Coronavirus News
Coronavirus Hobbled Amazon. Then the Tech Giant Bounced Back. – The Wall Street Journal
Amazon.com Inc. just reported its greatest quarter ever, but getting there wasn’t easy. The coronavirus pandemic brought enormous challenges to the tech giant early on, tripping it up in a way rarely seen in its history. Delivery times and customer reviews slipped, essential items were unavailable in some areas, and worker absences created extended challenges.…
Amazon.com Inc. just reported its greatest quarter ever, but getting there wasn’t easy. The coronavirus pandemic brought enormous challenges to the tech giant early on, tripping it up in a way rarely seen in its history.
Delivery times and customer reviews slipped, essential items were unavailable in some areas, and worker absences created extended challenges. For the first time in years, the company’s share of e-commerce in the U.S. actually fell.
But as the virus raged on, Amazon spent billions of dollars on its response, hiring workers, increasing pay, improving delivery times, conducting medical tests for employees and stabilizing its supply chain. Its share of online sales has already begun to rebound.
Investors are confident that the consumer habits brought about by the coronavirus will endure and ultimately make Amazon more powerful. The e-commerce juggernaut has added more than $700 billion to its market value since its March lows, or about the size of Facebook Inc. Its market capitalization now exceeds $1.5 trillion, behind only Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. among public companies.
Amazon Delivery Times and Reviews Slip
Many of Amazon’s temporary shortcomings during the pandemic came about because the company wasn’t prepared to handle the boost in demand it saw. While it still led competitors overall in package delivery times, its famed shipping speeds slipped.
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