The surge in Americans working from home amid the coronavirus pandemic has increased demand for laptops, leaving store shelves bare and creating supply-chain bottlenecks, according to The Wall Street Journal.
"We are seeing a surge in demand across the country for products that allow people to work or learn from home as well those products that allow people to refrigerate or freeze food," a Best Buy spokesman told the Journal.
"It hasn't been like Black Friday but more than an average day," Best Buy salesman Matt Canon told the Journal, who said monitors and small TVs were sold out and laptops, keyboards and video cables almost were.
Added to the problem is one of the largest American computer stores, Apple Inc., has closed its doors indefinitely amid the pandemic and the supply chains have been disrupted worldwide, particularly ground zero in China.
Apple unveiled new editions for the MacBook Air laptop and iPad Pro tablet, but sales, as distribution, will have to take place online, which is complicated if you cannot get online of course.
But mobile phones can help and sales of those and computers are more than double than a year ago HUBX CEO Derek Wall told the Journal.
"Business has gone through the roof," he said, adding "it is going to dry up if this doesn't get resolved, referring to the pandemic.
Wall, 50, himself is self-quarantined in Miami with the coronavirus symptoms, but has yet to be able to be tested for it, per the Journal.
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