Covid-19 impact: Amazon temporarily suspends sale of non-essentials

To deliver only essential items such as food staples, sanitisers, medical supplies

Prioritising servicing urgent items such as household staples, health and hygiene products, sanitisers, baby formula, and medical supplies, e-commerce giant Amazon on Tuesday said that it is temporarily suspending accepting orders and disabling shipments for lower-priority products across India.

For all pending orders on lower-priority products, the company is giving customers a choice to cancel their orders, and receive a refund for prepaid items.

“We recognise these are hard decisions that may impact some of our sellers’ business - we appreciate their understanding and continue to work for ways to enable small businesses to meet customer requirements during this time,” said the company.

With almost all cities under lockdown, Amazon said it is working with local authorities so that priority goods can arrive safely at customers’ homes without any disruption. 

“We continue to work with concerned government authorities to ensure on-ground support that will enable us to offer a more expanded selection to fulfil customer needs,” said the Bengaluru-based company in its official blog.

The company has taken similar measures in the US markets.