Amazon launches Prime service in Poland

WARSAW (Reuters) - Amazon on Tuesday launched its Amazon Prime service offering free delivery and video streaming in Poland, sending shares in rival Polish e-commerce platform Allegro lower.

Amazon's Polish site https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amazon-poland-idUSKBN2AU0W9 went live in March, significantly intensifying competition in Poland's booming e-commerce sector.

"We are very pleased with the way Polish customers accepted the Amazon.pl service launched at the beginning of this year," Mourad Taoufiki, CEO of Amazon.pl, said in a statement.

Amazon said it is pricing its Prime service at 49 zlotys ($12.35) per year.

Shares in Allegro, whose Smart! service also costs 49 zlotys per year and offers free delivery on orders of more than 40 zlotys, were down 3.7% at 0805 GMT.

mBank analyst Pawel Szpigiel said Amazon's announcement was as a surprise, coming just a few months after the company's launch in Poland.

"It... seems that Amazon's appetite for the Polish market is big," he said.

Allegro did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

($1 = 3.9674 zlotys)

(Reporting by Anna Banacka, Alan Charlish and Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)