Ireland

In The News: What Amazon’s ‘fulfilment centre’ might mean for Ireland

What does it take to work in one of the online retail giant’s warehouses?

In The News is hosted by reporters Conor Pope and Sorcha Pollak.

Fri Jul 2 2021 - 08:46

It is hard to exaggerate the scale of Amazon, the company founded by Jeff Bezos in a Seattle garage more than a quarter of a century ago. In the three months leading up to Christmas 2020 it made record-breaking global revenues of $125.56 billion and while this year is not likely to be as good, things are still looking pretty rosy, and the company is valued at more than $1.5 trillion.

Ireland is not immune to its charms, and it is visited far more often by Irish consumers than any other ecommerce site, including eBay, DoneDeal and Ryanair.

For months the company has been working out ways to ensure the flow of products to Ireland is as seamless as possible in a post Brexit world.

That is one reason it plans to bring an Amazon Fulfilment Centre to Ireland. Once the deal is done it will allow Amazon to cut the UK from its Irish supply chain - avoiding Brexit-related delays, extra charges and red tape.

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It may also allow more small Irish retailers who have struggled to move their businesses online to piggyback on the Amazon platform, list their stock on its marketplace and use its logistics system for deliveries and returns.

But while faster deliveries, easier returns and greater choice are to be welcomed, the arrival of an amazon.ie is not without its dark sides. US journalist and author Alex McGillis has been documenting the growth of Amazon and what it takes - or what it costs - to work in one of the online retail giant’s warehouses and he shared some of the stories with us.

In The News is hosted by reporters Conor Pope and Sorcha Pollak.

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