Amazon To Resume Delivery Of Nonessential Products

One month after Amazon prioritized essential items by limiting shipments unrelated to wellness, cleaning and non-perishable home essentials, the Washington-based eCommerce giant said it will now allow third-party sellers to resume delivery of other products.

“Later this week, we will allow more products into our fulfillment centers,” an Amazon spokeswoman told The Wall Street Journal. “Products will be limited by quantity to enable us to continue prioritizing products and protecting employees, while also ensuring most selling partners can ship goods into our facilities.”

Still, Amazon said there will be limits on shipments to ensure adequate space in the warehouse for essential goods.

Last month, Amazon told sellers it was temporarily stopping shipments of nonessential items to warehouses so the company could prioritize medical supplies, household staples and other high-demand items as supermarket shelves were emptied by a crush of shoppers.

As a result of the mandate, third-party sellers of non-health and wellness products – which represent 58 percent of Amazon’s sales – were rattled, the report said.

On Monday (April 13), Amazon said it plans to hire an additional 75,000 workers. That follows the company’s March announcement that it would hire 100,000 more employees in the U.S. to meet the demand for vital products. Monday’s move signaled that Amazon is preparing to resume the need to supply other consumer products, the WSJ wrote.

In other news, in late March, Amazon said it would look to move some of its employees into the grocery bagging division to meet the growing demand for online groceries amid the COVID-19 pandemic.