Amazon to create 2,500 UK jobs this year

Online retailer Amazon is planning to create 2,500 jobs in the UK this year as it expands its UK and European operations and rolls out its grocery delivery services.

The announcement came as Amazon said last year had been “a record year” for job creation in Europe, with over 10,000 new permanent jobs, bringing its total European workforce to over 40,000.

The company said the new jobs will expand its European fulfillment network and focus on EU-based research and development.

Xavier Garambois, vice president of Amazon EU Retail, said: “We are seeing stronger demand than ever from our customers all across Europe, and we see lots more opportunity across Amazon’s businesses to invent and invest for the future.”

Amazon, which said back in December that it plans to ramp up its UK grocery offerings this year, said it has invested over €15bn on infrastructure and operations in Europe since 2010.

The UK online retailing colossus launched its Pantry service in Britain in November, offering customers a range of around 4,000 grocery and households but currently not fresh food.

Amazon's UK boss, Christopher North, said the company plans to add thousands of extra products.

“In the new year we are going to be adding a lot more products,” he told the Guardian newspaper. He added that if Pantry proves a success it would be likely to lead to the expansion of the Amazon Fresh service into the UK, which had only so far been launched in certain cities in the US.

Earlier this week, rumours surfaced that the US internet retail giant was working on a potential approach for the FTSE 250 online grocer Ocado as part of its Amazon Pantry and Amazon Fresh plans for food deliveries in the UK.