| The new fulfilment centre will be open in time for the Christmas rush and will create up to 50 permanent and 250 temporary jobs as Amazon continues to expand at an impressive rate.
In the first quarter of this year, it reported a 28% increase in sales for the international segment, which includes Amazon’s UK, German, French, Japanese and Chinese websites.
News of the jobs was immediately welcomed by local MSP Christine May who hailed the company’s decision to locate in Glenrothes.
She said, “I am obviously delighted at this wonderful news.
“This is a thriving and hugely expanding company as we all know from the millions of Harry Potter books they’ve been handling recently, so it’s great that they have chosen Glenrothes.
“It is a measure of the prestige of this new town, which has the lowest unemployment rate in Central Fife, that it can attract companies such as Amazon to Fife.”
The new centre, to be based at the ADC complex at Bankhead, will handle distribution of Amazon.co.uk’s newer product lines, such as electronics and photo, home and garden, and toys and games.
Glenrothes will be the company’s third fulfilment centre in the UK and its second in Scotland.
Gourock fulfilment centre near Glasgow, which opened last year, will now focus on the distribution of books, CDs and DVDs, while the facility at Martson Gate in Bedfordshire, Amazon’s largest in the UK, will continue to handle all product ranges.
The Glenrothes site is approximately 200,000 square feet while Gourock has 300,000 square feet and Marston Gate 500,000.
Allan Lyall, vice-president of Amazon European operations, said, “As Amazon.co.uk has grown and we’ve expanded selection to include categories with bulkier items such as toys, games and electronics, we needed additional capacity to accommodate larger stock.
“The new centre in Glenrothes will help our fulfilment network operate more efficiently while supporting future growth.”
The Scottish Executive is supporting the new Glenrothes facility with £250,000 in Regional Selective Assistance and Scottish Enterprise Fife is to provide £50,000.
The depute leader of Fife Council, Alec Thomson, said, “We are delighted Amazon will be opening a new centre in Glenrothes. Attracting such a well known brand is a major boost, not just for the town, but for the whole of Mid Fife and is exactly the type of business we want to attract to the area.”
Amazon.co.uk is now looking to recruit up to 250 temporary employees for the new centre in the run-up to the Christmas holiday period, either with suitable distribution centre experience or who are willing to learn.
Candidates interested in applying for these positions should call Jobcentre Plus on either 01475 495428, 01475 495417 or 0845 60 60 234 (9am to 5pm). |
