Since all the shoppers are locked in their homes companies like Amazon, Walmart, and other online retailers are making a fortune.
The lobbyists from these companies have louder voice$ than the people who represent small businesses, so it should come as no surprise that we're still prisoners in our own homes during this crisis.
Considering the circumstances it should come as a surprise to no one that a recent report suggests Amazon is earning more than $10,000 per second during this nightmare.
Amazon recorded sales of $75.4 billion in the first three months of the year, a first-quarter record for the ecommerce giant, as many consumers stepped up their online purchases during coronavirus-fueled lockdowns.
That translates into nearly $10,000 in sales every second, according to calculations from Christopher , portfolio manager of the J. Stern & Co. World Stars Global Equity fund.
"The numbers are frankly staggering," Rossbach said in a note.
Amazon's North America sales rose 29%, while AWS — the company's huge cloud-computing segment — increased 33%, the company said in an earnings release Thursday. At the same time, its costs of fulfilling all those customer orders jumped 34% as it hired thousands of new workers and increased pay. Amazon posted an operating profit of $3.9 billion for the quarter, a nearly 10% drop from this period last year.
The "current crisis is demonstrating the adaptability and durability of Amazon's business as never before, but it's also the hardest time we've ever faced," Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said in a statement.
Bezos said the company would spend at least $4 billion on costs related to the COVID-19 outbreak in the coming three months, outlining an increase in personal protective equipment and pay bumps for workers, more intense cleaning of warehouses, and about $300 million to develop internal coronavirus testing capabilities.
Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive officer of Amazon.com Inc., speaks during the opening session of Amazon Sambhav event in New Delhi, India, on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020. Bezos got a bitter reception during his India visit this week after the country's antitrust regulator initiated a formal investigation hours before his arrival and infuriated small store owners demonstrated in the streets. Photographer: Anindito Mukherjee/Bloomberg via Getty Images