Amazon makes major bid to boost European warehouse market share

Amazon is in the market for 1,300 warehouse units across Europe as the e-commerce company rushes to consolidate market share for its one-hour Prime Now delivery service. The Telegraph reports that the warehouses will be set up near population centers, allowing Amazon to store high-demand items near customers.

Prime subscription services are currently available in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy. In Europe, 40 percent of Prime subscribers spend more than 1,000 euros annually on shopping via the Amazon portal, compared to only 8 percent of non-Prime members.

The push into Europe also shows that Amazon is looking elsewhere to make up for slowing growth rates in its home market, where saturation is a growing obstacle. That said, existing U.S. customers continue to move more of their purchasing online.

Amazon does not disclose membership numbers, but it did say that membership increased by 51 percent in 2016. International growth outpaced the company’s domestic growth rate.

Consumer Intelligence Research Partners found that there were 54 million Prime members in the U.S., and 65 million users worldwide.