The effects of the COVID-19 virus, evolving World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations and other preventative measures continue to ripple across the economic landscape.
While some consumers are still flocking to supermarkets and physical shops to stock up on household essentials, many more have shifted their shopping needs online to sites like Amazon. And this added pressure — especially in specific product categories such as household staples and medical supplies — is being felt throughout the supply chain.
What has Amazon Announced?
As a result, Amazon announced today that it has temporarily disabled shipment creations for Fulfilment By Amazon (FBA) sellers across all but a few key categories until 5 April 2020, and it has taken a similar approach with its retail vendors too.
According to Amazon: “We are temporarily prioritising household staples, medical supplies and other high-demand products coming into our fulfilment centres, so that we can quickly receive, restock, and deliver these products to consumers.”
Products in the following categories will still be accepted by Amazon at this time:
1. Baby Products
2. Health & Household
3. Beauty & Personal Care (including personal care appliances)
4. Grocery
5. Industrial & Scientific
6. Pet Supplies
The changes currently apply to the Amazon US and EU marketplaces.
What About Other Products?
Any products outside the categories above can continue to be sold, as long as they are already being stored in one of Amazon’s fulfilment centres or en route to a fulfilment centre. Any FBA shipments created before 17 March 2020, will still be received by Amazon.
Any vendors or retailers fulfilling their own products will still be able to sell them on Amazon during this period.
These changes follow Amazon’s announcement yesterday that the company is adding 100,000 new full and part-time positions to its fulfilment centres across the US to increase fulfilment capacity. It has not yet been confirmed if Amazon will be increasing hiring here in the UK.
More Information
If you have any questions about this Amazon announcement and how it might affect your business, please reach out to your Account Manager or contact support@channeladvisor.com.
