Amazon is one of the world’s top tech companies, continuously disrupting many industries since its inception over 20 years ago. Despite its American roots, Amazon has become a worldwide phenomenon and the online shopping choice for many customers outside of the US.

In particular, the UK is one of its largest overseas marketplaces, housing dozens of distribution centers.

Amazon’s Expansion Strategy

Amazon’s international expansion plan is simple, focusing on emerging e-commerce markets. Their priority is establishing a foothold in local areas, often undercutting the competition.

The company sticks to a long-term vision over quick profits, reinvesting the revenue back into the business to gain a larger market share before marketing their devices and Amazon Prime memberships.

Seeking growth is vital for Amazon due to the US market’s saturation. About 65% of US households already have Prime memberships, which limits the domestic potential. Prime memberships are essential because they’re the main drivers of recurring revenue, so the company can’t afford to miss any opportunities in new markets.

This strategy has yielded mixed results. While Amazon has succeeded in developed markets such as Germany and the UK, it has faced fierce competition in other countries, especially China. Most businesses dream of tapping into the colossal Chinese market, and Amazon is no exception, but Alibaba’s local dominance makes this a tough challenge.

List of Amazon Distribution Centers in the UK

There are currently 27 Amazon distribution centers in the UK. Here is a list of their addresses:

1. BHX1 – Amazon Rugeley
   Amazon Rugeley – Goods in, Towers Business Park, Power Station Road, WS15 1NZ Rugeley, Staffordshire, United Kingdom
2. BHX2 – Amazon Coalville
   Amazon Coalville, Robson Way, LE67 1GQ Ellistown, Coalville, United Kingdom
3. BHX3 – Amazon Daventry
   Amazon UK Services Ltd, Royal Oak Way North, NN118QL Daventry, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom
4. BHX4 – Amazon Coventry
   Amazon Fulfillment Centre, Plot 1, Lyons Park, Coundon Wedge Drive, CV5 9FA Coventry, West Midlands, United Kingdom
5. BRS1 – Amazon Bristol
   Western Approach Distribution Park, Bristol BS35 4GG, United Kingdom
6. CWL1 – Amazon Swansea
   Amazon Swansea – Goods In, Ffordd Amazon, SA1 8QX Crymlyn Burrows, Swansea, United Kingdom
7. EDI4 – Amazon Dunfermline
   Amazon Dunfermline – Goods In, Amazon Way, KY11 8XT Dunfermline, United Kingdom
8. EMA1 – Amazon Derby
   Amazon Fulfillment Centre, Unit 1 Wilders Way, Derby DE74 2BB, United Kingdom
9. EUKA – Amazon Cambridgeshire
   Unit 11 Orton, Southgate Park, 10 Manasty Road, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
10. EUK5 – Amazon Peterborough
    Amazon Peterborough – Goods In, Phase Two, Kingston Park, Flaxley Road, PE2 9EN Peterborough, United Kingdom
11. GLA1 – Amazon Gourock
    Amazon Gourock – Goods In, 2 Cloch Road, Faulds Park, PA19 1BQ Gourock, Inverclyde, United Kingdom
12. LBA1 – Amazon Doncaster
    Amazon Doncaster – Goods In, Unit 1, Balby Carr Bank, DN4 5JS Balby, Doncaster, United Kingdom
13. LBA2 – Amazon Doncaster
    Amazon, Unit 1, Iport Avenue, DN11 0BG New Rossington, Doncaster, United Kingdom
14. LBA3 – Amazon Doncaster
    Amazon Doncaster – Goods In, Unit 3, Water Vole Way, DN4 5JP Balby, Doncaster, United Kingdom
15. LCY1 – Amazon London
    Amazon London – Goods In, Unit B – Prologis Park, Twelvetrees Crescent, E3 3JG London, United Kingdom
16. LCY2 – Amazon Tilbury
    Amazon Distribution Depot, Unit 2, London Distribution Park, Windrush Road, RM18 7AN Tilbury, United Kingdom
17. LTN1 – Amazon Milton Keynes
    Amazon Milton Keynes – Goods In, Marston Gate Fulfulfilment Centre, MK43 0ZA Ridgmont, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
18. LTN2 – Amazon Hemel Hempstead
    Amazon Hemel Hempstead – Goods In, Boundary Way, HP2 7LF Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
19. LTN4 – Amazon Dunstable
    Amazon Dunstable – Goods In, Unit DC1 (Prologis) Boscombe Road, LU5 4FE Dunstable, United Kingdom
20. MAN1 – Amazon Manchester
    Amazon Manchester, 6 Sunbank Lane, Airport City, M90 5AA Altrincham, Manchester, United Kingdom
21. MAN2 – Amazon Warrington
    Amazon UK Services Ltd., Omega Plot 7c, Orion Boulevard, WA5 3XA Great Sankey, Warrington, United Kingdom
22. MAN3 – Amazon Bolton
    Bridgewater Ave, Bolton BL5 1BT, United Kingdom
23. MAN4 – Amazon Chesterfield
    Gander Ln, Barlborough, Chesterfield S43 4PZ, United Kingdom
24. XUKA – DHL Preston Brook
    DHL Preston Brook (XUKA), Aston Lane North, Whitehouse Industrial Estate, WA7 3BN Runcorn, Cheshire, United Kingdom
25. XUKC – Yusen Logistics UK Vendorflex Wellingborough
    Yusen Logistics UK Vendorflex, Rutherford Drive, Park Farm South, NN8 6AQ Wellingborough, United Kingdom
26. XUKD – XPO Logistics, Daventry
    XPO Logistics UK, Unit A Daventry Distribution Centre, Royal Oak Way North, NN11 8LR Daventry, United Kingdom
27. XUKK – Kuehne & Nagel Birmingham
    Kuehne & Nagel, Merlin Park II, Wood Lane, B24 9QJ Birmingham, United Kingdom

What Is an Amazon Distribution Center?

Amazon’s warehouses have distinct features that allow the company to quickly deliver goods to its customers from all over the world. In particular, they’re also distribution centers that track and ship orders through a combination of software, scanning machines, and industrial automation. Since these warehouses take care of much of the order fulfillment process, they’re also called fulfillment centers.

Amazon has over 175 fulfillment centers spread across the globe, but not all of its warehouses are fulfillment centers. There are also sortation centers, specialty centers, and receive centers. They help the e-commerce giant handle its extensive logistics network by focusing on efficient distribution, seasonal demands, large orders, or specific item categories.

Specialized facilities have become increasingly important as the company has expanded its reach from books to electronics, home appliances, video games, and much more. Since Amazon shows no intention of toning down its dominance in the retail industry, this trend is likely to continue.

Why Does Amazon Europe Need More Fulfillment Center Facilities?

North America and Europe concentrate most of Amazon fulfillment centers. The company has aggressively invested in the European continent since 2010 for good reasons. Europe is Amazon’s largest overseas marketplace, and Germany and the UK alone make up for over 17% of its total revenue, generating more than $23 billion in 2016.

Sellers have been taking full advantage of this market and its unique characteristics, fueling this growth even further. The incentives for selling on Amazon Europe guarantee the continuous proliferation of fulfillment centers in the region:

1. Saturation: While North America remains Amazon’s biggest market, it’s also very competitive. Many seemingly saturated categories have plenty of room for growth overseas.
   
   
2. A large marketplace: US-based sellers often view Canada and Mexico as the obvious first choices for expansion due to physical proximity and familiarity, but Europe is a much larger market that offers more opportunities.
   
   
3. Access to several marketplaces with a single account: Sellers can reach shoppers from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain using the same account, which simplifies management and expedites processes.
   
   
4. Centralized fulfillment: Sellers can have their products stored in a central warehouse that distributes them across Europe. Fulfillment centers take care of all the logistics.
   
   
5. Many fulfillment options: There are five ways to fulfill orders via Amazon Europe, each with particular advantages and disadvantages, giving sellers the freedom to test different options before fully committing. For example, they can fulfill orders themselves, within or outside of Europe, choose the country that will hold the inventory, or let Amazon distribute the products according to demand.
   
   
6. Amazon support: Amazon offers translation services and localized customer support so that sellers don’t have to spend too much money or effort adapting to each country.
   
   

Permanent and Seasonal Jobs at Amazon UK

Amazon will hire 7,000 permanent staff and 20,000 temporary workers in the UK by the end of 2020 to keep up with the demand. Seasonal hires are commonplace for the company, especially as the Christmas season approaches, but 2020 has skyrocketed their labor needs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Employing over 1 million workers worldwide, Amazon is well on its way to becoming the largest private-sector employer in the world.

Amazon Headquarters: Current Address and Future Plans

From its humble beginnings, when the office and warehouse shared the same space, Amazon has grown into a behemoth. This is obvious to anyone who visits the vast building complex housing their headquarters in Seattle, Washington. Its current address is 410 Terry Ave. N Seattle, WA 98109, and while that should remain the case during the next few years, it won’t be the only address for long.

In 2017, Amazon announced its plans to build a second headquarters. This is a highly unusual move that doesn’t make sense for most companies, but Amazon is far from your average business. Though the e-commerce giant needs more space, its larger goal is attracting more talent due to the limited supply of workers located in or willing to move to Seattle.

At first, Amazon had planned on splitting the second headquarters between New York and Virginia, but it decided to settle for Arlington, Virginia. The surge of over 25,000 high-paying jobs will leave a significant impact on the area, and developers are already putting many infrastructure plans in place.

Amazon: A Defining Company of the 21st Century

Despite facing hurdles during its international expansion, Amazon shows no signs of fatigue and is likely to position itself as an even stronger player in the e-commerce industry after the COVID-19 crisis, benefiting from the rise in online shopping.

Though the past few decades have been full of innovations, disruption, unexpected events, and global changes, Amazon’s upward trajectory has never stopped.

With that in mind, it’s pretty safe to say the company’s growth might be one of the few certainties for the 21st century.