The stock market may be closed Monday in the U.S., but Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is still hard at work making news. On this Civil Right Day, though, that work is being announced from across the pond, as the company is putting forth a couple of news items that continue to show the online retailer’s growth and reach in the global marketplace. One such move involves its Amazon Web Services cloud computing service, and the other announcement involved the expansion of its amazon Lockers partnership with brick-and-mortar retailers.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) stock closed last week at $272.12 per share, up 1.6 percent for the week and nearly 9 percent for the current calendar year.
RAILS IN THE CLOUD
The U.K. National Rail announced that it has selected a new host for its Web site, and Amazon Web Services by Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) has won the contract that will secure the Web site nationalrail.co.uk into the public cloud space. National Rail, which runs virtually all the rail service in the empire, announced last spring that it would be shopping for a new web host to support its activities, which attract about 19 million visitors every month.
National Rail had said it was looking to improve on its availability, as the site sometimes has interruptions due to heavy traffic, and it determined that using a cloud service like the one offered by Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) would mitigate the disruptions in some measure. The National Rail Web site provides trip planning on the rail network, live information about the network and specific train movements and provides the latest information on any delays or disruptions in the system.
LOCK ‘EM UP
In a separate news item, Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) announced that it had secured a new retailer partnership for its Amazon Lockers service, which allows customers to pick up or return Amazon orders to brick-and-mortar stores. What is this lucky retailer, and what does this mean for the retailer?
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) has opened its Lockers service at nine Spar grocery retailers in the U.K., with plans to open more in the future. This gives customers who bought items on the Amazon.com Web site to either pick up or return those items at Spar stores. Amazon.com has Lockers service available at other retailers like Martin McColl and The Co-op.
“This is a highly innovative move from Spar UK, showing our commitment to launching the latest technologies that provide the best possible convenience to shoppers,” said Barry Wallis, retail development controller for Spar. “This is the next step in making our stores even more service-friendly,” as this service adds to free wi-fi and mobile-phone charging among its customer amenities.
What do you think about these small moves? How much more growth do you see from Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)? How much of a facotr will tese items serve to that end? We’d love your feedback in the comments section below.
DISCLOSURE: I own no positions in any stock mentioned.
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