Structural changes ahead

The coronavirus crisis is producing a number of surprising results. In California, the authorities are using drones manufactured in China, which was prohibited until a few days ago for flight safety reasons, to control unauthorised crowds of people. Flight experts assume that this will speed up their future approval for online delivery services.

Due to extremely high demand, Amazon, which is working to make its service that is as contactless as possible, has been hiring 100,000 temporary workers in its 175 distribution centres,  temporarily increasing its workforce by a quarter. But even the online powerhouse has been overwhelmed by demand and since March 18 has only been able to deliver crisis-relevant items, not even toilet paper.

In contrast, retail experts expect sustained growth for online delivery services even after the virus has been ebbing down. In their opinion, a significant proportion of older consumers who never or only rarely ordered online before the crisis will continue to use digital services in the future.

However, traditional retailers are apparently still unable to hire enough temporary workers. Walmart wants to hire 150,000 new employees, discounter Dollar Tree 25,000 and convenience market operator 7-Eleven 20,000.

LZ