Amazon, the online retail giant, is looking for its first warehouse in Australia, with suggestions one site of interest is the Goodman Group's $50 million industrial estate at Oakdale, in Sydney's west.
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The mega retail "disruptor" already has two traditional-style data centres in what it calls a region in Sydney's west for its Amazon Web Service, and agents say given the usually large warehouses required by Amazon, the new Oakdale site would be the best available.
The estate is in two parts, Oakdale Central, which is mostly leased, and Oakdale South, which is large enough to accommodate an Amazon, purpose-built "fulfilment centre". These are highly automated warehouses from which it processes customer orders and are usually about 80,000 square metres-plus.
It is still early days for the south sector of Oakdale as no grounds works have taken place, but agents said Goodman has the capacity and expertise to start work when Amazon makes a decision.
Goodman is Amazon's main landlord globally.
It comes as a respected retail analyst at Citi, Craig Woolford, released a comprehensive report, saying "Amazon's arrival is not if, but when".
The report says Australia is already a focus for Amazon.
"Australia is one of three countries where Amazon has its digital offer. It already has a large presence in Amazon Web Services here. Internet penetration and retail spend per capita also favour entry into Australia. The only limiting factor is logistics, but Amazon's recent investment in fulfillment in the US should provide solutions for the vast distances in Australia," the Citi report says.
One of the challenges for Australian supply chain businesses is the vast distances between major cities and regional towns, which means many logistics centres are needed, when compared to Britain or smaller European cities, to honour the fast delivery promises made by the online providers.
This is why the Oakdale estate is said to be high on Amazon's list as it is located on Old Wallgrove Road in Eastern Creek, offering direct access to the M4 and M7 Motorways and unrivalled connections to the greater Sydney metropolitan areas.
A number of regional road upgrades are currently underway along Old Wallgrove Road and will enhance connectivity to the estate.
It is expected Amazon will also look at Melbourne, if a large space is available.
Goodman general manager, Australia, Jason Little said the group has secured new commitments from existing customers and will also undertake significant new infrastructure investment within the estate.
He said the flexible masterplan and significant infrastructure investment into the estate ensures market demand for high quality warehouse facilities can be met.
The new pre-committed developments at Oakdale Central include DHL, DSV Air & Sea and Toyota Motor Corporation Australia at Oakdale South.
"The 3PL, automotive and retail sectors continue to be key drivers of Goodman's business in Australia and around the world. Our development expertise combined with access to strategically located land is attractive to customers in these industries, providing the flexibility for Goodman to accommodate their future growth and changing operational requirements." Mr Little said.
