Amazon is one of the best e-commerce companies out there and it is also one of the biggest and oldest firms which means that they have everything sorted it. Now, it is all good when the e-commerce boom is happening and people are buying everything but at a time of crisis when things go pear-shaped is when e-commerce companies are tested and that’s where the firms have a real job on their hands. Since Amazon is decades old now, you would believe that in this crisis of COVID-19 the company would be sailing past everyone and delivering the most orders.
Also, it was announced that the company will only deliver essential items to its customers and deliveries of non-essential items have been halted for at least a month which could get even longer as the death toll and cases in the US have even increased from China which was its origin.
In a surprise, Amazon is said to be lagging behind e-commerce firms such as Walmart and Target in delivering e-commerce orders during this period of crisis which is not what everyone expected to hear. It is observed that ever since Amazon has told sellers not to send their non-essential items to the warehouses for delivery, its demand has decreased and the traffic on its website and apps have also gone down.
According to the report, “While the traffic and sales impacts may be temporary, they’re part of a host of factors in recent weeks that could lead to a shakeout in the number of third-party sellers on Amazon and the number of sellers leading brands will allow to sell their products”
SimilarWeb, a website which shows estimated website traffic for a particular website’s data reveals that “desktop and mobile visits to Amazon (were) flat for the period March 1-20, while Target, Walmart and Costco visits soared between 19 and 40 percent”
