They sort of are at the moment, at least here in greater London...
My normal groceries company have cancelled online orders silently and will not deliver anything. They can't even update their websites with new opening times.
The local DIY (B&Q) store are taking order for essential items only (loft ladders and plants are essential, but not light bulbs or fuses wtf?)
Amazon randomly added a month to all their delivery estimates but everything is still coming in a few days and I can get whatever I want.
To be honest, it makes sense to manage infrastructure of supply centrally. That's the genius of amazon, not retail but supply. While other companies can barely ring up items, Amazon connects buyers to sellers before either know the trade will happen.
Instacart in Los Angeles did this to me. I ordered groceries and the local store uses Instacart to deliver them. When they didn't show up, I had to call Instacart to find out they had canceled my order. They were just not going to tell me, apparently.
I can understand that places have problems with volume of orders or items not being in stock. But it should be really hard to cancel a client order and NOT tell them. How is it they don't have something that emails you when your order is killed already and automatically!?
They sort of are at the moment, at least here in greater London...
My normal groceries company have cancelled online orders silently and will not deliver anything. They can't even update their websites with new opening times.
The local DIY (B&Q) store are taking order for essential items only (loft ladders and plants are essential, but not light bulbs or fuses wtf?)
Amazon randomly added a month to all their delivery estimates but everything is still coming in a few days and I can get whatever I want.
To be honest, it makes sense to manage infrastructure of supply centrally. That's the genius of amazon, not retail but supply. While other companies can barely ring up items, Amazon connects buyers to sellers before either know the trade will happen.