Amazon?s fulfillment center in Las Vegas. | Shutterstock

Putting the retailer?s gigantic global operation into perspective This year?s holiday season will be Amazon?s twenty-fifth, and keeping in line with the retail behemoth?s continued growth, the company will now expand its delivery options to offer millions of products for sale for free, one-day delivery. Behind this audacious promise lies an immense, intricate logistics network that enables it to offer incredible delivery times to every corner of the country. Last holiday season, the company says it shipped one billion items to its Prime Members across the globe.
While consumers rarely see Amazon as more than a cardboard package on their doorstep, the company?s physical footprint is pretty wild. The retail giant now operates more than 175 fulfillment centers around the globe, 110 of which are in North America, and employs 250,000 full-time hourly associates. During the previous holiday seasons, the company hired an additional 120,000 workers across its logistics and warehouse network (it only hired 100,000 holiday temp workers in 2018 because investment in robotics meant less need for seasonal staff). Here are some incredible facts?and figures?behind Amazon?s extensive and expanding logistics network.
1. Amazon is expected to capture nearly half of all online retail spend this year.
The company has been creeping up to this milestone for years. According to a Slice Intelligence report cited in the Wall Street ...