GRAND FORKS, N.D.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 8, 2000--Leading online retailer Amazon.com (www.amazon.com)(Nasdaq:AMZN) announced today that it will begin recruiting efforts to fill additional customer service positions at its Grand Forks, N.D., customer service center.
The hirings, which are part of an ongoing expansion, will add more than 50 new employees to the company's Grand Forks facility during April and May.
"We've added more than 100 full-time employees since October, and we're very happy with the skills and enthusiasm they have brought to us," said Steve Kuhlman, Amazon.com's head of North Dakota operations and vice president of catalogue operations, Tool Crib of the North. "Our customer service representatives are our main point of contact with customers. So we're looking for bright, energetic, talented folks who are passionate about delivering our customers the best shopping experience, and who share our vision to help customers find, discover, and buy anything online."
The expanding Grand Forks customer service center, acquired from Tool Crib of the North, will ensure that the growing number of Amazon.com customers continue to receive swift and efficient customer service through 2000 and beyond.
The acquisition of Tool Crib of the North's online and catalog sales division in October 1999 helped create Amazon.com Home Improvement, which features tools and equipment. The Home Improvement Store, which was launched on November 10, 1999, also offers a large and growing selection of popular and hard-to-find home improvement products and brands.
Amazon.com currently operates customer service centers in Seattle and Tacoma, Wash., and soon in Huntington, W. Va. The Grand Forks facility currently employs 340 people.
Amazon.com expects to fill these customer service positions with full-time employees, and will also hire a limited number of full-time employees for other positions, including site controller/analyst, executive assistant, and purchaser. All full-time Amazon.com positions come with salary, benefits packages, and stock options.
Grand Forks Open House
Amazon.com will have recruiters at the company's customer service/distribution center at 1550 S. 48th Street in Grand Forks for an open house on Saturday, March 11, to let potential employees tour the facilities, learn more about employment opportunities, and complete applications. The hours of the open house are from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The company is accepting resumes for customer service positions and a limited number of other positions.
About Amazon.com
Amazon.com (Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries) is the Internet's No. 1 music, No. 1 DVD and video, and No. 1 book retailer. Amazon.com (Nasdaq:AMZN) opened its virtual doors on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection, along with online auctions and free electronic greeting cards. Amazon.com lists more than 18 million unique items in categories including books, CDs, toys, electronics, videos, DVDs, home improvement products, software, and video games. Through Amazon.com zShops, any business or individual can sell virtually anything to Amazon.com's more than 17 million customers, and with Amazon.com Payments, any seller can accept credit card transactions, avoiding the hassles of offline payments. The company also participates in sothebys.amazon.com, the leading auction site for guaranteed art, jewelry, and collectibles, at www.sothebys.amazon.com.
Amazon.com seeks to be the world's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they may want to buy online. Amazon.com's All Product Search scours the Web to help customers find merchandise that is not available at Amazon.com, Amazon.com Auctions, or Amazon.com zShops, making Amazon.com the shopping destination to find anything. Amazon.com Anywhere is the leader in mobile e-commerce, providing access from anywhere in the world to Amazon.com through handheld wireless Internet devices using the Wireless Application Protocol, at www.amazon.com/phone/ and on personal digital assistants (PDAs).
Amazon.com operates two international Web sites: www.amazon.co.uk and www.amazon.de. It also operates the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com), the Web's comprehensive and authoritative source of information on more than 220,000 movies and entertainment programs and 500,000 cast and crew members dating from the birth of film in 1892 to 2003.
Amazon.com has invested in leading Internet retailers that are improving the lives of customers by making shopping easier and more convenient: Greenlight.com, the only company that offers car buyers the control of auto purchasing online with ongoing service and support from local dealerships, at www.greenlight.com; living.com, the leading online home products and services retailer, at www.living.com; drugstore.com, an online retail and information source for health, beauty, wellness, personal care and pharmacy, at www.drugstore.com; Pets.com, the online leader for pet products, expert information, and services, at www.pets.com; HomeGrocer.com, the first fully integrated Internet grocery-shopping and home-delivery service -- with operations in Seattle; Portland, Oregon; and Southern California -- at www.homegrocer.com; Gear.com, which offers brand-name sporting goods at prices from 20 to 90 percent off retail, at www.gear.com; and Ashford.com, the leading Internet retailer of luxury and premium products and the Web's No. 1 retailer of watches and jewelry, at www.ashford.com. Amazon.com also has a minority interest in Della.com, which brings together leading retailers with gift registry, expert advice, and personalized gift suggestions to help everyone give better gifts, at www.della.com; and NextCard, Inc., considered the industry's leading issuer of consumer credit on the Internet, at www.nextcard.com; and Audible, Inc., the leader in Internet-delivered spoken audio for PC-based listening or playback on AudibleReady(TM) portable digital audio devices, at www.audible.com.
This announcement contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, Amazon.com's limited operating history, anticipated losses, unpredictability of future revenues, potential fluctuations in quarterly operating results, seasonality, consumer trends, competition, risk of distribution center expansion, risks related to fourth quarter performance, risks of system interruption, management of potential growth, risks related to auction and zShops services, risks related to fraud and Amazon.com Payments, and risks of new business areas, international expansion, business combinations, and strategic alliances. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1998 and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 1999, June 30, 1999, and September 30, 1999.
CONTACT: Amazon.com Sharon Greenspan, 206/266-7180