Amazon Coming to Nashville – A Stark Contrast to NYC

Over the last year, Amazon conducted a widely publicized search for a second headquarters outside of its home in Seattle, Washington — called HQ2. In November 2018, Amazon announced that it had decided to split the headquarters into two different locations: New York City and Northern Virginia.

Amazon announced today that “After much thought and deliberation, we’ve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens.”

The resistance among some in New York City to Amazon’s new headquarters coming to their town is in stark contrast to their reception in Nashville last week.

The resistance among some in New York City to Amazon’s new headquarters is in stark contrast to their reception in Nashville last week.

What you may not remember is that when Amazon announced the two new headquarter locations, they also announced it was creating a new Operations Center of Excellence to be located in downtown Nashville, Tennessee — my hometown.

The Retail Operations division handles customer fulfillment, customer service, transportation, and supply chain, among others. Once you click buy on the Amazon website, Operations makes sure you receive your item in the fastest way possible. The Operations Center of Excellence will be the Eastern U.S. regional hub for the tech and management functions of this division, with an estimated 5,000 new employees.

Amazon Live at the Ryman

On Wednesday, February 6, 2019, Amazon held its “Amazon Live at the Ryman” coming-out party at the historic Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville.

A couple of weeks before the event, I received an email from Amazon inviting me to attend the event. I simply had to click to RSVP and reserve my ticket. Based on my interest in Amazon and how it has grown since its founding — of course I had to go. The reason I think I was invited is that I am part of the Amazon Influencer Program.

Amazon Live at the Ryman was their kickoff for coming to Nashville and the new Operations Center of Excellence, as well as a job-recruiting event. They put on a terrific show. Community and business leaders, as well as students from numerous local schools, were invited. Amazon provided buses to bring in the students, and there were a lot of them!

The Ryman Auditorium has 2,362 seats. While I didn’t do an accurate count, my estimate is the auditorium was at least half-filled. That’s a lot of people. The Tennessee State University Aristocrat of Bands kicked off the event with an in-audience performance. There was plenty of merchandise to take home, including the sticker shown above. After the event was over, a number of local food trucks were outside serving free food.

About 75 recruiters from Amazon as well as 60 senior leaders attended and were available to talk with potential employees.

David Clark, Senior Vice President for Worldwide Operations, kicked off the event with a short presentation saying, “We're here tonight to get to know our neighbors in Nashville and to share a little bit about ourselves and so you can know a little bit about us and our recruitment process.”

He went on to tell the story of how the latest Amazon Robot — Scout — got its name. Scout is the name of his dog.

Clark turned the program over to Kevin O'Marah, the emcee for the evening. During the next hour, Kevin O'Marah interviewed several Amazon operation executives to help the audience understand what people in operations actually do at Amazon. These included:

• Dave Bozeman, vice president of Amazon transportation services
• Maria Renz, vice president of customer delivery experience
• Maju Kuruvilla, vice president of Amazon fulfillment technology
• Carletta Ooton, vice president of health, safety, and sustainability
• Llew Mason, vice president of supply chain optimization technology
• Becky Gansert, vice president of global specialty fulfillment

Each spent a few minutes talking about why they work at Amazon and a bit about the work they do in their particular area.

At the end, Amazon brought out a special surprise guest — Brad Paisley, who played a three-song set for the attendees. After Paisley was done, David Clark came back out and presented Paisley with a $50,000 check for Paisley's charity.

Why Did Amazon Choose Nashville?

As I have talked with others about Amazon building a presence in Nashville, one of the most common questions is, “Why Nashville?” It is a good question. For a while, I thought it was because of the moderate climate, friendly people, vibrant downtown, world-class universities, business-friendly environment, and a creative atmosphere.

While all of these are undoubtedly true and a positive for the city, I wonder if there is more to the move.

While all of these are undoubtedly true and a positive for the city, I wonder if there is more to the move.

Most people certainly know Nashville as Music City USA. The hashtag for the event is #AmazonMusicCity. Click the link to see some other pictures and comments about the event.

What most don’t realize is that the music industry is the third largest in the area, with #2 being publishing.

The largest industry in Nashville (economic impact and number of employees) is Healthcare. According to the Nashville Health Care Council, “Many industry leaders say the upsurge in investments is indicative of Nashville’s future as a leader in healthcare IT and innovation.”

Is Healthcare the Real Reason Amazon is Coming to Nashville?

Healthcare has certainly been on Amazon's radar for a while. They created a healthcare joint venture with JP Morgan and Berkshire Hathaway that is slowly hiring top talent to find a solution to the healthcare problem.

In September 2018, Amazon acquired PillPack for $753 million “to expand our product and service offerings.” PillPack initially focused on individuals taking multiple medications each day. They fill the prescriptions and package all the medicines in a clear plastic wrapper printed with the date and time at which they should be taken.

During an earnings call just after Amazon announced the PillPack acquisition, Walgreens CEO Stefano Pessina said he's “not particularly worried” about the PillPack deal. “You see,” he said, “the pharmacy world is much more complex than just delivering certain pills or certain packages.” That may be shortsighted. One of the things Amazon does really well is to simplify complexity. They just might be able to do that with the pharmacy business.

Amazon is expanding its medical offerings in other areas including Amazon’s Basic Care over-the-counter products, which continue to grow. They are also actively expanding their Amazon Business to include products that service hospitals and physician offices.

All of these moves just might signal that Amazon may have a long-term vision for Nashville that will include their continued deeper move into the healthcare industry.

Two of Amazon’s core beliefs are long-term thinking and making big bets.

Two of Amazon’s core beliefs are long-term thinking and making big bets.

I don’t know for sure this is part of their long term thinking in coming to Nashville. I don’t have any inside sources or information. I have been studying Amazon and learning the principles they use to grow for some time. It seems a reasonable thought.

And with the announcement that they are no longer going to build in New York City, maybe Nashville will become an important part of their healthcare offerings.

I'm interested in what you think. Leave your thoughts in the comments below. 

_________________________________________________________________________

Steve Anderson is a Trusted Authority on Insurance, Technology, Productivity, and Innovation. He is the author of "The Bezos Letters: 14 Principles to Grow Your Business Like Amazon," available wherever books are sold September 2019. It is available for pre-order on Amazon.