US giant Amazon says to launch in Poland

US ecommerce giant Amazon said Wednesday it will launch a Polish-language site and began the process of registering companies that want to sell to Polish customers through its platform.

Poland, which has a population of 38 million people, is one of the last major European countries without a dedicated Amazon website.

Within the EU, Amazon has dedicated sites in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.

Amazon's German website already has a Polish-language section and the company employs around 18,000 people in warehouses in Poland and through the IT company Amazon Web Services.

"The next step is to bring a full consumer retail offering to Poland and we are making those plans now," Alex Ootes, Amazon's Vice President for EU expansion, said in a statement.

Contacted by AFP, the company declined to say when exactly it would launch the site.

Polish ecommerce company Allegro, which made the largest stock market entry in Europe in 2020, is currently the country's largest online marketplace.

Following Amazon's announcement, shares in Allegro fell by more than seven per cent in morning exchanges.