- E-commerce players Flipkart & Bigbasket suspend operations while Amazon focuses on only critical orders such as personal hygiene, grocery, and eatables.
E-commerce becomes the latest sector to halt down operations for some time. Big players such as Flipkart and Amazon are shifting their focus from low priority orders to essentials.
Let’s look at what e-commerce websites are doing about it.
Flipkart
E-commerce giant Flipkart has temporarily suspended all of its services in India following a request from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a full shutdown to curb coronavirus spread. The sudden announcement by the Walmart-owned business came despite the fact that e-commerce services were listed by the central government as one of the critical services in its critical list notification, put out Tuesday evening.
Flipkart has labeled all items on its app and website’s search option as’ Out Of Stock.’
“Your needs have always been our focus, and our pledge is that as soon as possible we will be back to support you,” reads a message on Flipkart’s website.

Flipkart has yet to announce when its operations will resume. The statement reads, “These are tough times, times like no other. Never before have societies stayed apart to remain healthy. Never before has been at home meant supporting the country.”
The announcement comes one day after Amazon India said Tuesday it has temporarily stopped taking orders and disabled shipments of low-priority products as it focuses on delivering vital items such as household goods.
Many allegations of abuse by police officers in different parts of India of distribution partners of e-commerce companies like Grofers and Bigbasket have surfaced on Twitter.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Tuesday a three-week nationwide “full lockdown” from midnight on Tuesday in the largest such exercise in the world aimed at curbing the spread of coronavirus that has infected 557 people and claimed 10 lives in the country.