Shoppers to benefit from faster shipping times, greater availability
SEATTLE, April 13, 1999--As part of its ongoing commitment to continually enhance service to customers, leading online retailer Amazon.com has obtained a distribution facility in Coffeyville, Kansas, that will allow the company to reduce standard shipping times to key markets in the Midwest and Southeast United States.
The existing 460,000-square-foot facility will be expanded to more than 750,000 square feet this year. This will be the largest Amazon.com distribution facility to date and will allow Amazon.com, the Internet's No. 1 video, No. 1 music, and No. 1 book retailer, to significantly increase the number of books, CDs, videos, and other products kept on hand for immediate shipment to customers.
The result is that customers in such places as Chicago, St. Louis, Dallas, and Minneapolis will receive their orders much faster, thanks to greater availability, quicker processing, and shorter delivery times.
"Everything we do at Amazon.com is designed to continually enhance the customer experience, and reducing delivery times does exactly that," said Jimmy Wright, Amazon.com's chief logistics officer. "This facility is so large that we can stock an incredible number of titles ready to ship right away."
The Coffeyville facility gives Amazon.com distribution capability that will help the company better serve its customers. Located in southeast Kansas between Wichita, Joplin, and Tulsa at the intersection of U.S. 166 and U.S. 169, the facility was formerly occupied by Golden Books. It will be leased by Amazon.com and is expected to begin operations during the second half of 1999. Terms of the lease were not disclosed.
By year's end, Amazon.com expects its Coffeyville facility will employ more than 500 people. Amazon.com will have recruiters at the Coffeyville facility for an open house on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, April 16 to 18, to receive applications. The hours of the open house are: Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The company is accepting résumés for a variety of positions, including distribution center associates, operations managers, human resources manager, facilities manager, and area managers. In addition, the company has established a toll-free job line at (877) 975-4273 and will take applications by e-mail at ksjobs@amazon.com.
This is the third major regionally targeted increase in Amazon.com's distribution capability. In January 1999, the company announced that it obtained a 322,560-square-foot facility in Fernley, Nevada, outside of Reno. In November 1997, the company opened a 202,000-square-foot center in New Castle, Delaware, outside Philadelphia. The company's Seattle distribution center has 93,000 square feet of space.
The Coffeyville distribution center will be operated by Amazon.com.ksdc, Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN).
About Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), the Internet's No. 1 music, No. 1 video, and No. 1 book retailer, opened its virtual doors on the World Wide Web in July 1995. Today, the Amazon.com store has expanded to offer online auctions and more than 4.7 million book, music-CD, video, DVD, computer-game, and other titles, plus secure credit-card payment, personalized recommendations, and streamlined ordering through 1-ClickSM technology. It also operates Amazon.com Auctions, where sellers can offer items for sale to 8 million Amazon.com customers.
Amazon.com operates two international Web sites: www.amazon.co.uk in the United Kingdom and www.amazon.de in Germany. Amazon.com also operates PlanetAll (www.planetall.com), a Web-based address book, calendar, and reminder service. It also operates the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com), the Web's comprehensive and authoritative source of information on more than 150,000 movies and entertainment programs and 500,000 cast and crew members dating from the birth of film in 1892 to the present.
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, competition, risks associated with system development and operation, management of potential growth, 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.
Amazon.com, Amazon.com Auctions, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Internet Movie Database, PlanetAll, and 1-Click, are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. All other names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.