Amazon announced it has hired the initial 100,000 warehouse workers it originally pledged, and is now hiring an additional 75,000.
In the midst of the worst pandemic since the Spanish Flu, Amazon has been a lifeline for many individuals. The e-commerce giant has been struggling, however, to keep up with demand for groceries and basic necessities, even limiting fulfillment of non-essential items. In an effort to keep up, Amazon previously announced it would hire an additional 100,000 warehouse workers, even starting them at $2 an hour more than standard pay.
Now the company has confirmed it has hired those initial 100,000 additional workers, and is expanding its hiring to include 75,000 more.
“Today, we are proud to announce our original 100,000 jobs pledge is filled, and those new employees are working at sites across the U.S.,” reads the company’s blog post. “We continue to see increased demand as our teams support their communities, and are going to continue to hire, creating an additional 75,000 jobs to help serve customers during this unprecedented time. Interested candidates can apply at www.amazon.com/jobsnow.”
Amazon’s announcement is good news for everyone concerned. The additional workers will help the company keep up with demand as the crisis drags on, while the new jobs will be a lifesaver to individuals whose livelihood is being impacted.
“There are some banks who are actively trying not to take applications and to minimize the number of loans they make through the program,” says investor Mark Cuban. “This is despite the fact that it pays a five percent commission for the loans made on the small businesses. It might take the Treasury Department really pushing some banks who were unwilling participants to start to push some loans out there.”
Some Banks Actively Not Taking PPP Loan Applications
You have got to execute on what you’ve already promised obviously. Small businesses have been told that this (PPP forgivable loan) was coming since the legislation was passed more than almost two weeks ago. The rush was more than the banks were able to handle. The banks have just got to do their job.
Part two to that is I think there are some banks who are actively trying not to take applications and to minimize the number of loans they make through the program. This is despite the fact that it pays a five percent commission for the loans made on the small businesses. It might take the Treasury Department really pushing some banks who were unwilling participants to start to push some loans out there.
Surprising That Banks Not Taking Advantage Of Opportunity
It’s kind of surprising to me because the reality is that the Fed has said that they’ll buy back all the loans. Plus on top of that, they’ll pay that five percent origination fee slash commission for smaller loans. So banks have an incentive and it’s a unique opportunity for banks to pick up new clients. Never in the history of banking has a bank been able to say to a small business, I’ll loan you money and if you increase or maintain your employment you don’t have to pay it back.
I really truly expected that forward-thinking banks would use this as a way to attract new customers because it’s a unique opportunity. But they just haven’t. It’s going to take some prodding, unfortunately, to really get the stimulus in the hands of those who need it. Also, unfortunately, even more so, it’s a race against time because a lot of these companies are looking at going out of business if they don’t get that money in their hands.
Mark Cuban: Some Banks Actively Not Taking PPP Loan Applications
OTT is increasingly being tested by advertisers as more inventory becomes available, says Nicole Whitesel, SVP of Enterprise Strategy at Publicis Media. “In the past, OTT was seen as a nascent channel with limited reach,” said Whitesel. “I think now you’re seeing a lot more inventory there available to them to buy. I think their willingness to test things where they’re unsure of outcomes has been increased more than ever before.”
Nicole Whitesel, SVP of Enterprise Strategy at Publicis Media recently discussed the increased experimentation with OTT by agencies and their clients in an interview with BeetTV:
OTT is the Next Step in the Digital Revolution for Ad Buyers
One of the things we’re seeing is clients appetites being larger than ever before to explore. In the past, OTT was seen as a nascent channel with limited reach. I think now you’re seeing a lot more inventory there available to them to buy. I think their willingness to test things where they’re unsure of outcomes has been increased more than ever before.
We’re really talking about kind of the next step, the digital revolution maybe seven years ago and people were early movers in that space and they had an advantage.
We’re thinking about the space in a similar way. There’s an opportunity to get in early and test things, build operational muscle between teams that maybe haven’t worked together as closely before. We really see that as an opportunity this year to do a lot of that work.
Agency Teams Working Together to Buy OTT Inventory
You have teams where historically broadcast teams and national teams have bought broadcast. Then you have teams that are more precision or audience driven that buy programmatic. You’re seeing a lot of work between those teams now to think about the way we’re buying connected TV, inventory if you will, or OTT.
You have a broadcast team that might be negotiating as part of an upfront and then you have an activation team who’s actually activating within a quarter against a specific audience, buying that inventory in-quarter.
Those are teams that historically don’t work as closely together on an ongoing basis outside of upfront. We’re seeing that that’s an opportunity to bring those teams closer together and working more closely with clients who learn these new channels and understand that. That goes as well to analytics and measurement. How are we measuring them? What’s the contribution when compared to historically traditional channels like linear TV?
Opportunity for Direct to Consumer Companies
I think there’s an opportunity for direct to consumer companies (DTC) to enter the space through these new channels that didn’t exist before from a linear broadcast perspective. A lot of inventory was sold in the upfront and there was limited inventory available on an ongoing basis. That’s changing with these new channels in inventory that’s available through connected TV or FEP inventory.
They have an opportunity to buy that in a way that benefits their business model and works with the way that their business has set up to run with retail quarters, seasonality, the things that make sense for them. They don’t have to make a commitment a year in advance. They can do it when it makes sense for their business.
Getting Smarter With Broadcast Partners
I think there’s an opportunity for us to get smarter about the way we partner with our broadcast partners. Historically we’ve gone in and we say we want this CPM and this flexibility and this is the programming or dayparts we want to buy.
I think there’s an opportunity for us to say, hey, we want to buy this from an upfront perspective, but here’s all the other inventory that you manage that we also want to think about buying. We can collectively leverage dollars and get things that are valuable for our brands and our clients that allows them the flexibility to test these new channels.
TV Attribution – A Big Next Step for Ad Buyers
I think TV attribution is one of the big next steps for our industry. Being able to understand a contribution of a specific channel and its cost and associated with an outcome the brand’s care about is I think the next big opportunity for us. Then we’ll understand investment in media mix across those different video channels.
OTT is the Next Step in the Digital Revolution for Ad Buyers
We’ve been seeing many areas of our lives change since the outbreak of COVID-19, work, school, and social life being the notable showcases. Even houses of worship are feeling the pinch as in-person gatherings are no longer recommended. With everything in the economy being affected, how can people still give during the pandemic?
As of March 16, 2020, the U.S. government issued guidelines directing restaurants, bars, gyms, and schools to close. This includes venues where more than 10 people often gather. Restaurants were able to stay partly open for business by offering drive-thru and pick up. However, millions of Americans could be temporarily out of work or are working reduced hours.
3.2 Million cooks, bartenders, and servers
2.5 Million in arts, entertainment, and recreation
1.1 Million teaching assistants
Nonprofits are preparing for an influx of those looking for food, assistance, or other services. Maybe you’re thinking “Didn’t the government grant everyone a $2,000 check or some other assistance?” President Trump did sign a $2 Trillion stimulus bill, but it will take nearly a month for individuals to receive that money.
In the U.K. self-isolating is rising and food banks are dealing with a shortage of volunteers. Many have reduced hours or begun closing down since even donations have dwindled because of the purchase limits. Meanwhile, food banks in the U.S. are preparing for the same, switching to a drive-thru or mobile distribution model.
Epicenters of the outbreak have already seen a similar decline in donations and volunteers. Food organizations in Seattle receive 83% of their stock from grocery stores, and now that more shoppers are stocking up for themselves, their supply is severely restricted. Students who would have food from schools’ free or reduced lunch programs are now turning to the already quelched food banks.
Food isn’t the only commodity that is becoming scarce, donations to blood banks have fallen. With so many blood-drives and appointments canceled the Red Cross estimates they’ve lost 8,000 pints of life-saving blood. Regardless of Coronavirus, blood will be needed.
Congregations are meeting digitally being unable to meet in-person. Like many others, Churchome, a Christian megachurch, closed all its Seattle locations. In one week their app sign-up increased by 60% and virtual attendance to Sunday services went up by 23%.
People are also getting religion and joining congregations in droves. Harvest Christian Fellowship of Southern California, reported 1,400 people committing to Christianity and quadruple the attendees online. Lakewood church, another megachurch in Houston, now has 52,000 people attending digitally every week.
Most Americans believe charitable giving has a positive impact. In 2018,
More than 3 in 5 gave to charity, with 38% of funds going to religious organizations
More than 1 in 3 volunteered, with 36% working with churches or religious groups
Bad news inspired more giving, with 41% giving in response to natural disasters
Religious groups have historically received the largest share of donations. Before the pandemic, almost 80% of congregations offered online giving and 46% offered a mobile app or text-to-give.
Now people are still giving, via digital avenues, which provides a way to give without being in-person, makes it more convenient, and helps people stay connected and keep growing in religiosity. Over half of all members are willing to give to their church digitally. Learn more about giving in a pandemic here!
“Digital changes the game entirely,” says Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian. “The big thing you’re going to see us do is to bring the technologies, not just into the hands of the customers going mobile in terms of controlling your experience with Delta, but into the hands of our employees. This is so that our flight attendants, our pilots, our gate agents, our people in reservations and in maintenance, can actually start to interact more efficiently with each other and with customers to continue to run an even better operation.”
The data is already there. Yes, the new variants are throwing off more data. The problem we have with a lot of the aircraft and the engine data that’s being produced is trying to figure out what you do with it, what’s relevant, what’s the real meaning behind it? We’ve got amazing predictive maintenance technologies that we’ve already at Delta deployed. We run the best maintenance operation in the world.
Ten years ago we bought Northwest Airlines and we had a really difficult year in our first year of integration. We had 6,000 cancellations due to maintenance alone in that year. In one year, in 2010. This past year we had 60 the entire year, a 99 percent reduction in maintenance cancels. No airline the world can talk to those types of numbers. It tells you that it’s predictive technology and engine technology. We’re using the data. I don’t know what more data we’re going to get to. You’re not going to get better than 60 in a year. We’re already pretty skilled in that knowledge set.
Digital Changes the Game Entirely
There’s a lot we can improve (with the consumer experience). I’ll tell you that we are within our peer set doing a great job as we’re innovating. The thing we had to do as a 95-year-old company is that we had to build the foundation. We’d spent several years building the infrastructure, the architecture, and being able to get at the data. It was truly an incredible maze of spaghetti thrown all around the company with all the legacy systems. We’re bringing the digital technologies almost on a weekly basis now into the market.
Our Fly Delta app is one of the best-rated airline apps out there and will get better. There’s more we can do. The big thing you’re going to see us do is to bring the technologies, not just into the hands of the customers going mobile in terms of controlling your experience with Delta, but into the hands of our employees. This is so that our flight attendants, our pilots, our gate agents, our people in reservations and in maintenance, can actually start to interact more efficiently with each other and with customers to continue to run an even better operation. Digital changes the game entirely.
We Are Not a Technology Company At Its Core
As we continue to expand our technology with digital and being able to let our consumers know more about us so we can know more about them and be able to engage in a deeper relationship, we have to maintain that same level of trust and care that we have with putting you in the sky as compared to protecting your private identity and your data.
We have a lot of people looking at all the technologies that we’re thinking about rolling out making certain that they comply with all privacy laws. We’re not a technology company at its core. We’re not ever marketing the data or selling the data but we still want to make certain that we’re adhering to those same privacy standards.
The Flight Experience Continues To Get Better
The flight experience continues to get better. Our operational performance has been incredible. We just ended this past weekend a run where we had over 40 days in a row without a cancellation around the world. These are running levels of excellence and performance that we’ve never seen. The flying experience is getting to a point where value for money is also significant because consumers today are paying 40 percent in real dollars less than they did 20 years ago for the price of tickets.
The deregulation of our industry back in the 1980s has worked and democratized travel and it has brought people out. I never stepped foot on a plane before I was 25 years old. How I ever got this job I’m still not quite sure. Flying wasn’t affordable. It wasn’t something I did when we grew up now. Our kids think you are a dinosaur if you don’t fly.
The Big Change Is Going To Be In The Airports
I think the big change is going to be in the airports going forward. The airport’s going to look significantly different. We’re going to try to take the stress out of the airports. One of the things about airports, we’ve got to remember, these were built 50, 60, or 70 years ago, for an era that has long past us. So volumes, security apparatus, even the physical layouts. Back then people would come to the airports to look at the marvel of the front head house we call it, the front door, or the artwork.
When did you ever spend time in the front of an airport? You never go there. Now you just go directly to security. You don’t even stop at the counter, you’ve got your mobile. But all of our physical layout is up front. We’ve got to flip it around and put our physical layout back by the gates where people want to get to. We need to make that front almost the security, getting into the property, to begin with.
You’re Going To See a Very Different Boarding Process
You’re going to see a very different boarding process. That’s the other tremendous stress. This is where you see people looking to line up and everyone wants to get on at the same time and most of their earthly belongings. Why does anyone want to sit in an airline seat longer than they have to? People don’t, but they want to get on board and they want to make sure their property gets on board with them. If you have confidence (with RFID technology, which we’ve now rolled out) that your bag will be there waiting for you when you get to the baggage area at the end of the flight, would you really try to carry that bag on?
We’re looking at even taking the boarding cues out, taking the podiums out. With podiums it just gives people reason to line. What if there are no podiums? We will have chairs so people can sit down and agents with technology in their hands. With the digital technology that I’m talking about, they can serve as a host or hostess rather than a ticket taker. That’s how you build relationships. That’s what we’re designing.
5G Is Going To Be a Big Deal For Us In The Airports
We’re experimenting with it but it’s knowing that the agents are out there with the technology in their hand and that’s who you need to talk to. These people will be trained to try to scoop up bags if there are bags that can be checked, but again it’s going to take some time. There has to be confidence that the technology works and it’s being delivered on. We put the technology in and there are still teething pains. A lot of it is going to be around network bandwidth. 5G is going to be a big deal for us in the airports. We actually will have the Wi-Fi capabilities to actually implement this at the level of fidelity that we’re looking to create.
With the RFID technology that we have today, we have scanners out there, we have sensors. They’ll pick up the bags that will be going on to the belt loader. The belt loader is trained that if a bag is going to the wrong destination it will stop the belt loader. It will cause the gate agent or the ramp agent to go look at it and figure out where that tag is and get it onto the right plane. It will also be able to track it. You can track your bag on the Fly Delta app, you’ll know where it is. You’ll see it get to the baggage claim before you do. It will tell you what baggage area you need to go to. That what we’re creating for the future and technology is going to be critical in getting there.
Digital Changes the Game Entirely, Says Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian
“The important thing to think about is that the biggest threat to brick-and-mortar retail is really the current version of themselves,” says Caruso CEO Rick Caruso. Caruso is one of the most successful retail developers in the United States. “Many of them have to evolve and many of them have to change because the consumer is going to change. This crisis, I believe, is going to change consumer culture, their expectations, and what they want from retailers in a really significant way.”
Rick Caruso, founder, and CEO of the Caruso real-estate empire discusses how retail will be forever changed even after the current crisis is over:
This Crisis Is Going To Change Retail
I hope (retail jobs) come back I think some are going to be lost. The retail environment is tough out there right now. The important thing to think about is that the biggest threat to brick-and-mortar retail is really the current version of themselves. Many of them have to evolve and many of them have to change because the consumer is going to change. This crisis, I believe, is going to change consumer culture, their expectations, and what they want from retailers in a really significant way.
They’re going to be winners and they’re going to be losers. I think the winners are going to be very connected. They’re going to be curated and feel more local. They’re going to feel more personalized and they’re going to have a better value proposition. There are many out there that we’re doing that before this crisis began and they’ll continue to do it. I think they will be rewarded with great success and hopefully, they will drive a lot of hiring. There will be more retail jobs coming back into the current economy.
People Are Going To Want More Physical Space
I do think that people are going to want to have more physical space (after this crisis is over). I think they’re going to operate differently. Listen, 9/11 fundamentally changed our habits as human beings. But the one thing that is always crystal clear is we’re human souls that want to have a sense of connection and community and our properties provide that. The challenge for retailers inside their four walls is going to be to meet the customer where the customer wants them to be.
The very innovative and very smart retailers are going to do very well. When you get to crowded restaurants and things like that I think they’re going to have to change how they operate. Movie theatres may have to change how they operate for a while. There’s certainly going to be a shift. What we have seen is the isolation gets very tiring very quickly. So I think people are going to want to come out and they’re going to want to celebrate life and they want to connect with their community.
Economy Is Built On The Back Of The Entrepreneur
Some (of our retail tenants) are and some aren’t (paying rent right now). The ones that I worry about the most and I care about a lot are the smaller ones. These are the entrepreneurs and the people that have started a small business or a small restaurant. We’re leaning in with all of those to support them. I’m a big believer that the economy is built off the back of the individual entrepreneur.
We’re going to support them to get them reopened so they can rehire and move forward. The tenants that are more creditworthy, which is a big chunk of our portfolio, they have been paying. My expectation is that they should, given these times, so that we can put more resources into the smaller businesses which clearly will need our help.
We’re Giving Smaller Tenants Concessions On Rent
We’re meeting with each of (our small business tenants) individually. It depends on certain circumstances but we’re going to give them concessions on rent. We certainly may give them concessions and investment in terms of TI’s and maybe upgrading their stores. Whatever they need to do. Our properties are very popular for a number of reasons but one of them is the small retailers, the entrepreneurs, the restaurant tourism. They’re the soul of the properties and they’re the fabric of the properties. We need those to survive.
What we don’t want to do is have successful properties that are just full of national retailers. National retailers could be great but they don’t have the same connection to the community and the same soul that a local entrepreneur has. Those are the ones we’re very focused on supporting and working with.
This Crisis Is Going To Change Retail, Says Caruso CEO Rick Caruso
Apple is turning its considerable resources and expertise to manufacturing face masks for medical personnel amid the ongoing crisis.
CEO Tim Cook made the announcement on Twitter:
Apple is dedicated to supporting the worldwide response to COVID-19. We’ve now sourced over 20M masks through our supply chain. Our design, engineering, operations and packaging teams are also working with suppliers to design, produce and ship face shields for medical workers.
In the video, Cook says the face shields pack flat, assemble in less than two minutes and are fully adjustable. The company has already delivered its first shipment to Kaiser hospital facilities in the Santa Clara Valley, to positive feedback from doctors.
Apple plans to ship over one million by the end of this week, with one million being shipped every week after. Initially, distribution will be in the U.S., with hopes to expand worldwide.
Cook makes it clear that, “for Apple, this is a labor of love and gratitude, and we will share more of our efforts over time.” The company is to be commended for the example its setting, one that hopefully many other companies will follow.
“A $250 payment per restaurant (from Grubhub) doesn’t sound like a lot but it’s going to be a huge difference,” says Grubhub CEO Matt Maloney. “We’re looking at it as a stimulus almost because the way we’re rolling it out is a consumer gets $10 if they spend $30. So our $30 million dollars is going to transform into over $100 million dollars of food sales to restaurants across the country.”
Matt Maloney, CEO of Grubhub, announces a $30 million stimulus to restaurants in a discussion on CNBC:
Grubhub Rolls Out $30 Million Stimulus To Restaurants
A $250 payment per restaurant (from Grubhub) doesn’t sound like a lot but it’s going to be a huge difference. We’re looking at it as a stimulus almost because the way we’re rolling it out is a consumer gets $10 if they spend $30. So our $30 million dollars is going to transform into over $100 million dollars of food sales to restaurants across the country. That’s a big slug when everyone’s working really hard to try to put money in the hands of small businesses.
It depends on the market (in terms of how many restaurants are still open). In early COVID West Coast markets, we saw a dramatic dip in restaurants that went off the platform. Now they’re starting to come back on. You have New York and Detroit that are in the throes of the crisis right now and so you’re they’re peaking with about 30 percent of the restaurants off. But remember, we’re having thousands and thousands of restaurants coming on the platform for the first time so we’re seeing about the same number in terms of net. It’s just a transition.
Our teams are working around the clock. We tripled our most onboarding month ever of restaurants. We had 15,000 restaurants go live in March. We’re probably going to do more in April. It’s just an incredible intensity of need right now for restaurants. We’re doing everything we can to help them. With drivers, we launched contact-free pickup or drop-off. We also just launched, just last week, curbside pickup for the drivers to make sure there are two layers of protection.
There’s plenty of work on Grub and I know there’s lots of work on other delivery platforms as well. We have our own stimulus for our drivers too. If they get impacted directly by COVID we’re paying them. I know other platforms are also. And, of course, the CARES Act just came through with a lot of relief for gig workers also. Everyone right now is all hands on deck trying to help the restaurants, the drivers, and everyone impacted through this economic and health care crisis.
Fundamental Economics Are Still Intact
I am hoping for the best. I think that the fundamental economics of our society is still intact. There is a lot of demand right now for restaurants. If we can help restaurants get through the next few weeks or months, depending on how bad this is, they will come back, they will be there for our communities. If they can’t, then that’s going to be a real problem.
What we’re seeing right now is as the crisis bottoms out in the market growth does start to come back in that local area. We’re seeing the crises (at different levels) around the country in different markets at different times so we’re trying to dynamically manage that situation on the ground.
Grubhub Rolls Out $30 Million Stimulus To Restaurants, Says Grubhub CEO Matt Maloney
iOS users can finally purchase Amazon Prime Video content in-app, significantly improving the user experience.
The Verge was the first to notice the change, and confirmed the prices for content did “not appear to have been raised to account for the 30 percent fee, as some platform owners like Spotify have done in the past. It was not immediately clear whether Amazon reached a deal with Apple or whether it is indeed deciding to pay the full cut.”
In a statement to 9to5Mac, however, Apple confirmed it was an “established program for premium subscription video entertainment providers to offer a variety of customer benefits,” including “the option to buy or rent movies and TV shows using the payment method tied to their existing video subscription.”
While Apple calls it an “established program,” when it was established remains to be seen. Logic would dictate that if this program had been available all along, Amazon would have taken full advantage of it from day one. Instead, iOS users have had to purchase content via their web browser or other method, rather than in-app. As any marketer will attest, the more steps in a process, the less likely someone is to follow through with a purchase.
Whenever this “established program” went into effect, it’s good news for Amazon and similar services. It is also good for customer ease-of-use, although it’s probably safe to say there’s about to be a lot more impulse movie and TV show purchases.
Huawei is warning that Pandora’s box would be opened if the U.S. proceeds with its plans to cut the company off from its chip supplies.
U.S. officials decided last week to move forward with alterations to the Foreign Direct Product Rule in an effort to keep Huawei from purchasing chips from companies such as Taiwanese firm TSMC. Under the rule, some foreign goods that are based, at least in part, on U.S. technology can be subjected to U.S. regulations and export rules. Officials hope to use the rule to enforce a stranglehold on Huawei.
Huawei, however, is warning that such a move would have disastrous and far-reaching consequences. According to Bloomberg, Chairman Eric Xu told reporters:
“If the Pandora’s box were to be opened, we’ll probably see catastrophic damage to the global supply chain — and it won’t just be one company, Huawei, destroyed. I don’t think the Chinese government will just watch and let Huawei be slaughtered on a chopping board. I believe the Chinese government will also take some countermeasures.”
Given the number of companies that rely on China as a source of manufacturing, as well as their largest growing market, such a retaliation could have devastating consequences for many American firms.
Facebook is warning that its business is being “adversely affected” by the coronavirus pandemic that is sweeping the globe.
In a blog post, Alex Schultz, VP of Analytics, and Jay Parikh, VP of Engineering, lay out the challenges the company is facing. With unprecedented numbers of people quarantined, sheltering in place or practicing social distancing the company is experiencing a major uptick in usage. In many countries, especially the hardest hit, “total messaging has increased more than 50% over the last month.” Similarly, in those places “voice and video calling have more than doubled on Messenger and WhatsApp.” Italy has likewise “seen up to 70% more time spent across our apps since the crisis arrived in the country.”
Facebook previously warned its ad business was likely to take a hit, but today’s post highlights the additional issues the company is facing. Because the increased usage is on services that are free, Facebook is not benefiting monetarily by the uptick. At the same time, the company’s infrastructure still has to bear the burden of the increased load. The two executives laid out the challenges:
“We have received questions about revenue, so want to provide some context here too: Much of the increased traffic is happening on our messaging services, but we’ve also seen more people using our feed and stories products to get updates from their family and friends. At the same time, our business is being adversely affected like so many others around the world. We don’t monetize many of the services where we’re seeing increased engagement, and we’ve seen a weakening in our ads business in countries taking aggressive actions to reduce the spread of COVID-19.”
The executives did provide assurances Facebook is doing everything possible to make sure their infrastructure can deal with the days ahead.
“Maintaining stability throughout these spikes in usage is more challenging than usual now that most of our employees are working from home. We are working to keep our apps running smoothly while also prioritizing features such as our COVID-19 Information Center on Facebook as well as the World Health Organization’s Health Alert on WhatsApp. We’re monitoring usage patterns carefully, making our systems more efficient, and adding capacity as required. To help alleviate potential network congestion, we are temporarily reducing bit rates for videos on Facebook and Instagram in certain regions. Lastly, we’re conducting testing and further preparing so we can quickly respond to any problems that might arise with our services.”
Facebook is just the latest example of how companies, even those without traditional supply chains, are being negatively impacted by the pandemic.
With the fate of many small businesses on the line, Google is donating some $800 million to assist small businesses during the economic crisis.
As the global health crisis worsens, companies around the world are closing shop or drastically changing how they conduct business. Many are facing uncertain futures, leading governments and companies to take measures to assist. Google is one of the latest to step up, pledging some $800 million to the effort.
In a blog post, CEO Sundar Pichai said the company will be donating “$250 million in ad grants to help the World Health Organization (WHO) and more than 100 government agencies globally provide critical information.” This should help combat the spread of misinformation that is plaguing social media.
In addition, the company is also setting aside “a $200 million investment fund that will support NGOs and financial institutions around the world to help provide small businesses with access to capital. As one example, we’re working with the Opportunity Finance Network in the U.S. to help fill gaps in financing for people and communities underserved by mainstream financial institutions. This is in addition to the $15 million in cash grants Google.org is already providing to nonprofits to help bridge these gaps for SMBs.”
Google is also providing “$340 million in Google Ads credits available to all SMBs with active accounts over the past year. Credit notifications will appear in their Google Ads accounts and can be used at any point until the end of 2020 across our advertising platforms.” The company is also providing $20 million in Google Cloud credits that researchers can use to access Google’s computing resources.
Overall, this is a significant effort on the part of Google to stimulate small businesses and help them weather the storm. By making Google Ad credits available, it should provide a relatively risk-free way for small businesses to keep advertising, despite the economic challenges.
“The fact is as much as 5G is going to be tremendous, and it’s going to bring an amazing architectural shift to our economy and to our markets and economy, it’s still not here,” says Skyworks Solutions CEO Liam Griffin. “It is here in certain areas but the rollout has been somewhat delayed due to the pandemic.”
Liam Griffin, CEO of Skyworks Solutions, discusses on CNBC how thepandemic has temporarily delayed 5G but ultimately it will be a big part of a whole new world.
It’s a Stay At Home World Right Now
It’s a stay at home world right now (due to the pandemic). I talked about the digital traffic jam three or four years ago. At that time we talked about the networks being compressed and taxed and digitally clogged and we’re seeing this today. I mean it’s great that we’re seeing the network interfaces and the data traffic and the ability to do what we’re doing but we’re nowhere near where we’re headed.
We’ve got a long way to go in 5G. We’ve also got incredible Wi-Fi technologies coming. I think this pandemic situation is very difficult. It is a challenge and a big deal. But I think the technologies that we’re working on in our ecosystem with partners like Verizon and infrastructure players and even the Chinese⎯we’re all coming together to make this work. It’s a real indication of how necessary these applications are to the economy.
5G Delayed Due To The Pandemic
The fact is as much as 5G is going to be tremendous, and it’s going to bring an amazing architectural shift to our economy and to our markets and economy, it’s still not here. It is here in certain areas but the rollout has been somewhat delayed due to the pandemic. However, we’re going to see a bigger uptick in the second half.
We’re working with the marquee companies largely in the US, China, and Europe and we’re seeing some great technologies. They’re going to launch, it’s just delayed right now. That’s where we’re going to see the quality, the experience, the bandwidth upside that we’ve been talking about. That will happen.
5G Is a Multi-Year Thematic Move
5G is a multi-year thematic move. The interesting thing is that people today are clamoring to get the technology. The issue that we have and in what manifests in the demand weakness has really come about by a supply shock. It’s the supply chain in Asia and other parts of the world where folks couldn’t go to their factories and work. It creates a delay but we don’t think it’s perishable.
We think this 5G technology is absolutely going to launch. Some of that demand that did not get executed in our Q1 or Q2 will move forward into the back half of 2020 and certainly into 2021. We see this as a pause more than a complete deep dive.
Interesting Applications Are Really Emerging Through 5G
I saw the Verizon CEO talking about a 20 percent upside in data traffic and Vodafone also just announced a 50 percent increase in data traffic. So if you look at how this works, the smartphone⎯that’s your quarterback. They’re doing a lot of the work. But think about the IOT space, machine to machine, autonomous driving, and security. All of these interesting applications are really emerging through 4G, 5G and higher speed Wi-Fi. It’s creating a new experience.
If we look at what we’re doing with the young people today, the Millennials, I got three kids, they’re all face-timing. It’s just a whole new world. In a way, I think there are some real positive thematic changes that we can capitalize on once we get through this challenge with the pandemic.
5G is Delayed, But a Whole New World is Coming, Says Skyworks Solutions CEO Liam Griffin
TransUnion research shows Americans are being targeted by coronavirus-related digital fraud in alarming numbers.
As the coronavirus pandemic forces more Americans to stay at home, ecommerce has become a critical part of everyday life. Even basic necessities are being purchased online, rather than through physical stores. Bad actors are taking advantage of that trend, targeting Americans in an effort to defraud them.
TransUnion surveyed 1068 adults, finding 1 in 5 (22%) had been targeted with coronavirus-related digital fraud. “In the report, TransUnion Global Fraud & Identity Solutions reported a 347% increase in account takeover and 391% rise in shipping fraud attempts globally against its online retail customers from 2018 to 2019.”
Methods of taking over accounts included buying credentials on the dark web, social engineering, romance scams, phishing and more. Once an account is taken over, fraudsters can steal packages by intercepting them at the carrier and changing the shipping address, rather than attracting attention by doing it online.
“With so many reported data breaches, it’s not just about if your account will be hijacked, it’s about when,” said Melissa Gaddis, senior director of customer success for TransUnion Fraud & Identity Solutions. “Once a fraudster breaks into an account, they have access to everything imaginable resulting in stolen credit card numbers and reward points, fraudulent purchases, and redirecting shipments to other addresses.”
TransUnsion’s report is a good reminder that, even in a time of global crisis, individuals need to practice solid cybersecurity to keep their information, purchases and finances safe.
While some industries may be reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, ecommerce ad spending is experiencing a boon.
According to Search Engine Land, a recent report details the growth ecommerce ad spending is currently undergoing, jumping “from $4.8 million the week of February 17 to $9.6 million the week of March 9. The data, released by media sales intelligence firm MediaRadar on Friday, encompasses advertising spend across national TV, print and digital media, including websites, Snapchat, YouTube and podcasts.”
The data is another indication that the U.S. and world economies are experiencing fundamental shifts as a result of the pandemic. People are practicing social distancing, working from home, turning to social gaming for human interaction, relying on cloud environments, communicating via Slack or Microsoft Teams and turning to videoconferencing in never before seen numbers. Similarly, the increase in ad spending corresponds to people sheltering in place and relying on ecommerce for their day-to-day needs.
The longer the pandemic goes on, the more likely such trends will become permanent, forever changing how people go about their personal and work lives.
Firefox has announced the launch of a new Test Pilot program, Better Web with Scroll, aimed at improving the web experience for both publishers and users.
Firefox is one of the most privacy-oriented companies in the world, and is constantly working to tackle problems related to privacy and the overall health of the web. Its latest initiative is designed to help publishers who have been hard hit by various privacy features, while at the same time incentivizing them to focus on quality content, rather than ad-driven quantity.
“If we’re going to create a better internet for everyone, we need to figure out how to make it work for publishers,” writes Matt Grimes. “Last year, we launched Enhanced Tracking Protection by default and have blocked more than two trillion third-party trackers to date, but it didn’t directly address the problems that publishers face. That’s where our partner Scroll comes in. By engaging with a better funding model, sites in their growing network no longer have to show you ads to make money. They can focus on quality not clicks. Firefox Better Web with Scroll gives you the fast, private web you want and supports publishers at the same time.”
The new initiative is based on Mozilla’s previously announced efforts to find alternative ways for publishers to monetize their content, without relying on ads. This is what led the non-profit to partner with Scroll. To join Firefox Better Web, users need to sign up for a Firefox account and install an extension. For the first six months, the service is discounted 50%, costing $2.50 a month. The money goes into a fund that is used to compensate writers and publishers. According to Mozilla, early tests show sites make at least 40% more than they would relying on ads.
“Firefox Better Web combines the work we’ve done with third-party tracking protection and Scroll’s network of outstanding publishers,” adds Grimes. “This ensures you will get a top notch experience while still supporting publishers directly and keeping the web healthy.”
Amazon is using artificial intelligence (AI) to better understand search queries and why a person may be looking for something.
Understanding why a customer searches for a product is just as import as knowing what they searched for. Knowing the context can help a retailer make relevant recommendations for other products that not only compliment the item being searched for, but the activity or reason behind the search. Amazon is intent on cracking that piece of the puzzle, and is applying AI to the problem.
“In a paper accepted to the ACM SIGIR Conference on Human Information Interaction and Retrieval, my colleagues and I present a new neural-network-based system for predicting context of use from customer queries,” writes Adrian Boteanu. “From the query ‘adidas mens pants’, for instance, the system predicts the activity ‘running.’
“In tests, human reviewers agreed, on average, with 81% of the system’s predictions, indicating that the system was identifying patterns that could improve the quality of Amazon’s product discovery algorithms.”
As Amazon continues to improve its algorithms, shoppers should see increasingly relevant shopping recommendations and the research could open a whole new arena for personalized digital shopping assistants.
Apple is donating millions of masks to medical personnel across the U.S. and Europe as health professionals grapple with the coronavirus pandemic.
As the pandemic continues to spread across the U.S., officials have been calling on other industries to help create or provide medical products. Kentucky bourbon makers are making hand sanitizer and auto makers have been called on to help make ventilators.
In an announcement on Twitter, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company is donating millions of masks to health professionals.
Our teams at Apple have been working to help source supplies for healthcare providers fighting COVID-19. We’re donating millions of masks for health professionals in the US and Europe. To every one of the heroes on the front lines, we thank you.
“There’s been a lot of advances in machine learning that take things that would have been literally impossible ten years ago and made those things much more possible today,” says Etsy CEO Josh Silverman. “With 62 million products for sale, picking for any given buyer the 20 or 30 that should be on page one of search results is a pretty interesting and pretty challenging task. The key is understanding what an item is with relatively little data and then being able to determine for each individual person how to personalize search results.”
Josh Silverman, CEO of Etsy, discusses how Etsy has increased growth by standing out in a world of sameness and by employing machine learning technology to personalize the Etsy experience for their customers. Silverman talks about his strategy for success in an interview with Fortune:
We Started Doing Much Fewer Things Much Better
Etsy has never been more relevant. In a world where so many of our products are being commoditized and we’re surrounded by a sea of sameness, Etsy stands for something really different. I think it’s really important that we stand out in the world and I’m proud of what the team has done to achieve that. The definition of success was really clear. I think from day one it’s about growing the size of the pie for everyone. The actual tactics that it was going to take to do that we’ve learned together as a team over time.
When I arrived, there were maybe eight or ten different metrics of success that we all held relatively equally. I said there’s one metric that matters much more than every other, which is what we call gross merchandise sales. In other words, the total sales of our sellers. When we stopped saying what’s a good idea, what moves any one of these 10 metrics and started saying, what are the fewest things we need to do to really accelerate gross merchandise sales, we came to a very different answer. We started doing much fewer things much better. That’s really been the key to our success.
There’s Been a Lot of Advances In Machine Learning
Change is hard. When running a marketplace we have access to a lot of data and insights that each individual seller won’t necessarily have. Our job is to really look after the good of the whole and be willing to make some decisions that sometimes, in the moment, may not feel obvious to every seller but really do lift all boats and make our sellers as a whole much better off. We’ve really focused at a high level on doing two things really well. One, make it much easier for people to find great products on Etsy. And two, once they’ve found those products to actually buy them.
With 62 million products for sale, picking for any given buyer the 20 or 30 that should be on page one of search results is a pretty interesting and pretty challenging task. There’s been a lot of advances in machine learning that take things that would have been literally impossible ten years ago and made those things much more possible today. The key is understanding what an item is with relatively little data and then being able to determine for each individual person how to personalize search results. We’ve made leaps and bounds in the science of search and machine learning. That’s more relevant at Etsy than almost anywhere else.
The mission of Etsy is incredible. As the nature of work changes creativity can’t be automated. The role we play for creators and makers being able to harness their creative passions and power and turn that into a way to earn a living for their families is a mission that I think is ever more important in this fast-changing economy.
There’s Been a Lot of Advances In Machine Learning, Says Etsy CEO Josh Silverman
Amid supply chain constraints as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, Apple is limiting online iPhone orders.
According to CNBC, “Apple’s online store began limiting U.S. customers to two units of each iPhone model per person this week. Customers can still buy more than two iPhones in one order, but they would have to be different models — for instance, two iPhone 11s and two iPhone 11 Pros.
“The restriction applies to the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone XR, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Max.” Apple is also limiting orders of the new iPad Pro the company announced on Wednesday.
The news is the latest indication the coronavirus has had a significant impact on Apple’s supply chain. The company previously announced it would miss its quarterly guidance as a result of the virus, while analysts believe the supply chain issues could persist and impact Apple’s 2021 earnings. Apple also warned its store personnel that warranty replacement iPhones were in short supply.
Apple taking the drastic step of limiting purchases is further evidence the company doesn’t see its supply chain catching up anytime soon.
In a call to investors, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has said the company is losing significant business because of the coronavirus, but has enough funds on hand.
According to Business Insider, Khosrowshahi told investors the hardest hit areas have seen a 60-70% decline in rides, and that could go as high as 80% for the year. In spite of that, the CEO said the company has $10 billion in unrestricted cash.
“We have plenty of liquidity on the books which positions us to come out of this crisis strong and capable,” Khosrowshahi said.
Another bright spot is Uber Eats, the company’s food delivery service. As people forgo restaurants, Uber Eats is seeing growth in even the worst hit areas. Between the news that Uber has enough cash to survive the crisis, and news its food delivery service is growing, the company’s stock was up as much as 43% Thursday.
Uber should serve as an example for other companies. Between having enough cash to weather a storm, and diversifying into a disruptive business, the company seems well-positioned to survive any temporary hit to its core business.
