Amazon's vice president resigned, FBA warehouses were forced to close, where should European sellers go...

According to foreign media reports, Roy Perticucci, vice president of Amazon's EU business, announced his resignation today.

According to Peticucci's profile on the professional social networking site LinkedIn, he joined Amazon in 2013.

His departure comes at a time when Amazon is planning to close all of its warehouses in France, which inevitably raises concerns about whether there will be any new big moves in Europe.

After all, during the epidemic, any disturbance can touch the sensitive nerves of sellers!

An internal document sent to employees by Amazon yesterday showed that it will shut down all operations in its warehouses in France from today (April 16) and will last until at least April 20.

There are currently six Amazon warehouses with 10,000 employees that have suspended operations. During the suspension period, Amazon will use the unemployment plan to pay employee wages.

What prompted Amazon to take this measure was that a southern French court recently ruled on the categories of orders and product deliveries on the Amazon platform.

According to the ruling, Amazon can only accept orders for groceries, hygiene and health-related necessities. If it fails to comply with the regulations, Amazon will face a fine of 1 million euros per day.

In order to avoid fines, Amazon first removed almost all product links for non-essential items on the French site , then suspended operations of its French distribution centers until it closed its warehouses in France today .

In our opinion, Amazon's response is inevitably a bit simplistic and crude. After all, the closure of Amazon warehouses is not good news for epidemic prevention and control, employee unemployment, and the distribution of medical supplies.

However, due to the severe epidemic situation in Europe and the United States, Amazon has also faced tremendous pressure recently. The surge in demand has tested Amazon's supply chain, distribution, and control capabilities. At the same time, the epidemic poses an increasing threat to employees.

There are currently more than 74 cases of new coronavirus infection in Amazon warehouses and distribution centers, and some employees have died from the virus.

Gerard Tuzara, operations manager at Amazon's Hawthorne facility, died on March 31 from the novel coronavirus, Amazon confirmed in an email. He was the first known Amazon employee to die from the virus.

The employee's death has also heightened concerns about whether Amazon can ensure the safety of its warehouses and distribution centers.

As of 11:00 Beijing time on April 16, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States reached 630,000, in Spain over 170,000, in Italy over 160,000, in France close to 150,000, in Germany 130,000, and in the United Kingdom will also reach 100,000.

If the epidemic continues to grow, no one dares to say whether sellers on Amazon's Spanish, Italian or German sites will encounter the same difficulties as some sellers on the French site.

However, it is worth mentioning that while facing tremendous pressure, Amazon also faces huge opportunities.

The “stay-at-home economy” has made Amazon a big winner in the capital market, and its stock price has hit an all-time high for two consecutive days.

The latest data shows that Amazon's stock price rose 1.07% on Wednesday to $2,307.68, setting a new historical high. Its total market value has reached $1.15 trillion.

In addition, during the COVID-19 epidemic, the wealth of the world's super-rich has shrunk to a certain extent, but only Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos' assets have bucked the trend and increased by US$5.9 billion . He is also the only one among the top five super-rich in the Billionaires Index whose wealth did not shrink in 2020.

Bank of America also said in an investor report last week that Amazon could earn up to $4 billion in additional revenue this year due to the outbreak.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced people to stay at home, which has also increased the demand for online shopping.

The coronavirus outbreak appears to be boosting performance across the e-commerce industry, according to research from Bank of America.

The e-commerce sector grew 16% year-on-year in March, the study showed.

Even after the crisis passes, consumer habits could persist, signaling a potential wave of change that could benefit Amazon's bottom line for years to come.

Source: Maiwen