said Amazon Fresh would "be embraced, I believe, at such a level in Australia that Coles and [No. 1 chain] Woolworths would certainly lose market share, but I believe [discounter] Aldi would also lose market share."
"Amazon Fresh, once it was rolled out and had reached a level of maturity in Australia, certainly would have the potential of generating billions of dollars in Australia in terms of grocery sales. And I fully believe that's achievable," Mr Ladd said.
The supply chain and business strategy expert said Australia was "10 years behind what I find in other countries, frankly. Which is why I really do want Amazon Fresh to be rolled out in Australia. I'm currently pushing for that."
How quickly could it launch?
"If Amazon made the decision it wanted to enter the Australian market, based on past history, one to two years at most."
Amazon Fresh has been operating in the US for about seven years and just launched in England. Amazon is also considering launching it in China and India.
A former consultant for Deloitte, Mr Ladd says he would have entertained working for Woolworths before joining Amazon last September.
He says Woolworths, a one-time market darling, has just two years to improve the performance of its supermarkets to avoid a takeover offer from a private equity firm.
A spokeswoman for Woolworths said: "Competition is good for consumers and Woolworths welcomes the additional competition. Woolworths is working hard to improve all aspects of its online offering, including ensuring it delivers prices customers can trust and, with that in mind, has invested to ensure that its online prices as the same as its store based prices. This has been noticed and welcomed by its customers."
Coles and Aldi declined to comment.
