Top 10 Costa Rica

Plans for New Amazon Service Center in Costa Rica

Amazon, the well-known international online store, will begin operations in Costa Rica during November 2008. The highly anticipated opening will bring approximately seven hundred jobs to the Heredia region. Nearly every product used by consumers around the globe can be purchased through Amazon (www.amazon.com). Amazon delivers products to two hundred countries and serves millions of customers every year. Categories of goods sold on Amazon include books, magazines, music, apparel and accessories, shoes, groceries, sports equipment, electronics, toys, and tools.

The new Amazon customer service center located in Heredia will be the first and only center in Latin America. Costa Rican job seekers interested in employment with Amazon must be able to speak English fluently and be able to assist Amazon customers with any concerns, questions, or complaints. Alejandro Filloy, Manager of Costa Rica Amazon, commented, “We employ people with six months’ work experience in customer service and having high level of English.” Filloy also stated that the November 2008 start-up Amazon operation will require a workforce of about three hundred workers. An additional four hundred employees will be hired after November, when service center is in full operation.

The new Heredia Amazon customer service center location was carefully chosen after extensive research and analysis of several potential locations. Other Latin American countries were considered, as well as various countries in Europe. Locations in the United States were also in the running to be selected as the new Amazon service center. Filloy stated that Costa Rica offered conditions that were the most conducive to a new customer service center operation. “Costa Rica offers several benefits, including adequate infrastructure to customer service centers, strategic location and excellent access to bilingual staff, among others,” Filloy said.

Citizens of Heredia and surrounding areas are quite pleased with the prospect of so many new jobs being brought to the region. In general, Costa Rica’s economy has been experiencing a marked slowdown, and seven hundred jobs will do a great deal to give the economic situation a much-needed boost. Filloy does not anticipate any problems with being able to fill all seven hundred jobs by the end of 2008.

Costa Rica real estate agents are excited about the news of the new Amazon service center. Sales of Costa Rican properties across all price ranges have declined in the past few years as a result of a sluggish economy and incredibly high inflation rates. The abundance of jobs being offered by Amazon gives the real estate agents hope that more Costa Rican residents will be able to consider buying a home. Middle class Costa Ricans have been hit hard by both the recent price increases for a multitude of goods and services and the workforce reductions experience by many companies. Amazon is a well-established and growing business that can offer a fairly stable work environment to its employees. Costa Rica real estate agents expect an increase in sales activities, especially for middle class homes, once the service center positions are filled and the Amazon employees feel a renewed confidence in their individual financial situations.