Amazon plans 50% warehouse expansion after bumper Q2
Amazon has set out plans to grow its global network square footage by around 50% this year, after the online retailer doubled its quarterly net income.
Brian Olsavsky, chief financial officer of Amazon, said its expansion will include “strong growth in new fulfilment centre space as well as sort centres and delivery stations”.
He expects the majority of this capacity to “come online in late Q3 and into Q4”.
Amazon has set out plans to grow its global network square footage by around 50% this year, after the online retailer doubled its quarterly net income.
Brian Olsavsky, chief financial officer of Amazon, said its expansion will include “strong growth in new fulfilment centre space as well as sort centres and delivery stations”.
He expects the majority of this capacity to “come online in late Q3 and into Q4”.
During 2019, Amazon grew its equivalent square footage by around 15%.
In what chief executive Jeff Bezos said was “another highly unusual quarter” for the online retailer, net income increased to $5.2bn (£3.9bn) in Q2, up from $2.6bn during the same period in 2019.
Sales surged by 40% to $88.9bn, compared with $63.4bn in Q2 last year.
Olsavsky highlighted a “very, very strong quarter” in the UK in particular, alongside the belief that while it is “starting to moderate a bit”, it is still “stronger than normal”.
He said: “The UK in particular was very strong because there’s probably more stay-at-home orders and the way the economy [is] developing in the UK.”
Amazon spent $4bn on Covid-related costs during Q2 to equip staff with PPE and pay out bonuses. Its headcount increased by 34% year-over-year as of the end of Q2, adding more than 175,000 new employees in March and April.
To send feedback, e-mail pui-guan.man@egi.co.uk or tweet @PuiGuanM or @estatesgazette
