CReATION: Amazon Japanese site launched in time for holidays

US-based etail giant Amazon.com has launched a Japanese site - its

fourth international effort following sites in France, Germany and the

UK.

The launch, which comes several months ahead of schedule, was rolled out

early in time for the holidays.

The company said it hoped launching the site early would pay off as the

Gartner Group recently predicted that Japanese consumers would spend

USdollars 1.3 billion online during the season.

Amazon hopes to take USdollars 1 billion in total sales this holiday

season.

The move comes as other US companies are also looking to target Japanese

online shoppers.

Anderson Consulting had earlier said ecommerce in Japan grew at a rate

of 400 per cent from 1998 to 1999, leading US etailers to anticipate the

type of hype which marked America's early days of ecommerce.

The site is to be backed by an office in Tokyo.

The company is expected to face competition from Japan's convenience

store 7-Eleven Japan, which also launched an online bookstore.

Amazon is offering free delivery for the rest of the year as a special

promotion.

It is unclear how Amazon will work through Japanese publishing

regulations to offer discounts on Japanese language books on its

site.

The company is expected to continue to discount English-language books

on its site by up to 30 per cent.

Separately, Commercial Press Cyberbooks (CPC) is seeking a licence in

mainland China to tap its lucrative Internet bookstore market.

Through promotions in Hong Kong and other overseas markets, the website

CP1897.com had seen a surge in sales over the past six months.

CPC is a joint venture between Sunevision Holdings and Commercial

Press.

The site offers more than 200,000 Chinese-language titles and 50,000

English-language titles.