Amazon launches a new bet on Ireland.
Starting next year, the online retailer’s consumers will be able to access Amazon. ie, which means faster deliveries and returns while also avoiding customs fees or currency conversion fees.
Amazon already employs 6,500 more people in Cork, Dublin and Drogheda.
“While many other Irish people are already shopping at Amazon outlets in other countries, the new Irish store will offer a localised food shopping experience that gives consumers what they value most: a wide variety of more than 100 million products, adding even more from Irish businesses, at low prices and fast and convenient delivery and returns,” the company said.
More than 1,000 Irish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are already on the platform, and those SMEs will generate more than €150 million in export sales in 2022.
This follows the launch of Amazon’s first Irish hub in 2022, which created 500 new jobs.
“More important points about the new Irish and how Irish trademarks and SMEs are registered will be announced in the coming months. “
Michael Lohan, chief executive of IDA Ireland, said the move strengthens the company’s Irish presence.
“Amazon has been a major investor in Ireland for more than 20 years,” he said.
“The launch of Amazon. ie is a demonstration of our commitment to their Irish operations.
“This strengthens the company’s existing strong Irish presence and will increase the benefits it has already brought to Ireland through the broad base of strategic business it conducts here. “
It’s unclear exactly what the change to “. ie” means for Irish users who have recently signed up as consumers on Amazon in some other country, such as the UK.
A source told Newstalk that more data would be available “closer to the store’s launch. “
Amazon claims to have invested more than €17 billion in Ireland since 2020.
The company first opened one here in September 2004, followed in April 2006 through a visitor service centre in Cork.
In November 2007, Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced its first infrastructure region outside the United States, in Ireland.
It also has a number of wind farms here that power its Irish knowledge centres.