The eCommerce surge generated from the COVID-9 pandemic has prompted Amazon to open three additional logistics hubs in Brazil, according to a report in Reuters on Monday (Nov. 8).
The new centers are operating in Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul and Brasilia, the country’s capital, and increase the number of Amazon logistics hubs in Brazil to eight.
This latest expansion — Amazon’s most extensive in Brazil since its 2012 opening — will generate 1,500 jobs and add an additional 807,000 square feet of distribution space.
Alex Szapiro, chief executive officer at Amazon Brazil, told Reuters that the new hubs will add 100 additional cities where Amazon Prime delivers, increasing the total to 500.
“Brazil is the country with the fastest growth in Amazon Prime subscriptions,” Szapiro told Reuters.
Amazon Prime was launched in South America’s biggest country in September, attracting thousands of new Brazilian merchants amid the continuing pandemic. Although lockdown measures are easing, online sales are still booming.
Other platforms in Brazil taking advantage of the increased demand for digital shopping include Latin America’s eCommerce leader MercadoLibre, Via Varejo, and Magazine Luiza.
Late last month Amazon announced that it was advancing its presence in Sweden with a new shopping site and a clean energy grid to support the tech giant’s data centers. The new eCommerce site, Amazon.se, is just for Swedish shoppers. It will feature more than 150 million products from Swedish merchants across 30 categories.
The eCommerce giant also announced last month that it has launched a program offering to pay customers for their user data. The Amazon Shopper Panel will pay people up to $10 monthly for sharing their purchase receipts from non-Amazon merchants, and for answering short questionnaires.
User information won’t be shared beyond Amazon, and any sensitive information will be deleted. Participants also have the option to delete their own information whenever they want.
