2020 was a crazy year to say the least. I know from personal experience that the pandemic has changed a lot about our world and our society. Things that used to seem so normal are now a distant memory. Masks were required to be worn in all public places and this made going out in public a challenge at times. Consequently, people were spending a lot more time in their homes. This changed the way that people did their shopping. Before the pandemic, online shopping was becoming more and more popular with continued technological advancements. However, since so many stores and popular shopping spots were being closed down because of the pandemic, online shopping became the new thing for the year. I know for myself, I spent a lot of time indoors just playing video games and stuff like that. Unfortunately, the pandemic sent me home early from school and I was forced to finish my semester at home. After I finished my school work, I did not have much else to do. So like many others, I spent time online shopping and ordering stuff over the internet like the true gen-z that I am.
If anything, 2020 was a perfect example of how easy it is to find and buy things online and get them at your door in cardboard boxes. Ecommerce companies were in a perfect position to capitalize on this. Some companies exist only as a middleman that will buy products from wholesalers online, then turn around and sell them in cardboard boxes or other packaging for a profit without ever even touching the product they are selling. There are some ethical and moral questions in play here when it comes to taking advantage of cheap labor and products just to make a quick buck, but these companies were greatly impacted by the COVID pandemic. One thing that was greatly increased with the pandemic was the use of Amazon. I know for me, I ordered a lot of products online from Amazon during the months of April and May of 2020. Not only is it easy to find almost anything on Amazon, they are a fairly trustworthy site with good customer service. Consequently, Amazon made a ridiculous amount of money over 2020. They did run into some supply issues, since Amazon works with other smaller companies that sell their products through the site. The problem Amazon ran into is that too many people were ordering certain products and they were not able to keep up with the demand.
The things that were out of stock always surprised me. Even something like a gaming computer, which I ordered in May of 2020, was out of stock for quite a few weeks. I had to wait a longer amount of time than I normally would have to get my computer. It was more difficult to work with the computer company from which I was ordering my computer, because their customer service was abysmal. I tried multiple times to reach the company through their support channels, but was mostly out of luck due to a high frequency of orders and calls.
After about 3 weeks or so of waiting and not being able to get a hold of the company, I decided to issue a refund through Amazon for my computer. Funnily enough, it was then that the company got a hold of me and told me they will be shipping my computer out the next day, with an additional discount for my troubles!