LastEdition2016

Last Edition 206 - Issue 06 10 2015 WAS AN AMAZING YEAR FOR SELLER SUPPORT AT HYDERABAD. IT HAD BEEN AN INCREDIBLE 16 “LEARN FROM YESTERDAY... LIVE FOR TODAY, HOPE FOR TOMORROW. THE IMPORTANT THING IS NOT TO STOP QUESTIONING” - ALBERT EINSTEIN 18 “SUCCESS” TAKE A LOOK IS BUT AN UNDERSTATEMENT TO DESCRIBE BACK AT 2015! THE YEAR 2015 AT SELLER SUPPORT CAPE TOWN. EACH SITE CREATED SOME MEMORIES OF THEIR JOURNEY THROUGH LAST YEAR

Contens JAPAN 05 We opened the new outsource site in 2015. Okinawa and Peking in China. REGENSBURG 04 challenging as the last year was: when taking some time to think about it GRAND FORKS COSTA RICA 07 In 2015, Grand Forks had a lot of exciting 08 The site closed the year with a PRR 91.3, a great changes number above our current goal. HYDERABAD 10 Through this great platform of Global newsletter, we would want to share a few key success stories where all of us made history. 02

Contens PEKIN 12 CN Seller Support team expanded support platform for CN base seller not only in .cn, also focused on .com and .uk platform in 2015 SELLER SUPPORT SITES 14 BANGALORE 16 BRATISLAVA 18 CAPE TOWN BLR had 290 new associates join in We can’t say 2015 was a period of June 2015 came with the biggest 2015.We had the following Leadership... relaxation, but it certainly was... change for seller support, moving ... Editorial A new year for ONE. Yep, it is also a new year for our global magazine: ONE. In this edition we want- ed to take a look back at 2015. Each of the sites created some memoirs of their journey through last year in Seller Support: The goals, success stories, the challenges and the new business and faces. Take a look inside of the magazine, we are certain that you will enjoy it as well as to learn a bit more from each of the sites that made 2015 a year to remember for our ever-successful organization. I would like to take the opportunity to also say “So long” to you as this is my last edition of ONE as the editor of the magazine. I will embark myself in a different challenge at Amazon and I will sadly leave this project but I will make sure it lands into skillful hands, which I am sure we are full of. Hopefully, ONE will still be the channel to understand each other a little further and embrace our ONE TEAM principle. Cesar Delgado From this desk, the best to you in 2016 and I hope that all of your goals and Editor & Manager SJO plans are met and exceeded. Let this be a year to remember! 03

ONE seller support “ LAST WEEK, OUR SECOND ROUND OF WINNERS TRAVELLED TO CAPE TOWN: SEBASTIAN HERT AND KARIN LANGBEIN. STAY TUNED FOR FIRST- HAND REPORT ON THEIR TREK! REGENSBURG REG/VCCDEU – 2015 A SHORT REVIEW We were asked to share some of our success- stories from the last year and as challenging as the last year was: when taking some time to think about it we came up with a long list of smaller and bigger successes. Below you will find a small assortment of them: KYC * Total Q1: EUR 2,528,490 Movers Steffi Kreitczick rolled up her sleeves and put * Total Q2: EUR 2,263,426 A number of people moved throughout the together a KYC handbook for the DE team * Total Q3: EUR 4,971,983 past year. Congratulations to the following which is based on the UK version. It can be * Total Q4: EUR 14,705,766 trailblazers: found here: http://tiny/i3big9hs/KYCDEHand- * Total 2015: EUR 24,469,665 · Nuala Murphy - DE/FR/IT OU Leader book. This will help research for KYC-related · Marco Rihm - Seller Support Site Lead cases that are owned by Seller Support. New Hires/ Growth · Tobias Pokorny - Seller Support Advisor A fresh batch of 18 new hires started their · Alexander Rathe - Seller Support Advisor in Another BIG THANKS to our KYC Front training on the 18th of January 2016 con- VCC Office team for their excellent support in our tinuing the growth of the very successful · Marko Roesch - Interims DE Partner Man- busy M@, Ungating, Feeds/IIDP and FBA VCCDEU- Team. ager queues along with the day-to-day KYC queue From all of us in REG and VCC, welcome! · Christian Riedhammer - Seller Support work. Overall our team has helped 1,260 Manager active sellers become compliant! Twinning · Arnim Pohlenk - Seller Support Tech Esca- Our VCC team won the Twinning contest lation Lightning Deals twice already, and made their way to sunny · Mirka Pokojna - Seller Support Manager - This project has been extended until the end Cape Town! transferred from BTS of July 2016 due to the popularity of this Our first winners were Christine Hammer and · Sylvia Kamphaus - Site Readiness Manager - program with our sellers as well as the fantas- Martin Buchholz, who made the trip in week transferred from TRMS tic results during the entire year 2015. Our 44 2015. In the image you can see them at sellers love the benefits of Lightning Deals! In the Cape of Good Hope. terms of GMS, our Lightning Deals team was able to achieve: Written by Sylvia Kamphaus 04

JAPAN We opened the new outsource site in 2015. Okinawa and Peking in China. Okinawa is most southwesterly of Japan’s four main islands. Okinawa consists of 160 islands of various size scattered across a vast area of ocean. With Okinawa being in the subtropical zone, you can enjoy beautiful flowers in any season. The crystal blue sea, with white sand beaches and colorful fish dancing through coral, attracts vacationers as a holiday resort area with many diving spots. For about 450 years, from the 15th to the 19th century, Okinawa prospered as the Kingdom of Ryukyu, a state independent of Japan’s central government. Cultural characteristics and conventions born through the relations with foreign countries in those days still survive in such interesting forms as artifacts and festivals, giving additional charm to Okinawa. The largest of the Okinawa Islands and the Ryukyu Islands of Japan. The Ryukyu Kingdom was an inde- pendent kingdom that ruled most of the Ryukyu Islands. Okinawa site (OKA) launched on August, started up from 20 associates. We can see the ocean from the office. They support our seller with very warm personality. 05

ONE seller support Where is Beijing? Yes, it is in China! Beijing is the capital of the People’s Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a total population of 21,150,000 as of 2013 Beijing, China’s massive capital, has history stretching back 3 millennia. Yet it’s known as much for its modern architecture as its ancient sites such as the grand Forbidden City complex, the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Nearby, the massive Tiananmen Square pedestrian plaza is site of Mao Zedong’s mausoleum and the National Museum of China, displaying a vast collection of cultural relics. Beijing has seven UNESCO World Heritage. This city combine historic and modernistic. Our Team They started supporting Chinese sellers in Amazon Japan. We have a lot of Chinese sellers. Japan is located near to China but very different. Especially language is different and difficult for us. The office building is about 40 minutes from Tiananmen Square. They are very friendly. We eat a lot of delicious Chinese food together. Written by Fumitoshi, Sato, Megumi, Kon, Yosuke, Umetsu, Yusuke, Saegusa 06

GRAND FORKS 2015 SUCCESSES In 2015, Grand Forks had a lot of exciting changes including people, projects and initiatives, and metrics! We had three new members of management join us in February of 2015: -Sabrina Barnhart, Site Leader New hire -Karen Andre, Site Portfolio Manager (SPM) class and -Josh Lupkes, Team Manager We also had numerous new hire classes throughout the year, welcoming 86 new Associates to Seller Support in GFK. Out of those 86, 17 were transfers from our Customer Service team and 69 were brand new to Amazon.com! With so many new Associates, we were able to offer numerous Mentor opportunities to our tenured Associates. Associates participated in training to help build the knowledge and confidence of Associates new to Seller Support. Associates, Advisors, and Supervisors had the opportunity to travel to Cebu, QZC, Manila, and Jamaica as a part of the Away Team. They Written by Alissa Dahl, Seller Support Supervisor, with contribution from Karen Andre, Site Portfolio Manager and Karen Benson, Recruiter helped to support new Associates in our Partner sites, build new friendships, and create memories to last a lifetime! Projects and Initiatives Standard Resolution Project: GFK utilized two Associate Advisors (Joe Hare and Jordan Thiery) and two Supervisors (Evan Vigil and Alissa Dahl) to write Standard Resolution Documents for the most common issues in Marketplace, FUII, and FBA. Throughout this process, numerous additional Advisors, Supervisors, and Managers, including our Ops Manager and Site Leader, helped proofread the content for accuracy and ease of use. Team Manager Janice Broderick created and delivered training for each platform. These documents led to reduced attrition and had significant impact to lower research times (Average Handle Time through Hold time and After- call/Aux code misuse). They are currently being transferred into SharePoint by one Supervisor (Lucy Van Dell) and three Associate Advisors (Shelley Cotton, Joe Hare, and Jordan Thiery). Site Attrition: Aligning Associates with a Supervisor with a similar schedule helped decrease attrition. GFK will continue to work to reduce Associate attrition through 2016. GFK Peak Season: GFK initiated a robust Launch communication from CPM to Sites: GFK1 Building: We had a refresh of the Peak season ramp-up schedule which began As a result of the CPM Summit in October building with new paint and Amazon signs in September with Peak season communica- 2015, twelve projects were identified as top on the outside of the building, in addition to tion to Leaders. In October team meetings WW challenges for launching projects and bathroom remodeling for both Seller Support focused on Peak, Brownout and Blackout three of these projects specifically addressed and Customer Service. periods, the Winter Season and preparing launch communication. As of 2016 Week 2, the associates in what to expect. As we CPM began sending out a weekly notification Metrics began Peak in November, GFK developed of confirmed launches that includes projects Number of Cases Resolved – 498,948 activities for the months of November/De- to be implemented within the next two week Number of Contacts Handled – 617,206 cember focused on Associate Engagement period. Previously, all WW SRMs needed to Average Handle Time – 17.0 minutes and Participation. Strong communication and pull data from SharePoint, SIMs, and email Positive Response Rate – 89.1% engagement were key components to having communication to establish a launch date. Number of Project/Product Launches – 349 a successful Peak season. Number of Opportunities Resolved – 436 07

ONE seller support COSTA RICA 2015…A PURA VIDA YEAR! GREETINGS FROM COSTA RICA’S SITE SJO2! WE HAD AN EXISTING YEAR THE PAST 2015 AND WE ARE GLAD IT’S OVER AND READY FOR NEW CHALLENGES! The site closed the year with a PRR 91.3, a great number above our current goal. Also we ended up the year with 600 people, we used to be 400, and the environment is definitely exiting! In 2015 was when this ONE newspaper idea came up! With the help of one of our Operations Manager Cesar Delgado (@ cmontoy), he reached out to Seller Support globally to start this exiting project and here we are. 12 Days of Christmas Activities Written by Gabriela Uzcategui 08

-New Skills and Growth On retrospective, SJO2 has gotten great ad- Mexico Team Launch Celebration ditions to the support platforms we help out. Let’s read a little bit more about them: Last year, we added the new support for our brand new marketplace in MEXICO! Amazon.mx this is a great addition to our Seller Support team! We offer help in Spanish and English. It opened on June 30, 2015 and has up to (14) associates. Mexico now has a Fulfillment Center in the zone of Cuautitlán Izcalli in Mexico. -Vendor (VCM) team is also increasing incredibly! Now they are up to 41 associates, 3 supervisors, 5 Associate Advisors and one manager. -RBS (Retail Business Services) is a support provided to vendors too. They started with 4 associates, now they are up to 15. -Product Safety is a department that does analysis on products that could be a risk to sell. Currently they have 3 agents and they are on the process to recruit more. -Listing Creation is a team that started on late 2014 with 5 specialists and now they are 17! They help sellers to create the listings when they are recruited by the Sales Representa- tives of the accounts. -Promotions In the past year we did on promotions, an average of 40: · 4 Managers · 12 Supervisors · 10 AAs · 2 ESR · 2 Ticket Resolvers -Affinity Groups Amazon affinity groups are employee-led, company-sponsored organizations designed to foster diversity and inclusion and strength- en networking and community participation. -Women @ Amazon ,presided by Maria Rojas one of our Operations Manager, is to help create an inclusive and supportive environ- ment for employees by hosting events and programs focused on networking, professional development and career advancement . They used to have a goal of at least 15 members, and now they are 123! -Ben! (Black Employee Network) with the help of our HRBP Pamela Cunningham, The group’s primary purpose is to provide a support structure for Underrepresented Minorities at Amazon. BEN’s main focus is to support the Black employees at Amazon and to promote diversity within the company. They started with 7 people, now they are 40! ---- All of this efforts, as you can see, are heading us to a great 2016 with a growing environ- OT Rewards Program (Peak Season 2015): Platinum Winners ment and a team that commits to be excellent every day. We hope that ONE Newsletter will deliver another retrospective on 2017 with even better results and good news! 09

ONE HYDERABAD seller support HYDERABAD nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut lab nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam ore et dolore magna aliqudunt ut labore et dunt ut labore e timely completion of the overall interview- ing process and proper close looping with 2015 WAS AN AMAZING YEAR FOR SELLER SUPPORT AT HYDERABAD. the applicants, which helped us in gaining IT HAD BEEN AN INCREDIBLE JOURNEY FOR THE SELLER SUPPORT HYD employee trust and provided growth oppor- TEAM, WHERE THE TEAM WORKED VERY HARD TO PROVIDE EXCEPTIONAL tunity to 7 AA’s and 6 Associates during this peak (4 Deemed AA’s and 2 Trainers). SELLER EXPERIENCE. THROUGHOUT THE YEAR, WE ALSO HAD A LOT OF FUN WITH THE WEEKLY THEME BASED FUN ACTIVITIES, FLASH MOBS, DAI- • Peak Engagement LY/WEEKLY RNR AND NOT TO FORGET THE AMAZING PEAK CONTEST. Program: This year we celebrated the Peak as One HYD Team and did a lot of FUN on the Through this great platform of Global news- NA voice Pilot was started in HYD site Floor, through a series of exciting events letter, we would want to share a few key and activities spanning over 6-8 weeks. success stories where all of us made history. • Revamped Deemed Program: • Peak Jackpot Contest • Amazing Seller Deemed AA and Deemed Supervisor 2015: experience during peak: programs are aimed at developing internal For top performers who have delivered great We as HYD exceeded Seller Experience talent for the Front-line leadership roles. results consistently throughout the peak metrics PRR during PEAK by ~260 bps Operations team in collaboration with the period. During this peak, we distributed (91.36% vs. 88.90%), AHT by ~1500 bps L&D team, reviewed the existing program 2076 awards, where 510 unique associates (13.98 vs. 16.51) and Reopen Rate by ~170 and as a result, we were able to better equip received at least one award bps (9.04% vs. 10.71%). We, as a team, also potential leaders (21-Team Supervisors and went over and beyond our regular working Associate Advisors) and provide adequate • Weekly theme based hours and each associate did an average 4.5 coverage during the 2015 Holiday Season FUN activities hours of OT per week in the entire Q4. and beyond. – Diwali Bleed Orange and quiz, Halow- een, Twin Day, Ethnic day, Banana eating • NA Voice pilot was • Revamped IJP Program: competition, Flash mobs, Amazon got talent, launched in HYD: We created a structured process to ensure Flower decoration (Rangoli) competition and 10

Christmas bay decoration. - A 5 hour interactive workshop was conducted by the Employee Enrich- • Seller Support Team ment Club for a group of Associates, Lunch/Dinner AA’s and Supervisors (nominated by was arranged every alternate week Team Managers) to motivate and imbibe the qualities of a team player during the peak so that they could carry the positive approach on the floor. It aimed at • The Seller Support team featured the fact that ‘Seller support associ- in Inside India Magazine on 19th ates are significant and their efforts Nov for the first time in 2015. We are the building blocks for Amazon’s featured again on 3rd Dec high- success. This was done through lighting the activities and awards various presentation/activities where organized especially for Peak, 2015, the participants reached consensus and recently on 24th Dec highlighting on recommendations and discussed 10 enabling behavioral traits of the related outcomes. Participants were highly engaged SeSu HYD team. provided with the EEC designed Ngage and Inspire” Badges as a token of participation. It’s A view to the Buddha Statue very important to make a difference program in Week 52 in other’s life and that’s exactly what EEC is aiming at. In total 39 Se-Su Employees were covered during this program. - Site level engagement activities led to 5% higher connections scores compared to WW average. HYD was also rated most favorable for 45% of all the questions asked throughout the year. • Home Based Service: Nominations were taken from the floor for “Home Based Service” pilot in our site and finally selected 30 associ- ates for this initiative. Piloted Home Based Service with 25 Associates who are achieving 88.9% PRR (100 bps improvement from 4-weeks average before HBS) and 10.4 min AHT (300 bps improvement). This enhances Associate work life balance, reduces VCPC & offers business continuity. Building associate trust and engagement was and will always continue to be of paramount importance to the Seller Support HYD team. Hyderabad Charminar and Golconda Fort Written by Shazia Mohsin and Tejas Mishra 11

PEKIN 2015 – THE SUCCESS EDITION Year 2015, a fascinating one filled with challenges and passion! CN Seller Support team expanded support platform for CN base seller not only in .cn, also focused on .com and .uk platform in 2015. CN team’s size increased from 50 associates at the beginning of the year to 489 associates by the end of 2015, handling contacts from 4519 in Jan to 118,205 in Dec. Associates skills from M@ and FBA only increased to FUII/ILAC/Brand Registry/Cat-App, etc. 12

CHANGE FAVORS ONLY THE PREPARED MIND- YOU ARE THE NEXT ONE In year 2015, CN Seller Support team produced a lot of career developed chance for us, total 21 employees had been promoted from their current posi- BRAND NEW OFFICE tion to others- Advisor(15), ESR(1), Hot Desk(1) and RTA (4). And 8 associates had been promoted to Team Supervisor. As CN seller support team support We had moved to flashy and fancy new home in Feb 2015, different platform, we also encourage associates to develop themselves in her name is PEK10. She is so gorgeous & helpful, in a word, different platforms, our associates can provide bilingual support service for CN she has everything that you can ever imaging: mother’s base sellers. 6 associates had been promoted from Level 3 to Level 4, 1 manag- room, Yoga room and shower room etc. We love working er from Level 4 to Level 5, and 1 Sr. Manager had been promoted from Level 7 in here to Level 8. And it is just the beginning, CN Seller Support team will need more talents in year 2016! FANTASTIC AND AMAZING TEAM- WE ARE FAMILY It’s such a fun working in Amazon. rale. Starting from 2015 Dec, CN So many activities are happening team initiated the ‘Visiting the Sun every week/month/quarter, we Village’ event. By 2016 wk3, we to- hold quarterly “All hands meet- tally arranged two rounds of charity ing” to award the best performer sales and got 3,026 RMB revenue, associates. Every month we have received 2,802 RMB direct financial all kinds of team activities, such donation and over 100 types of as “UP! UP! My Team!”, “Monthly item donation, including 85 back Birthday Party”, “Lecture Room”, bag, 100 pairs of gloves. “One Team, One Goal”, “Public wel- Our associates also self-initiated fare activities” , “Holiday Activities” lots of activities, such as Par-Bang etc. CN Seller Support team is also (associates’ organization), Dance proactively working with charity club, Ping-pong club, etc. organization and helping associates establishing the sense of ‘owner- Written by Qiuju Li ship’ and promoting the team mo- 13

ONE seller support BANGALORE Written by 2015 BLR SELLER SUPPORT Oliver Ireland WHAT HOLDS US TOGETHER AND MOTIVATES THE PEOPLE WITHIN IT TO DO THE RIGHT THING RATHER THAN THE EASY THING, IS CULTURE—THE VALUES, MINDSETS, AND BEHAVIORS THAT CONSTITUTE AN ENVIRONMENT CONDUCIVE TO SUCCESS. WE AT AMAZON HAVE A GREAT CULTURE BRINGING THAT CULTURE TO THE THRESHOLD OF EVERY EMPLOYEE IS CRITICAL TO OUR SUCCESS AS AN EMPLOYER OF CHOICE GROWTH STORY: BLR had 290 new associates join in 2015. We had the following Leadership positions filled last year: 23 AAs, 6 WFM and 4 Trainers PARTNERSHIPS: 20 Mentors and Associates got the opportunity to travel nation- ally as well as internationally to support 21 batches comprising 700+ associates 7 Training team members also travelled both nationally and inter- nationally to support 15 batches comprising 300 associates 14

Sites supported: Sutherland in Chennai, Concentrix and Tele performance in Philippines, PEK 10 in China New Programs introduced suc- cessfully: Home Based Services - 15 Associates got the oppor- tunity to work from home under this scheme as part of the HBS pilot Shift Bid – 60% of the associates got their first preference. Recently Shift Waitlist program launched to cover rest Introduction of New Businesses such as: • VCM (Advantage) • .IN (SSR) exhibit financial prudence and align busi- on the 5 themes developed as part of • VCM EDI and UK voice support ness decisions to the cost structure 2015 goals. 3. Continuous Improvement - To identify 1. Supporting Growth and eliminate (Audit framework – AE% 2. Early Engagement & Retention reduction, ZSF), predict and mitigate (Risk 3. People Development & Succession Register) process risks and defects. Planning THE MISSION OF 2016 IS TO MAKE SESU 4. Change Management & Program THE EMPLOYER OF CHOICE HR Focus Areas for 2016 Launches To enable the above listed business prior- 5. Championing Employee Needs ities, HR team would continue to build BUSINESS PRIORITIES FOR BLR SITE FOR 2016 PEOPLE STRATEGY | SELLER EXPERIENCE | OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE. People Strategy: Objective is to “be known as Employer of Choice for internal and external talent by the year 2017”. To achieve this, people strategy is to develop goals and initiatives to: 1. Attract the right Talent 2. Train & Develop Talent 3. Retain & grow talent Seller Experience: Best Seller Experience is when there is no need for Seller to contact Amazon. Zero Seller Friction, gathering actionable ideas from asso- ciates that improves Seller Experience would be the focus areas. Objective is to develop Bangalore site as a thought leader in imparting great Seller Experience. Operations Excellence: Objective is to create a struc- tured operating model that self corrects and aims at zero defects while optimizing the existing activities in our Process. Three themes that emerged in the Ops Excellence discussions are: Measure, Monitor, Review – Establish mechanisms for all operational VFOs 2. Financials/Cost Effectiveness - Ensure Ops leaders 15

ONE seller support “A CHANGE IS AS GOOD AS A REST” BRATISLAVA …. Ok, so we can’t say 2015 was a period of relaxation, but future leaders. This was highly welcomed by our population it certainly was refreshing and brought us many exciting and will help set us up for future internal opportunities. challenges. It really feels like we brought change and re-in- If we look at our business, we saw the launch of the first vention in all that we did in 2015, starting with the office Virtual Contact Center in Slovakia where we have grown environment and ending in the introduction of a brand new quite rapidly between September and today with currently leadership team. 34 virtual employees performing the associate role. This The year started with a “facelift” to our BTS premises. was a great opportunity for us to be able to leverage skills Together with the Facilities Team we kicked off the Facelift that didn’t necessarily have access to living/working in Bra- Project to add a new flavour of creativity to our working tislava but have the skill-set that we are looking for in SeSu. environment. Each of our Seller Support floors have We also experienced significant growth in key areas for been repainted with cool, funky designs. Then ideas the BTS site. Those being VCM where we expanded our were submitted by our fellow colleagues to form a new portfolio to include EDI and AMS as well as also starting to design solution. The result being that opal panels with city support the Spanish marketplace. Seller support Italy also skyline decals were installed around the floors and all of showed rapid growth, growing the team to five times its this goodness was LED-backlit to create a unique working original size. Despite this rapid increase, we still continued atmosphere. to deliver a strong seller experience and a robust founda- tion of the leadership principles. Besides our working environment, 2015 was the “year of We see one of our biggest successes of 2015 as the the pilot” for BTS. We were involved in piloting 3 new pro- development and internal growth of our employees at the grammes in 3 distinct areas. The first was with the imple- BTS site. Firstly we were able to streamline our leadership mentation of Paragon where we were one of the pioneer structure to provide our Associates with a more direct line sites in the network to start using the tool. This was great of communication whilst increasing leadership OU account- for Associate experience as our Paragon Ambassadors had ability. Secondly we had an almost complete change in the the opportunity to test the tool and provide feedback. The overall leadership team. We love the fact that we have second was a tool called Element which gave great visibility talented people ready to take on the next challenge in their to Supervisors to track their Associates individual metrics, career and who see so many opportunities to do just that provide immediate and meaningful feedback and coach for here at Amazon. So let me introduce you to just a few of higher performance. The final pilot was the Ignite lead- the many success stories we have. ership development programme aimed to help grow our 16

Introducing: Kristina Manikova (SRM) I started my journey with Ama- the chance to start as an associate in zon back in 2012 as the first VCM 2014. Throughout 2015, I have rapidly ard, opportunities immediately come Associate for FR/IT. At that time VCM evolved to Associate Advisor and then knocking at the door! had only 3 SOPs to work with, Seller to Team Supervisor. I benefited from Support was on the first floor only with Introducing: Lucia Mydlikova (Seller approximately 150 employees. the guidance of my then first line Support Office Coordinator) supervisor, Dana Hruba as well as I started my Amazon journey in May Since then, I got the opportunity to the support from my then second 2014 by joining the Seller Support work with amazing people who sup- line manager, Karim Delahaie. During UK team. This was quite a turn in my ported my development which led me this period I always tried to share this career as previously, I’d spent over 9 to be a VCM Team Supervisor. Being al- vision with my peers. I tried to raise years working as an English teacher in ways challenged by new processes and awareness on the key role they play in Slovakia as well as in Asia. skills coming to VCM I wanted to spend the organization and in the life of thou- As an associate, I had a great oppor- more time on process and project im- sands of businesses and individuals tunity to learn a lot about Amazon as plementation. That’s how my course who contact us every day. This passion well as our sellers and as I became led me in 2015 to accept being Interim led my career to take another turn more tenured as gained expertise in Kaizen Promotion Officer for 4 months. particular subject matters, it felt natural Since January my journey continues as at the end of 2015. I became Team to start providing help and support Site Readiness Manager, looking for- Manager for the BTS FR&IT teams. As to my fellow colleagues. Through ward to all the challenges and oppor- a leader of leaders, I remain committed trainings I delivered, KYC POC role and tunities ahead! to inspire people to work relentlessly Employee Forum activities I became to to provide the best quality service to realise that I grew very much passion- Introducing: Roberto SeSu FR/IT our sellers and customers. I believe ate about increasing the effectiveness Team Manager that a successful career in Amazon of communication, as well as various ‘The quality and motivation of Sell- can be achieved by creating trusting aspects of site functioning. I had a er-facing associates directly impacts the relationships within the teams, the great chance to meet fantastic people quality of the service provided’. management team and the business. in Seller Support and I am grateful I My own success story also shows that was given the opportunity last year to Among all our tenets, this is the one Amazon is truly merit based, and that support this department through my new role. that best describes my experience if you deliver results, act as a genuine within Amazon Seller Support. I had owner and insist on the highest stand- On a final note we would like to in- troduce our newest member of the looking forward to working closely BTS leadership team, our new Site with the BTS site to achieve another Lead, Laura Hounsome. Laura has successful year. I feel particularly joined us in January this year follow- energized by the ability to challenge ing a 13 year career in IBM both in the status quo and make positive her home-country of the UK, and changes to our Associates & Seller over the past 8 years, here in Bra- experience. As a newcomer, I’m tislava. In her own words “I am ex- hoping my endless questioning and tremely excited to embark upon a asking “why” will help with this.” career in Amazon and am especially Written by Karim Delahaie and Vladimir Cilli LEAVING YOU WITH ONE OF LAURA’S FAVOURITE QUOTES “LEARN FROM YESTERDAY, LIVE FOR TODAY, HOPE FOR TOMORROW. THE IMPORTANT THING IS NOT TO STOP QUESTIONING” - ALBERT EINSTEIN 17

ONE seller support CAPE TOWN A YEAR OF SUCCESS ‘SUCCESS’ IS BUT AN UNDERSTATEMENT TO DESCRIBE THE YEAR 2015 AT SELLER SUPPORT CAPE TOWN. CLOSELY PUT, I WOULD DESCRIBE IT that is a staggering 205 947 cases resolved. Cape Town seller support AS A YEAR OF TRIUMPH. WHERE WOULD ONE EVEN offered a staggering 2739 hours of overtime, the highest of all the sites BEGIN? FROM THE MOVE TO THE NEW PREMISES on the UK network. TO THE GROWTH TO ALL THE FUN THAT WAS Growth brings about opportunity. This multitude of associates obvious- HAD, THERE WERE MULTITUDES OF SUCCESSFUL ly was going to need support! So this resulted in multiple promotions and hiring. A whopping six associates were promoted to the Associate ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN THE YEAR OF 2015. advisor role. Five new Supervisors were brought on board, two of whom were internal promotions from Associate level. June 2015 came with the biggest change for seller support, moving into our brand new building. As you know with change There was also a lot of Upskilling of associates and introduction of new always comes resistance. Stuff packed in little boxes like squatters, skills to the site. Up to 88 Associates were upskilled on Feeds, IIDP and we all relocated to Wembly Square 1, the new location for seller Ungating. We also had the Premium support and EAN exemption skills support. Confusion was the order of the day as most of us had not added to the site. actually visited the place yet. But to many, it was love at first sight! We eventually settled in and now it feels like we have been here But of cause all work and no play makes Jack and Jill dumb kids, after all forever! This is home and we all love it. the Amazon motto is Work hard, Have fun, Make history. 2015 was also a very successful year for Seller support Cape Town in the Fun depart- With the big move to bigger premises came mass hiring. Obviously ment. We all love to have fun right? Yes I am sure you do! we needed to fill the massive new place and set it ablaze with the humming sound of associates bringing that smile to a seller, asso- Amazon Cape town turned a big old FIVE in 2015. Time sure does fly! ciates asking for that Yes and an occasional “I am doing the best I To celebrate the site’s fifth anniversary, we had a night of glitz and glam can to assist you sir” (we cannot always get it right all the time you with a custom ball themed: Last night on the Titanic. The ladies came in know what I mean). Eighty new associates were hired bringing the their flowing frocks and big hats and the gentlemen played along in their head count to an awesome 162 associates. The contact volume morning suits, tailcoats and bowties. I am pretty sure I spotted someone handled by Cape Town increased to 70.15% by the end of 2015, dressed as The Iceberg on this particular evening. 18

As if this was not enough in one weekend, the following morning a number of us were also participating in a 5km obstacle course fans and audience. Still had fun though. The race was finished off race The IMPI challenge. Now you can just imagine the scene, half with a team dinner in one of the cool amazing restaurants of Cape awake, half full of last night’s alcohol people jumping into mud and Town. trying to climb a tree. Oh what fun we had! Fast forward two months later and we finally had our very first Even cupid was in favor of us and visited Seller support cape town Seller support Team building! The amazing race. We drove around in 2015. Two of our own got married towards the end of the year. and ran around Cape town CBD looking for clues and completing Seller support supervisor Demi-Lee tied the knot with “the love challenges. At one point a group of teenagers were so excited to of her life” a fellow Amazonian in Customer service. Seller support see us they thought we were from the actual Amazing race show on associate Chris also exchanged I dos with his beautiful wife, yes you telly. It went downhill quickly when they couldn’t find the cameras guessed that right, Another Amazonian in the TRMS department. that are supposed to be following us and just like that we lost our Clearly love was all over in the air. Through the ups and the downs we faced from the beginning to the end of the year, by the time we got to the 31st of December, we closed the year with a “Yes we did it” sigh of relief! And we shall do it again in 2016! Bring it on! Written by Blessing Chisvo 19

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