Walmart has hired 235,000 temporary employees to cope with coronavirus-fuelled demand
began to spread across America shoppers rushed to stock up on pasta, hand-sanitiser and loo roll. Other things equal, that should be good news for purveyors of these and other essentials. But other things are not equal: social-distancing restrictions have disrupted retailers’ supply chains and their operations. Amazon, whose e-commerce empire reported record sales in the first quarter, booked lower profits as a result of ballooning pandemic-related expenses.
The sales surge was not just the result of panic-buying—though there was that, too, especially in March, when the firm reported “unprecedented demand” for staples, which pushed monthly revenues up by 15%, year on year. Things slowed down in April, once the initial panic eased. But only a bit: sales grew by 9.
But the company has also displayed dexterous management. Paul Lejuez of Citigroup, a bank, points out that before covid-19 it offered a “ship from store” service from about a hundred of its locations. As its 45 online fulfilment centres became overwhelmed, it quickly expanded that to some 2,500 stores. It piloted a two-hour delivery service at 100 stores in April, and has already expanded it to 1,000 stores. It plans to double that within weeks.
It is here that Walmart has really outshone Amazon, which has yet to crack groceries. Whole Foods, Amazon’s upmarket chain of food shops, is virtually nonexistent outside big cities and too pricey for most Americans, especially the millions on the dole amid the covid-19 slump. Cheaper Amazon Fresh has struggled to cope with demand. Some shoppers fed up with delayed deliveries turned instead to Walmart, a trusted brand with “everyday low prices”.
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