I have read several articles recent about the increasing number of big e-commerce fulfillment centres popping up all across North America. In fact, this is becoming a serious real estate trend. Amazon.com alone has invested $14 billion in them since 2010.
Someone should be trying to attract this sector to New Brunswick – particularly Moncton. I know the Maritimes population is stagnant and aging but there is still something like 1.8 million living in the three provinces. Anyway, as online shopping starts to really take off we need to be thinking about how it impacts regional economic development.
Attracting the big fulfilment centres is one opportunity. Attracting back office and corporate support is another. There should be potential for start-ups both on the product side and on the services side.
Someone in New Brunswick (a guy named Kevin Bulmer) spotted the 1-800 trend back in the late 1980s and that led to a pretty good story for New Brunswick. Someone should call, tweet, poke or something – Jeff Bezos or whomever runs his shop in Canada.