COVID-19, AMAZON – WHY ORDERING FROM AMAZON HAS BEEN SO UNPREDICTABLE DURING THE COVID-19 CRISIS?

The Pandemic outbreak has caused too much trouble for the online buyers and big vendors like Amazon. During this Covid-19, Amazon is not the only e-commerce store suffering to increase their sales, a majority of other web stores are testing their patience. Though undoubtedly, being an e-commerce store they are offering discounts and other facilities to entice people. Along with that, to grab the attention of the online shoppers during the Covid-19, Amazon is offering perks. Wonder how? Well buyers are expecting that due to the Covid-19, Amazon and other big e-commerce stores are about to offer free two-day shipping and an endless library of affordable products.

However, the whole situation is a little different. People are thinking that it might be easier for them to pin point e-commerce stores for out-of-stock notices, far-off delivery dates and higher prices. They are absolutely incorrect, Amazon and the sellers that supply the products on its site are not entirely to blame. Due to the dire circumstances during Covid-19, Amazon has been combating coronavirus-related issues on multiple fronts for the past several months. It was hit with a surge of online orders in March as shoppers were panic buying essential items on its site. At the same time, Amazon was policing a widespread price gouging problem and its grocery delivery services were buckling under the weight of online orders.

Even, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Amazon made the decision to prioritize shipments of household items and medical supplies at its warehouses by mid-March. And this decision was only made to benefit and facilitate online shoppers. Where Amazon vastly let the vendor sell goods like face masks and sanitizer, it also let people get more essential items.

According to the last month’s report, Amazon started allowing merchants to ship in some nonessential items, but it is still limiting the quantity of items in new shipments. Now if you wonder why the quantity was restricted by Amazon then here is what you should know. Due to the Covid-19, Amazon made quantity restrictions that the logistics nightmare might not be over yet for Amazon or third-party sellers, who say the restrictions are preventing their businesses from recovering. It was because Amazon and the third-party sellers that make up more than half of its sales agree. It was the only way to prepare for the crisis and the supply shortages and delay shipments that came along with it. A tech veteran also quoted, that Amazon is great with offering exceptional e-commerce services and expert in brilliantly forecasting especially when the data is predictable.

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Where before Covid-19, Amazon’s fulfillment and delivery operations were used to take millions of packages per day, this pandemic crisis presented a unique set of challenge. And Amazon is battling with no such preparation. Even though this Covid-19 got Amazon to deal with delivery delays in its logistics network, Amazon worked hard to put all the efforts to make things possible. It was harder for Amazon to quickly transfer inventory from one fulfillment center to another. And during Covid-19, Amazon’s last-mile delivery partners struggled to handle the demand from the surge in online orders. The pandemic has made it harder for Amazon to source more products at its warehouses when it needs them. If a shopper places an order for an out-of-stock item, Amazon can usually take steps to get that product quickly from another fulfillment center. For every wrinkle in the shipping process, time is tacked onto the delivery date, frustrating shoppers and vendors can deliver things as Amazon is now facilitating them with the logistics option.

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And if you wondering how Amazon made it possible then inside warehouses the company made social distancing rules that were strictly followed by both workers and the logistics team. Even though it slowed down the process of getting packages out the door. The company has hired more than 175,000 warehouse workers and delivery drivers to better keep up with the demand. Given the scale of the issues at hand and their variability, Amazon has hesitated to provide any kind of prediction for when delivery times will return to normal.

SELLERS ARE BEARING THE BRUNT

According to the CNBC’s recent report, the third-party merchants told the agency that they felt the due to Covid-19, Amazon has made the right decision by prioritizing essential items. However, there is no doubt in accepting the fact that it is creating a hustle for other businesses in the market. The merchants even said the quantity restrictions during the Covid-19 has Amazon ship all the necessary items only. In other words, the user can only get what they really need. The chief head of Amazon said, people must learn how to avoid their habit of impulsive shopping. Otherwise, they won’t be able to receive the necessary items too as due to Covid-19, Amazon will not be able to restock a few items. And for more similar blogs, visit Shopifyninja!