Author: Duo Dong | Source: Tuke Overseas | Cover image: Unsplash

At a summit held recently in Berlin, Amazon officially announced plans to invest more than EUR 16 billion (roughly RMB 120 billion) in the German market by 2027.

The capital will span cloud computing, artificial intelligence, satellite internet, logistics fulfillment and local film and TV production. The move ranks among the largest single-year investments Amazon has made in Europe in recent years.

Zooming out, Amazon's favoritism toward Germany follows a clear pattern.

Since 2010, Amazon's cumulative investment in Germany has exceeded EUR 100 billion. In 2025 alone, Amazon's net sales attributable to Germany reached USD 45.9 billion — surpassing the UK and Japan to become its largest single overseas market. Clearly, Amazon is turning Germany into its absolute European stronghold.

Source: About Amazon

For Amazon, Germany is not only a strong consumer market in itself but also a key European cross-border hub. Data shows Germany's online retail sales reached about EUR 92.3 billion in 2025, with more than half of transactions taking place on e-commerce platforms. More importantly, local SMBs selling on Amazon.de now generate over EUR 20 billion in annual sales, nearly EUR 6 billion of which comes from exports. Through Germany's mature warehousing and logistics network, merchants can smoothly sell into neighboring markets such as France, Italy and Austria.

This hub value — benefiting from both ends — is exactly why Amazon keeps pouring money in.

Source: einzelhandel

When business scales up, supply chain muscle decides. Amazon currently operates more than 100 facilities in Germany. To handle the growing order volume, it plans to upgrade existing logistics centers in Koblenz, Dortmund and elsewhere with smart technology, while building and opening new fulfillment centers to further compress delivery times.

Of course, Amazon isn't the only one eyeing the European pie.

In recent years, JD.com's Joybuy has accelerated its European logistics infrastructure buildout, attacking the "last mile" with self-operated delivery; PDD's Temu has deepened cooperation with German logistics giant DHL, leveraging local networks for in-country shipping.

Looking at the competitive landscape, playbooks in European e-commerce have shifted profoundly: the contest used to be about who could deliver cross-border parcels; now it's about who can pre-position inventory locally, restock faster when goods run short, and offer dependable fulfillment.

For cross-border sellers, the "warehouse-network tug of war" among platforms isn't a bad thing. As giants trade infrastructure investment for speed, and speed for consumer trust, sellers enjoy more complete logistics protection. As for who captures more share in Europe's red ocean, the answer ultimately rests on genuine supply chain and service competence.