Dive Brief:

• Amazon said Friday it has created more than 10,000 permanent jobs in Europe as it builds up its warehouse and delivery network there, its research and development capabilities, and new infrastructure related to its profitable cloud business.

• And its planned expansion in Europe could mean several thousand jobs there this year, too, with 2,500 in the U.K. alone, the e-retailer also said Friday. Amazon's U.K. workforce will be more than 14,500 by the end of 2016, including positions at its new head office in London, and at its three R&D centers, 10 warehouses and 24 delivery posts.

• Much of the growth is in its grocery-delivery business for its British Prime members. In the past five years, Amazon has invested more than $16.3 billion on infrastructure and operations in Europe, more than $6.6 billion of that in the UK.

Dive Insight:

Thanks to its long-standing knack for plowing resources into its growth and the patience to do so by and large from its investors, Amazon is building its capacity in many parts of the world, including Europe.

Its assertiveness in the grocery delivery business in particular, especially in the U.K., is causing British supermarket retailers like Sainsbury’s to respond with more delivery options of their own, Reuters reports. And Sainsbury’s bid for Home Retail, owner of retail goods chain Argos, is seen as a response to the competition from Amazon.

"We are seeing stronger demand than ever from our customers all across Europe, and we see lots more opportunity across Amazon's businesses to invent and invest for the future," vice president of Amazon EU retail Xavier Garambois said in a statement. "We created over 10,000 new jobs in 2015 and plan to create several thousand more in 2016 at all education, experience and skill levels, from speech and linguistic scientists to digital media experts to fulfilment centre and customer service associates.”