The latest news on the Coronavirus (COVID-19) development report that 70% of China’s manufacturing industry is shut down. This contradicts official governmental statement that 80% of state-owned companies resumed work.

Satellite images from NASA and the European Space Agency show China pollution clears, marking significant decreases in nitrogen dioxide.


Power plants report 42% less coal consumption compared to last year.


These indicators unequivocally show that Coronavirus has put a halt to China’s factories. It is still unclear when they will resume operations.

Make no mistake, the disruption of the supply chain will have serious consequences for consumers in the short and medium-term.

It takes 3-4 months to bring a China-made product to the US

Any product manufactured in China takes typically 3-4 months to make, ship, and appear in your favorite marketplace. We predict that all retailers, Amazon, Walmart, Target, Bed Bath and Beyond will suffer significant shortages.

In fact, Amazon has already recommended sellers to pile up stock as they anticipate stocks will run low as early as April.

Online and brick and mortar stores will have no inventory. The shortage may last at least through the summer. If factories in China do not resume operations in the next couple of weeks, we are up against a deep recession.

How Amazon and sellers will handle Prime Day?

We do not anticipate Prime Day to be canceled, but we believe there will be a very limited number of offers based on the low inventories.

We have recently seen the panic hoarding at Costco and other stores around the country.

Therefore, if you’re thinking of getting a new coffee maker or a brand new grill for the spring & summer season, you may want to get it right now.

Our recommendation is that you get it now and do not wait till inventories run out. Most of the kitchen appliances are made in China while very few are still made in America.

Regardless of the origin, the scarcity of inventory across the board will push prices up. There will be very few bargains, forcing customers to think twice before purchasing. You can use price tracking tools such as CamelCamelCamel to check whether your well-desired appliance has suffered a price increase.

What do you think?

Are you going to buy some appliances in the next couple of weeks? Do you think stores like Amazon, Walmart and Target will run out of stock? What do you think about the impact of Coronavirus on our day-to-day living?

Let us know in the comments!

We contacted Amazon for its comment but it was unavailable at the time of publication. We will update the story as the comment becomes available.

NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, using modified Copernicus Sentinel 5P data processed by the European Space Agency. 

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