Report: Amazon eyes South Korean market

Seattle – Amazon.com is reportedly preparing to enter the South Korean market. According to South Korea-based Donga News, Amazon is hiring local employees for as many as 300 Korea-based positions, with a target opening date of mid-March 2015.



Amazon is mostly hiring IT personnel, leading to speculation it will launch South Korean operations with sales of its Kindle e-reader device, rather than launching a full-fledged e-commerce platform there. Korean media also reports Amazon has leased 10,500-sq.-ft. of office space in Gangnam section of the Korean capital of Seoul, up to February 2024.



EBay Korea, which owns local e-commerce sites Gmarket and Auction, is the market leader in Korean e-commerce. Chinese e-commerce platform Alibaba is also reportedly considering setting up operations in Korea.