Amazon bolsters financial commitment in Germany
Amazon, the global e-commerce giant, is making significant strides in Germany, with plans to improve its voice assistant Alexa and expand its logistics network. The company is focusing on enhancing Alexa's language understanding capabilities to cater to various dialects, including Saxon, Bavarian, and North German, as part of its development at the Aachen site. This move is expected to make the voice assistant more accessible to a wider German audience. In terms of logistics, Amazon is set to open new centers in Bietigheim (Baden-Württemberg), Könnern (Saxony-Anhalt), and Rohr (Bavaria) in 2025. The company also plans to convert an existing building in Zweibrücken (Rhineland-Palatinate) and establish new sorting and distribution centers in Allersberg (Bavaria), Ettenheim, and Bad Urach (both Baden-Württemberg) this year. Since 2010, Amazon has invested around 90 billion euros in Germany. This includes investments of approximately 14 billion euros in 2024, a significant increase from the previous year. The company has also invested around 9.6 billion euros in Germany between 2014 and 2023. Amazon's focus is increasingly on 'Same Day Delivery,' allowing some products to be ordered in the afternoon and delivered to the customer in the evening of the same day. In addition to its consumer offerings, Amazon is planning to release an AI assistant for businesses selling their goods via Amazon in Germany in the coming months. This tool is designed to automate tasks such as reordering stock, initiating advertising measures, and issuing commands for storage or price changes. The Federal Cartel Office is keeping a close eye on Amazon due to its 'overwhelming' market-wide significance for competition. Amazon's dominance in the German market is evident, with the company accounting for around 60 percent of online retail. The company currently employs around 40,000 people in Germany, an increase of 4,000 from a year ago. These employees work in logistics, sorting, development centers, and other locations. Amazon also employs subcontractors who deliver packages for the company. The entrepreneur can decide on the level of autonomy the AI assistant has, and Amazon is planning to expand Alexa's language capabilities to understand Saxon dialect. In a notable development, Amazon CEO Rocco Brauniger announced investments of 8.8 billion euros in the AWS (Amazon Web Services) division's infrastructure in the Frankfurt region by 2026. These investments will be made over three years, as opposed to the ten years invested between 2014 and 2023 in Germany. New sites have been built in Horn-Bad Meinberg (NRW), Dummerstorf (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania), and Erfurt (Thuringia). Amazon's commitment to Germany is evident in its continuous growth and investment in the country, positioning it as a key player in the German e-commerce market.
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