ROMA (ITALPRESS) – Amazon consolidates its roots in Italy and looks carefully at the Mezzogiorno. Giorgio Busnelli, Country Manager of the group in Italy, interviewed by Claudio Brachino for the TV format Italpress Economy.
“We celebrated the 15th anniversary of presence in Italy last year – remembers Busnelli -. We opened our country in 2010 and in this period we invested more than 25 billion euros and created 19,000 jobs indefinitely.” According to some studies, he underlined the manager, Amazon is the private company that has created more employment in the last decade, with a presence that counts 60 sites across the national territory.
Basically, for the group, also support for small and medium-sized enterprises: over 20,000 are those that collaborate with Amazon to reach customers in Italy and the world. Among the initiatives, the showcase dedicated to Made in Italy, which involves 5,500 Italian companies and more than 3 million products made available internationally. Overall, Italian companies that sell on Amazon exported last year goods for 3.5 billion euros. 45% of the Pmi involved are located in rural areas, a channel that according to Busnelli allows small artisans and local excellence to reach customers in Europe and the world.
On the investment front, Busnelli recalled the recent opening of a new logistics center in Jesi, Marche, which will bring over 1,000 jobs in the next three years.
Chapter aside for the Mezzogiorno, defined “central” in the Italian strategy of the group: more than 2 billion euros invested from the entrance in Italy, 3,000 employees and an estimated induced in 1,5 billion euros. Hence the launch of the project “Amazon Destination South”, which includes incentives for the new Southern Pmi that begin to collaborate with Amazon and the digital training program “Accelera con Amazon”, open to all companies, even to those who do not sell on the platform. On the youth front, the goal is to train by the end of the year 200,000 children on Stem subjects at national level, with scholarships and specific targets dedicated to the South.
Busnelli then focuses on “Amazon Dona”, the program that aims to give new life to the returns and to support the families in difficulty: from 2025 600,000 products donated for a value of 8 million euros to 35,000 fragile families, thanks to the collaboration of 1,400 agencies in the third sector. The initiative, explains the manager, is based on the anti-express law – of which this year the tenth anniversary – and on an innovative logistic model developed with the partners Fondazione Valore and Centro Five, that aggregate the application of the entities on the territory.
Busnelli finally answers a question about the new customs duty on shipments from non-EU countries under 150 euros. “97% of shipments to Italy and Europe take place within the Union – said Busnelli – so most of our business is not affected by this change.” The manager, however, expresses openness to “a legislation that leads to fair competition for all the actors involved”, hoping for a “proportionate and favorable” application for customers and partner countries.
– Photo Italpress –
(ITALPRESS).
