Retail
Under Armour Pledges $2M in Support of Impacted Communities
The company has emphasized, during challenging times, the only way through is for communities to team up and fight on together. Therefore, Under Armour has pledged its support to help people affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic. The brand is donating $1 million to Feeding America to support hunger relief efforts as a result of current school closures and quarantines. Under Armour is also lending support to ensure students and their families who are impacted by current, and potentially extended, disruptions have the meals they need.
Additionally, Under Armour is hosting a 30-day Healthy at Home fitness challenge on its MyFitnessPal and MapMyRun platforms. With the challenge, individuals and families at home will be encouraged to stay healthy and physically active. When users join the challenge beginning March 23, Under Armour will donate up to $1 million through a combination of a monetary donation and products to support Good Sports' efforts in ensuring youth sport leagues have necessary equipment, footwear, and apparel.
"It's our mission at Under Armour to make athletes better, and in these unprecedented times we are even more committed to providing our communities with essential resources," said Patrik Frisk, CEO of Under Armour. "Through access to nutrition and fitness, we want to support the health and wellness goals that are being challenged at this time."
Finance
BMO Harris Bank is Lending a Helping Hand to Customers Affected by COVID-19
BMO has introduced a financial relief program for those impacted by COVID-19. The financial relief program is tailored to individuals’ circumstances and needs, which could include deferral of payments and fee waivers on loans, mortgages and credit cards, fee waivers for checking and savings accounts, and other accommodations for BMO customers. For customers who have used BMO Harris Rewards or Diners Club Rewards to book travel, the bank is waiving the change fee and will work with the travel provider to process a change or cancellation request. BMO will temporarily close 63 U.S. branches. Lobby access will be temporarily suspended at 421 branches, while drive-up facilities at those branches will remain open with expanded services to better meet customers' needs.
Restaurant
As Restaurants Take Plunging Hits Across the Country, Domino’s Expects to Hire 10,000 Workers
With a centralized business model already heavily dominated by delivery, utilizing and expanding its efforts in response to the rise in online and to-go orders is crucial. The company is looking for delivery drivers, pizza makers, customer service representatives, managers and licensed truck drivers for its supply chain centers. The need will vary based on individual stores. “Our corporate and franchise stores want to make sure they’re not only feeding people, but also providing opportunity to those looking for work at this time, especially those in the heavily-impacted restaurant industry,” CEO Ritch Allison said in a statement.
Retail
Grocery App Downloads Climb, As Shopping Trends Pivot to Online
As the coronavirus outbreak continues, online grocery apps and services are confronting overwhelming demand. Sites like Peapod and Walmart have experienced intermittent outages and many shoppers are confronting delivery delays of at least a few days. Instacart, Walmart Grocery and Shipt have seen respectively 218 percent, 160 percent, and 124 percent increases in average daily downloads compared to the previous month, according to research from Apptopia. This past Sunday was a record for each app, according to the report. Target also saw a 98 percent jump in average daily downloads on Sunday over the average daily download in February. But as grocery ordering apps rise in average daily downloads, food delivery apps have seen a decline amid the COVID-19 outbreak. The daily downloads of popular ordering apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub and Postmates declined from about 240,000 as of Feb. 15 to about 190,000 on Sunday.
Entertainment
Sports Leagues Across the Industry Offer Free Unlimited Content While on Hiatus
With no action slated on the boards for the foreseeable future, sports leagues had to figure out a way to fill this void and provide some sort of entertainment and comfort during these trying times. Thus, the NFL said it’s making every game since 2009 available for free streaming on its direct-to-consumer service NFL Game Pass. The subscription service, which generally costs $99 for a full season of access, will be available for free in the U.S. until May 31. The NBA and Turner Sports on Wednesday also removed the paywall for the League Pass subscription service until April 22. The service, which has multiple subscription tiers, offers full-length and condensed replay of all games from the current NBA season, as well as an archive of classic games and other programming. Overall, it keeps the brand afloat in the mind of the consumer and will also serve as a possible marketing strategy for these leagues down the road as newer users are opened to this variation of service.