Amazon.com Inc said today it has halted its Prime Pantry delivery service in the United States to restock groceries, following a surge in online orders by shoppers worried about the coronavirus pandemic.
‘Amazon Pantry is not accepting new orders at this time while we work to fulfill open orders and restock items following increased demand,’ a company spokesperson said.
The service, which sells non-perishable groceries from cereals to soaps, has seen huge demand despite consumers thronging supermarkets and grocery stores for everything from toilet papers and canned foods.
An employee places a label on a box at the Amazon.com Inc. fulfilment center in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S., last year
Amazon workers perform their jobs inside of an Amazon fulfilment center on Cyber Monday in Robbinsville, New Jersey, U.S., last year
The e-commerce giant announced the new measures to prioritize goods including groceries, medical supplies and baby food on Tuesday. Pictured: An Amazon driver wearing a protective mask in New Rochelle, New York, last week
Amazon did not say when the service will be back, but said it was working with partners to get the items back in stock as quickly as possible.
The move comes after the company resorted to receive only vital supplies at its U.S. and UK and other European warehouses until April 5, as it tries to free up space for medical and household goods in high demand.
Merchants send products to Amazon to store in their warehouses until a shopper buys it. Amazon then packages the item and dispatches it to the customer.
These outlets can still sell phones, toys, bread makers, and other non-essentials on the website, but they will have to organise delivery themselves.
Items already in their warehouses – and those en route – will still be delivered, meaning consumers awaiting an order should still receive it providing it is already stocked.
But third-party retailers, which sell 60 per cent of all products on the platform, have warned that a lack of their own personal storage space will likely see a fall in stock over the coming weeks.
The new measures, which also apply in the United States, came as Amazon employees were asked to work overtime to keep up with panic-buying deliveries.
In a statement, the Seattle-based website said: ‘We are seeing increased online shopping and as a result some products such as household staples and medical supplies are out of stock.
Amazon will stop stocking and shipping all non-medical and non-essential supplies from its warehouses until April 5 in efforts to prioritise goods needed during the coronavirus pandemic (Tilbury, UK warehouse pictured)
‘With this in mind, we are temporarily prioritizing household staples, medical supplies and other high-demand products coming into our fulfillment centers so that we can more quickly receive, restock, and ship these products to customers.’
High-demand products that will now be prioritized include: baby products, health and household items, beauty and personal care products, groceries, industrial items and pet supplies.
Online shopping is ramping up as officials impose curfews and lockdowns on areas most hit by the virus.
Yesterday, Boris Johnson ramped up the government’s response to the crisis by urging people to avoid social contact.
The over-70s, who are particularly vulnerable to the virus, were also told to stay at home.
Impending self-isolation has fanned a torrent of panic-buying, with chaotic scenes at stores.
But online retailers such as Amazon have also been bombarded with orders.
Amazon has already run out of many cleaning supplies and is facing hefty delivery delays amid the mass panic, warning shoppers that orders may take longer than two days to deliver.
The coronavirus outbreak has already posed a difficult time for sellers, many of which relied on Chinese factories that shut down at the height of the country’s crisis.
Michael Michelini, a partner at Alpha Rock Capital, which sells around 10 brands on Amazon, told the Wall Street Journal that the latest move ‘makes things nerve-racking’ because the firm won’t know where to stock its shipments of shoe and car accessories coming in this week.
This comes as Amazon revealed plans on Monday to hire 100,000 more workers in the US to help deal with ‘the surge in demand from people relying on Amazon’s service during this stressful time.’
‘We are seeing a significant increase in demand, which means our labor needs are unprecedented for this time of year,’ said Amazon’s warehouse and delivery network manager, Dave Clark.
The e-commerce firm said the new job openings are for a mix of full-time and part-time positions and include delivery drivers and warehouse workers, who pack and ship orders to shoppers.
Amazon revealed plans Monday to hire an additional 100,000 employees in the US to meet the surge in demand from panicked shoppers
The Seattle-based company also said workers on at least $15, including those in warehouses and delivery centres, will receive a $2 an hour wage rise until the end of April.
Last week, Amazon also tweaked its time-off policy for hourly workers, telling them they could take as much time off as they wanted in March, although they would only be paid if they had earned time off.
Additionally, Amazon said it would pay hourly workers for up to two weeks if they contracted the virus or needed to be quarantined.