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Thursday, March 4, 2010

Amazon wants a physical presence in Canada

Quill & Quire's Stuart Woods reports, with help from Scott MacDonald, that Amazon's seeking government approval to establish physical operations in Canada.

According to documents, Amazon’s application to “establish a new Canadian business” – filed on Jan. 27 – is currently under review to see if it complies with the Investment Canada Act.  The new business would be called Amazon Fulfillment Services Canada Inc.

The article explains that if Amazon were to be given the go-ahead to open a Canadian warehouse or home office, it could mean the end of its distribution partnership with SCI Logistics.  It could also be a sign that Amazon plans to expand its offerings of non-book products in Canada.

Certainly it would be helpful for Canadians to be able to get some books that are not available to them via the U.S. Amazon site.

Apparently, members of the publishing community were the first to learn about the Privy Council review.

An unnamed industry source feels that an expanded Canadian presence for Amazon wouldn’t be a bad thing if it improved the company’s services for Canadian publishers.  In particular, the source said, a Canadian office might lead to more stringent enforcement of territorial rights on Amazon.ca: “If opening their own business in Canada means they’re going to tidy up their website, which is very frustrating for a lot of us now, that would be great.”
  I'm not sure that a more stringent enforcement of territorial rights is a great thing for customers though the publishers like restrictions that benefit them, of course.

When Amazon.ca was launched in 2002, there were objections from many in the bookselling community.
  Woods writes: "At the time, the Department of Canadian Heritage ruled that the Investment Canada Act did not apply to Amazon.ca because the company was not establishing a physical presence in Canada."
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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousMarch 5, 2010 at 10:22:00 AM PST

    I sure hope if this happens that we are able here in Canada to buy more Kindle books instead of the opposite.
    Get rid of geo restrictions I say most emphatically.

    ReplyDelete

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