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I think it's extremely important to understand why this is: Amazon is one of a handful of US retailers than can still get products from China via ship.
Best Buy's shelves are empty, but Amazon still has stock. Why is this? https://twitter.com/tomwarren/status/1288934239086489600
Best Buy's shelves are empty, but Amazon still has stock. Why is this? https://twitter.com/tomwarren/status/1288934239086489600
I discussed this a bit in a post ( https://theprepared.com/blog/product-shortages-and-shipping-explainer/) but I can zoom in on a point with this thread. (All this is from @man_integrated BTW, who you should follow).
Shipping capacity is incredibly constrained right now, & isn't coming back any time soon. Crews are sick, but also ships are offline b/c the (heavily consolidated, highly leveraged) shipping industry is scared of a second wave wiping out demand.
The ships that are still running are mainly servicing Chinese ports only, because that's where the big customers who make the backbone of their business are: Amazon, Walmart, and some other mega retailers.
Those megaretailers are still shipping from China because they're still making much of their stuff in China. So right now, it's a very very good time to be all of these at the same time:
1. Enormous
2. Mostly sourcing from China
1. Enormous
2. Mostly sourcing from China
If you fit that description, then you can get your products into US consumers' hands. And if you don't, then you have to pay through the nose to try to hitch a ride on a boat dominated by one or two big retailers who do fit that description.
So the pandemic has been really good to Amazon, because it has kneecapped competitors by raising their shipping costs dramatically.
Yes, the fact that we're all in quarantine & Amazon delivers is a big deal. But the fact that your only source for some things you really want or need is Amazon means that to the extent we have a consumption rebound, they capture that spending. https://twitter.com/ManuZingar/status/1288940570795073536
Think of the increased shipping costs as a tariff that only applies to Amazon's smaller competitors. Even when everyone was paying tariffs (for trade war reasons), Amazon was winning b/c it can use its size to snatch up scarce stock. Now it's way worse. https://twitter.com/jonst0kes/status/1160251591997448192
