Desperate Shoppers Say They Can’t Order Groceries for Delivery or Pickup. Amazon and Walmart Are Racing to Meet the Spike in Demand.

Online grocery orders are surging in the US as shoppers increasingly avoid visiting stores, and retailers are racing to keep up with demand.

With the surge in orders, some shoppers are complaining on social media about little or no availability for grocery pickup or delivery. Some say they have given up on trying. Others are refreshing grocers’ websites late at night to try to snag time slots for pickup or delivery as soon as they become available.

In response, leading retailers including Amazon and Walmart are ramping up their online grocery businesses by hiring more workers and adding time slots for delivery and pickup, the companies told Business Insider.

“We are working hard to identify ways to deliver to more customers, like adding more delivery windows throughout the day and hiring over 100,000 positions across the US, enabling us to increase delivery window availability,” an Amazon spokesperson said. “We’ve also accelerated expansion of delivery and pickup from Whole Foods Market, and we’ll continue to expand quickly to reach more customers.” . . .

[Walmart] on Friday extended its grocery pickup and delivery hours to help meet demand after temporarily cutting them back during a sudden sales surge in early-to-mid March. (Read more from “Desperate Shoppers Say They Can’t Order Groceries for Delivery or Pickup. Amazon and Walmart Are Racing to Meet the Spike in Demand.” HERE)

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