In view of the lockdown intended to curb the spread of the coronavirus in India, Amazon announced that it will halt orders for non-essential products in that country. The Seattle-based firm said that it would prioritize customers" critical needs during the crisis, following a similar move in Italy and France, countries that are worst-struck with the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a blog post, Amazon India stated that it is temporarily prioritizing to serve critical products for consumers, including household staples, packaged food, health care, hygiene, personal safety among other products. As there has been a spike in demand for essential items, the company is offering customers the choice to cancel undelivered orders for lower-priority products and receive refunds.
In the announcement, there was no mention of when the normal services would be resumed. Amazon"s rival in India, Flipkart, which is Walmart-owned, also announced its plans (via Reuters) to extend delivery timelines because of the lockdown. On Tuesday, the federal technology ministry recommended the state governments to let e-commerce services, which are delivering essential items like household supplies, function. While there is a rapid increase in orders, employees making the deliveries are also potentially at risk.
Following requests from the Indian government, earlier this week, Samsung and LG temporarily shut down their factories in the country.