Competitor Watch

Amazon has announced plans to open its 18th UK fulfilment centre in Kegworth, East Midlands.

The online retail giant said the site will help meet growing customer demand, further increase Amazon’s product selection and support more third-party sellers under its Fulfilment by Amazon programme.

Amazon currently has 17 fulfilment centres in the UK. There are three fulfilment centres in Doncaster and one each in Bolton, Coalville (Leicestershire), Daventry, Dunfermline, Dunstable, Gourock, Hemel Hempstead, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Peterborough, Rugeley, Swansea Bay, Tilbury and Warrington.

Kegworth will be the fifth Amazon fulfilment centre in the Midlands and joins facilities in Coalville, Daventry, Rugeley, and Rugby, which will open later this year. The first dedicated UK receive centre opened in Coventry in 2018. It acts as a central hub to receive and sort millions of products sold on Amazon.co.uk each year.

Initially, Amazon will create 500 permanent roles at the new site this year and over 1,000 full-time roles in the future, covering operations managers, engineers, HR and IT specialists. Amazon did not state when the site would be open, but it is actively recruiting for roles now. 

Stefano Perego, Amazon’s vice-president of UK customer fulfilment, said: ‘We are thrilled to begin recruitment for 500 new permanent roles, with competitive wages and comprehensive benefits starting on day one.

‘We are delighted to expand our operations in the East Midlands. With capacity to expand our workforce to over 1,000 permanent positions in the future, this new team will play a crucial role in delivering a first-rate level of service for our customers.’