By Lee Min-hyung



Amazon is gearing up for its expansion into the Korean online retail industry, with the company recruiting sellers for its Seoul office.





The U.S.-based e-commerce and cloud computing firm has advertized 48 positions here this week. Some of them are available for its online selling business in Korea.Amazon is gearing up for its expansion into the Korean online retail industry, with the company recruiting sellers for its Seoul office.

The latest move reflects the company's bid to expand its footing here as a retail services operator. Amazon is widely known as a retail giant, but it has so far focused on the tech infrastructure business for its major revenue source in Korea.

In 2012, the company tapped into the Korean market by establishing the Seoul Region for its cloud computing subsidiary, Amazon Web Service (AWS). The company has since secured clients in various industries including Samsung, Amore Pacific and Nexon. The AWS offers cloud computing platforms such as database storage and related IT resources.

Amazon has yet to unveil its specific expansion strategy for the Korean retail industry.

But the company is expected to pose a threat to existing players here, once it secures enough selling manpower. This is because the e-commerce platform boasts a strong global foothold, allowing sellers to target global territories for their retail businesses.

If Amazon taps deeper into the Korean market and opens Korean-language services, this will enable local online shoppers to buy overseas products much easier and conveniently due to Amazon's state-of-the-art retail and logistics systems.

In particular, the company is growing rapidly in Japan, its 2016 sales there reaching 11.95 trillion won, up 17.5 percent from a year ago. This is the sixth-largest in the country's retail industry.

Amazon's counterparts in Korea include G-Market and Auction, which are run by eBay Korea, and 11st of SK Planet. Those platforms, however, are no match for Amazon in terms of global supply chains.

Amazon is also speeding up its expansion into offline sectors. Last week, the retail and tech giant acquired Whole Foods Market for $13.7 billion (15.6 trillion won), in a move to strengthen its food retail presence with the physical stores of the grocery chain.

"The online market is expanding in size at a rapid pace, but the growth rate for the offline retail industry remains tepid," a retail industry source said, asking not to be named.

"This is because more customers are looking to e-commerce platforms and online shopping services due to convenience and relatively-cheaper prices. Amazon will pose a bigger challenge in particular to offline retailers such as department stores or hypermarket chains."

But it is too early to predict, as the retail giant has not taken any concrete steps here for its retail expansion, he said.