Amazon will prioritize essentials: what’s changing

Amazon has decided to prioritize orders for essential goods like personal care items. All others will be delayed

The coronavirus doesn't stop Amazon, but it is forcing it to change priorities. The e-commerce giant, in fact, has announced that it will change the order of priority assigned to some products in its warehouses, focusing on what is most needed in this difficult period in Europe and, shortly, in the U.S.

Everything will remain on sale on Amazon, nothing will disappear from the catalog, but priority will be given in the dispatch of orders to products for health and for the cleaning of the house and the person, products for children, food (including those for animals) and books. The new priorities will apply to products sold and shipped by Amazon as well as those sold by other companies on Amazon. In addition, Amazon is announcing the hiring of 100,000 more workers to prepare for the boom in online orders from quarantined people in the U.S., U.K. and Europe.

What changes for Amazon users

As Amazon announced to third-party sellers who use the platform to sell their products, the new rules only apply to purchases made on or after March 17. In addition, the rule applies to third-party sellers that if the product is already in transit and/or is in Amazon's logistics center, you can continue to sell it.

What does this change in everyday life for users? Quite simply, some products will be delivered late, even if they benefit from Prime shipping. Yesterday in the editorial office we bought an electronic product that benefits from Prime shipping and it will only be delivered to us on March 25. This is a sign that Amazon has already started to change the order of priority of orders, rewarding those who buy essential goods.

In the coming days Amazon expects a real boom in purchases from users across Europe, due to the beginning of the quarantine period launched by various countries. And to meet the demands of users, it was necessary to issue these new rules that will last until April 5, unless extended.