Online retail giant Amazon to create 1,000 new jobs in Spain

The distribution centre near Barcelona will mean Spanish customers will receive their orders much more quickly.

US online retailer Amazon has announced that it is preparing to open a new distribution centre in Barcelona that will create hundreds of new jobs for the region.

The company is also preparing to expand its current logistical centre for Spain, which lies just outside Madrid in San Fernando de Henares, from 32,000 square metres to 75,000 square metres. Combined with the new planned centre for Barcelona, Amazon estimates that it will require 1,000 new positions to be filled…

The current distribution centre opened in 2012 with just 40 employees, but as Spain’s economy has recovered and the nation’s passion for online shopping grown, so did the distribution centre, which now employs around 400 people.

According to El País newspaper, Amazon will begin recruiting for new staff in the beginning of 2016, offering average monthly starting salaries of €1,422 gross. After six months, loyal employees can expect a 7% raise and a fixed annual bonus, bringing the salary up to €1,599 per month gross – some 111% higher than Spain’s minimum wage.

The centre in Barcelona will be used to serve both Spain and many parts of southern Europe, and according to Amazon Spain operations director Fred Pattje, creating more jobs in Spain is to prove “very satisfying” for Amazon.

“It will enable customers in Spain to receive their orders much quicker and enjoy an unimaginable experience when it comes to shopping,” he said.

Amazon sells more than 86 million products from its online site, including everything from music and DVDs to food and household supplies. The company in October launched a supermarket delivery service in some parts of Spain, and hopes to corner an even greater share of the home-delivered grocery market in more regions across the country.

Further plans to build a second logistics centre near Barcelona are also being tabled, with the company offering €30 million to the Catalan Land Institute for land near El Prat de Llobregat that is set to go up for auction soon.

A second logistics centre in the country would make Spain one of Amazon’s most important hubs outside of the US.