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PASSO CORESE, ITALY - 22 SEPTEMBER 2020: Francesca Gemma (30), an Amazon employee and union representative, poses for a portrait by the Amazon facility where she works in Passo Corese, just outside Rome, on September 22nd 2020.

When Francesca Gemma graduated from college in 2017, Amazon was the only company hiring. “On the first day the muscles of my legs felt like I had done a marathon, I couldn’t climb up the stairs,” she said. “It’s not for everyone, but it’s a job.” Ms. Gemma, a union representative, said that orders at her fulfillment center skyrocketed during the lockdown and have remained high. She wondered why Amazon did not provide warehouse staff more in bonuses to share in the success. “Nothing remained for workers,” she said.


Amazon has been one of the biggest winners in the pandemic as people in its most established markets — the United States, Germany and Britain — have turned to it to buy everything from toilet paper to board games. What has been less noticed is that people in countries that had traditionally resisted the e-commerce giant are now also falling into Amazon’s grasp .
The shift has been particularly pronounced in Italy, which was one of the first countries hard hit by the virus. Italians have traditionally preferred to shop at local stores and pay cash. But after the government imposed Europe’s first nationwide virus lockdown, Italians began shopping online in record numbers.
75 percent of Italians shopped online during the lockdown. In 2020, total online sales are estimated to grow 26 percent to a record 22.7 billion euros, according to researchers from Polytechnic University of Milan.

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PASSO CORESE, ITALY - 22 SEPTEMBER 2020: Francesca Gemma (30), an Amazon employee and union representative, poses for a portrait by the Amazon facility where she works in Passo Corese, just outside Rome, on September 22nd 2020.<br /> <br /> When Francesca Gemma graduated from college in 2017, Amazon was the only company hiring. “On the first day the muscles of my legs felt like I had done a marathon, I couldn’t climb up the stairs,” she said. “It’s not for everyone, but it’s a job.” Ms. Gemma, a union representative, said that orders at her fulfillment center skyrocketed during the lockdown and have remained high. She wondered why Amazon did not provide warehouse staff more in bonuses to share in the success. “Nothing remained for workers,” she said. <br /> <br /> <br /> Amazon has been one of the biggest winners in the pandemic as people in its most established markets — the United States, Germany and Britain — have turned to it to buy everything from toilet paper to board games. What has been less noticed is that people in countries that had traditionally resisted the e-commerce giant are now also falling into Amazon’s grasp .<br /> The shift has been particularly pronounced in Italy, which was one of the first countries hard hit by the virus. Italians have traditionally preferred to shop at local stores and pay cash. But after the government imposed Europe’s first nationwide virus lockdown, Italians began shopping online in record numbers. <br /> 75 percent of Italians shopped online during the lockdown. In 2020, total online sales are estimated to grow 26 percent to a record 22.7 billion euros, according to researchers from Polytechnic University of Milan.