John Boumphrey’s Post

Great to have Louis Theroux at Amazon HQ recently as we celebrated the success of 100+ trainees and apprentices who have taken their first steps into the TV and film industry through Prime Video Pathway, our three-year, £10 million training programme designed to open up access to jobs in the creative + film industries across the UK.   As an award-winning documentarian and co-founder of Mindhouse Productions, Louis talked about the importance of nurturing the next generation of talent - a sentiment we wholeheartedly share.   We recognise that the UK is home to an extraordinary wealth of creative talent, and we’re excited to support it with world-class training and help foster a new creative generation for the industry.   Congratulations to all participants, and a huge thanks to Tara Erer and Chris Bird, as well as all our partners who are providing best-in-class training and brilliant job placements.   #Amazon #Apprenticeships

Celebrating our success, and our diversity, is a key part of how we work to be an inclusive employer here at Amazon. We hosted the Amazon UK and Ireland Awards here at our London HQ yesterday, recognising the fantastic work of colleagues across the business. I'm thrilled to announce that our LGBTQ+ group Glamazon was named Affinity Group of the Year across the UK & Ireland. It’s really fitting that we could recognise them so soon after a fantastic pride month has come to a close. Glamazon has more than 2,500 members in the UK and Ireland, and the team worked tirelessly throughout Pride Month to celebrate the thing that makes Amazon such a great place to work – our people. This pride month Glamazon organised a range of events all across the country, including an insightful panel discussion with 🏳️⚧️Marty Davies, the founder of the first Trans History Week. Our Glamazon board also attended the British LGBT Awards, where Glamazon was shortlisted for the best Employee Resource Group, and Max Shillam, Co-Chair at Glamazon UK, was shortlisted in the Future Leader category – a testament to all their brilliant work. The celebrations were rounded off with our annual Pride party, hosted this year by the incredible Crystal from Drag Race Season 1 – a truly fantastic way to celebrate Pride, bringing people together from all parts of the business, and all parts of the country! In Ireland Mark Finlay, Daniel Burton-Peet and the Glamazon Ireland board have also run a fantastic programme of events this year, culminating in last week’s Pride parade through Dublin. Thank you all for the effort you have made to make our community stronger and more inclusive.   We also celebrated 5 other awards, ‘Think Big’ – recognising someone who found a new way to improve our customer or employee experience; ‘Door Desk’ – recognising someone who came up with an innovative way for us to lower prices for customers; ‘Just Do It’ – for someone who acts with speed; ‘Earth's Best Manager, and ‘Community Hero’. It speaks so strongly of the amazing Amazon teams we have in the UK and Ireland that we had so many strong nominations in each, and congratulations to Taha Ghafoor, Gianni Iannelli, Harry Williams, Kyle Schuler, Omar Ahmed, Sophia Nadine Yahya, Ronan O’Reilly, Helen Arpino, ☁️ Sinéad Geraghty, Declan Fisher and Milda Zdanyte for all their achievements.    #Amazon #Pride2024 #PrideMonth #Inclusion

Amazon is now offering all 18-22-year-olds 50% off Prime membership!   We’re always looking for ways to provide more value to our customers and offering 18-22-year-olds discounted Prime membership helps to make the wide range of Prime benefits even more accessible to young people.   Half-price Prime has been available to students in the UK through Prime Student since 2014, but this offer means it is now available to all 18-22-year-olds in the UK, whether in university or not. Helping young people save while enjoying great shopping and entertainment benefits will make a big difference, whether they’re going to university, starting work, or moving out of home for the first time. Members can enjoy the full range of benefits including fast, free delivery, exclusive savings and deals events, and award-winning entertainment like Prime Video and Amazon Music for just £4.49 per month, or £47.49 per year.    Find out more: https://lnkd.in/eJHmkgsd   #Amazon #AmazonPrime

Brilliant to be back in Seattle, where I’ve spent the last few days meeting with Amazon leaders from around the world, and learning more about the exciting innovations everyone’s working on - as well as sharing the cool stuff we’re doing right here in the UK! I'm always amazed by the creativity and dedication of our teams and I couldn’t help but come back extremely excited and energised for the opportunities ahead. Lots of exciting stuff on the way – stay tuned! 👀 #Amazon #Innovation #Tech

Incredibly excited to share that Amazon has been ranked as the top employer of veterans in the UK by the GREAT British Employers of Veterans programme.   Since the launch of the Amazon Military Programme in the UK in 2011, we’ve offered thousands of veterans and spouses rewarding careers across the businesses, and that includes dedicated apprenticeship and corporate roles up and down the country. This recognition is testament to the brilliant work of my Amazon colleagues who have created such an impactful and important programme – thank you all. https://lnkd.in/eupfZcNC   #Amazon #ArmedForces #Veterans

I wanted to share my (slightly belated!) congratulations to former Prime Minister Gordon Brown who was named to the Order of the Companions of Honour in King Charles’ Birthday Honours. This is one of the UK’s highest, but lesser-known recognitions - an eclectic gathering of 65 of our finest people in the Commonwealth from across the arts, science, medicine and public service. It is a genuine honour and privilege to be working with Gordon Brown on the Multibank initiative, which he has led with incredible vision and tenacity. We started in 2022 with an ambition to help 13,000 families in Fife by setting up donation hubs to provide surplus essential items to families in need, and we’d helped 50,000 by the end of that year. Last year we launched another hub in Wigan, and by the end of 2023, we'd helped 200,000 families. So far this year, we have launched a third warehouse in Swansea, and by the end of this year, we're hoping to have launched in three other cities to have helped more than 500,000 families. It is amazing to reflect how far we’ve come since that first meeting less than three years ago, and also exciting to think about where we can take this business to in the years to come. Thank you for being an inspiration and a visionary, and congratulations again.

Prime Day is returning for its 10th year on 16 and 17 July!   We work really hard to deliver great products at the best prices for customers during #PrimeDay and throughout the year, from the biggest brands to the 100,000 small British businesses that sell on Amazon. With even faster deliveries, and with so many shopping, saving and entertainment benefits available, there has never been a better time to be a Prime member. Roll on Prime Day! Find out more: https://lnkd.in/eyYPCBE5   #Amazon #PrimeDay

Machine Learning and #GenAI are transforming industries at a rapid pace, and retail is no exception.   According to research commissioned by Amazon, 70%+ of small UK business owners selling products online say that AI has benefited their organisation by saving them time, creating efficiencies, improving profitability, and enabling them to reach more international customers.   So, here’s how we’re supporting small businesses selling on Amazon with AI-backed tools: 🚀 Sellers can now provide just a few portions of text or an image to generate their product listings on amazon.co.uk – these are then automatically parsed by our generative AI-based features to seamlessly create high-quality, engaging product listings. ✨ Last month we also introduced a feature which allows Amazon to analyse and enrich existing product listings from our sellers, automatically adding missing information, not only saving sellers valuable time but also enhancing the customer experience by providing better, more comprehensive product info.   It’s been brilliant to meet some of our sellers and hear how Amazon continues to help them streamline operations. Our AI tools are constantly learning and evolving – we are excited to see them get even better over the coming months to make things easier for our customers and sellers alike. Find out more - https://lnkd.in/eftUisPg   #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Amazon

New research out today… 61% of UK working adults believe that on the job training or apprenticeships are more valuable for starting and growing your career than traditional education.   The research reflects what we’re seeing in our workplace at Amazon, and we are proud to offer one of the broadest ranges of skills and apprenticeships programmes available in the UK.   Today, to help even more of our employees train and learn on the job, we’re expanding Amazon Career Choice, which provides funding for adult education, offering to pre-pay 95% of tuition and reimburse employees for eligible fees for nationally recognised courses – up to £8,000 over four years.    We’re investing £23 million in the UK in 2024 to provide funding for even more programmes, including information security analysis, software testing, and procurement and supply chain management.   Last year, the 100,000th global Career Choice participant, Sohil Ambelal Patel, enrolled in the scheme here in the UK to obtain his HGV licence, and we’re so pleased to help even more employees like Sohil achieve their career ambitions, whether they stay with us at Amazon for the long term or go on to something new.   Read more here: https://lnkd.in/ehMvMkHb   #Amazon #Skills #Careers #Apprenticeships

I had the pleasure of hosting the Executive Director of the National Theatre, Kate Varah, for a fireside chat as part of our Amazon UK Force for Good Summit. As a big theatre enthusiast, it was brilliant to hear Kate talk about her bold vision for the future of the National Theatre. We discussed the transformative power of culture in driving positive change in society and the importance of making theatre and the arts accessible to everyone. I loved hearing Kate share her fondness for the “bread and roses” slogan from the American suffragette movement, connecting it to her belief that people need more than just their basic needs met. They also need joy, opportunities for self-expression, and a sense of community – things that are all provided by the arts. The National Theatre also has some really exciting initiatives, such as their digital offering that is now available in 87% of UK state secondary schools. This compliments a terrific skills offering, as the NT have the largest workshop in London and a huge variety of roles in theatre – only 5% of those employed in theatre are actors on stage! A big thank you to Kate for joining us. #Amazon #Skills #Sustainability