Amazon has invested over 30 billion euros in Italia over the past 15 years

This growth has been achieved “thanks to over 30 billion euros invested in Italia over a 15-year period, of which 5 billion will be invested in 2025 alone”, explains Giorgio Busnelli, vice-president and country manager of Amazon Italy. According to a comprehensive model, the figure of over 30 billion includes both capital expenditure – such as data centres, logistics infrastructure and offices – and operating costs, starting with staff salaries. Busnelli cites estimates from Keystone Strategy, a US consultancy firm, which has calculated that Amazon’s investments have helped to generate over 23 billion in added value for Italia’s GDP, of which around 4 billion will be generated in 2025 alone.

“This year we are working on projects designed to improve the customer experience,” continues the country manager. “We are strengthening our logistics network to bring products ever closer to customers and ensure ever faster deliveries. In this regard, amongst other things, we opened the new logistics centre in Jesi at the start of July, where we plan to employ more than a thousand permanent staff over the next three years.” The site required an investment of 180 million. According to Busnelli, over 100,000 workers are linked to the Amazon system, including more than 19,000 on permanent contracts, plus a further 45,000 seasonal and fixed-term staff, as well as another 45,000 workers employed in construction, professional services and last-mile logistics.

In Italia, Amazon has over 60 facilities, including logistics centres, data centres and offices, as well as research centres such as the one in Turin, which is dedicated to research into generative artificial intelligence, speech recognition and natural language understanding for Alexa+, enabling it to carry out complex tasks. Artificial intelligence which, amongst other things, supports customers’ choices and the purchasing process. “We are innovating the experience to make it increasingly personalised and effective, to better meet their needs, and to make it ever faster and more closely aligned with their actual requirements,” emphasises Busnelli. His plans also include a drive to improve efficiency with a focus on sustainability and speed in the last-mile delivery phase. “We are electrifying our delivery partners’ fleets,” explains the senior executive. “By 2025, more than 500 electric vans will have been introduced, whilst in eight Italian cities (Milan, Rome, Naples, Bologna, Florence, Genoa, Trento and Verona – ed.) have micro-mobility hubs in operation, enabling deliveries in historic city centres using electric cargo scooters and pedal-assisted cargo bikes.” The company has also contributed to the development of eight solar farms, and there are 32 photovoltaic systems on the roofs of its logistics sites.

Another knock-on effect concerns the approximately 20,000 Italian SMEs that sell their products worldwide thanks to the platform created by Jeff Bezos. ‘They have generated over 4 billion in sales, of which 1 billion came from overseas markets, and more than 100 million products have been shipped worldwide,’ continues Busnelli. Around 45 per cent of these companies are based in Southern Italy, and for them, e-commerce is a key driver of internationalisation. The ‘Made in Italy’ Showcase promotes over 5,500 Italian SMEs’.

There is no shortage of local initiatives in the areas of training, the environment and social issues. “We have also committed to supporting 200,000 young people in Italia through STEM training by the end of the year as part of the Amazon Future Engineer programme, with a view to encouraging the younger generation to pursue careers in science and technology.”