Amazon's annual Prime Day is now due to take place in September instead of the Summer as usual. Since the coronavirus outbreak, Amazon has seen an unprecedented rise in demand and production. Furthermore, the company has been adapting the business to better ensure the safety of both employees and customers, although the company has also faced backlash for its conduct toward employees. As the stay-at-home orders begin to be lifted, and parts of the country slowly transition out of quarantine, companies like Amazon are looking to return to normal operations, but finding a full return might take longer than expected.
Like many companies, Amazon has adapted to the crisis in a variety of ways, whether it be limiting online purchases to help manage human-to-human interactions, extending the expected delivery times to alleviate stress on workers, or enhancing its delivery services like Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go to accommodate those stranded at home. Due to these steps, Amazon doesn't believe it can expect Prime Day, one of its busiest days of the year, to start so soon after the crisis.
According the Wall Street Journal, Amazon has not only scheduled Prime Day for the Fall, but has taken steps to allow unlimited shipments of nonessential goods to warehouses. This indicates the scale of production Amazon was once known for pre-pandemic is starting to normalize again. However, while the company plans to increase production, it won't be as fast in terms of shipping as previously, and it remains to be seen when that will change. For example, One-Day shipping has yet to be reinstated. Furthermore, Amazon's net income fell 29 percent, which in contrast to one of its major competitors in the online shopping world, Walmart, who recently saw an increase in earnings by nearly 4 percent, thanks to improved delivery services, including express delivery.
Prime Day is still coming this year. For those less familiar with Amazon's annual sales event, Prime Day has become the company's most popular and profitable day since it first started. Every July since, Prime Day has been one of the many perks of being a Prime subscriber and essentially offers customers flash sales, huge discounts on products, and exclusive deals during the limited-time sales event. One of the reasons Prime Day has become so popular is that it doesn't limit the shopper, instead giving everyone equal opportunity on all the deals - as long as they can stay on top of everything going on sale with products often selling out within minutes. The popularity has translated into exponential growth with Amazon previously disclosing that Prime Day 2019 surpassed sales for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, combined.
As mentioned, Amazon has been under tremendous strain during the pandemic and since the company has been rapidly adapting, it can't properly take on the workload expected from Prime Day by the summer. Prime Day would only mean more production, more deliveries, threatening the already vulnerable warehouses staff and delivery workers tasked with getting merchandise to customers. In order to take the necessary precautions, Amazon is delaying Prime Day to prepare and plan further, and when it finally comes in September, Amazon will be better able to get everything everyone wants to them, and as safely as possible.
Source: WSJ.
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