Even though India imposed lockdown only in the last week of March, the country had the “biggest impact internationally” on Amazon in Q1 2020, chief financial officer Brian Olsavsky said during an investors’ call. In India, the company is “in a bit of a holding pattern except for grocery”, he said. At the time of Amazon’s earnings call, e-commerce services in India were restricted to deliver only essential goods (grocery, pharmaceuticals etc.), and while they are now allowed to deliver non-essentials in certain areas, restrictions continue. How Amazon reacted to meet a spike in demand of essentials: Starting in early March, Amazon experienced a surge in demand, particularly for household staples and other essential products around health, personal care, groceries and even home office supplies. There was lower demand for items such as apparel, shoes, and wireless products. The demand spike posted “major challenges” in Amazon’s operations network, Olsavsky said. While Amazon is generally prepared to service demand spikes for foreseeable events such as the holiday season, “the COVID crisis allowed for no such preparation”. Amazon started doing temperature checks across its operations network, and "established rigorous safety and cleaning protocols, including maintaining six foot social distancing, procuring 100 million masks, tens of millions of gloves and wipes and other cleaning supplies," he added. Amazon also hired an additional 175,000 new employees to meet the demand spike, temporarily raised wages and overtime premiums, and allowed employees to take unpaid time off at their discretion. Amazon then reacted by taking steps to dampen…
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