Good news seems hard to come by these days as the United States enters peak political campaigning season. A lot of positive stories end up getting crushed by the 24-hour news cycle and the next salacious story. 

Here are a few good things you might have missed in the past week or two that could put a smile on your face:

Doggface208

The story of a man, a skateboard, a bottle of Ocean Spray cranberry juice, and a tune from Fleetwood Mac. 

Nathan Apodaca is getting his fifteen minutes of fame as he rides into the hearts of people all over the world after going viral recording himself riding his skateboard down a street, drinking cranberry juice, and lip-syncing along to Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams”.

Nathan’s story took over the internet so much so that Ocean Spray bought him a brand new truck filled with cranberry juice and a wave of people all over trying to recreate his video with their own creative interpretations, including Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac.

Macchu Picchu

Macchu Picchu opened up for the first time since closing down due to COVID-19 restrictions. However, this time was special. It only opened for one day, for one tourist from Japan.

Jesse Katayama has been stuck in Peru since March 14, when the pandemic began to wash over the world. He had plans to visit the UNESCO World Heritage site, but his plans seemed thwarted.

But with the help of a local tour company and the Ministry of Culture, Katayama was able to finally reach his destination after living among the locals since March.

STEM Scholarship

Payments provider, Sezzle teamed up with the University of Minnesota to offer a full 4-year scholarship to a student from an underrepresented community attending the school’s College of Science & Engineering.

The program will continue each year and the inaugural recipient, Jonathan Olaleye (pictured above), was the first to receive the scholarship.

Consumer Trends

Digital Adoption

• Customers’ interactions on digital platforms have increased to 58% over the course of the pandemic, accelerating digital adoption by nearly 3 years.

SMS

• With digital adoption outpacing projections, SMS has become a more effective channel with higher open and click-through rates than email and more conversational interaction with audiences.

Shopping

• Consumers still want to shop and even at the height of the pandemic and closures, data shows that orders increased close to 100% YoY with spending continuing to build momentum spurred on by online shopping.

Unemployment

• In the 2 months leading up to the peak in April 2020, unemployment increased 320% in the United States.

• While the numbers have started to decrease, unemployment is still an issue that will affect shoppers and likely impact AOV.

Saving

• This year savings have skyrocketed and spending has increased, statistics that seem to be at odds with one another. 

• It’s a story of two realities colliding as consumers are financially insecure due to the pandemic and search for reassurance and comfort in shopping.
  

Business Trends

eCommerce

• Deloitte predicts that holiday sales will increase by 1% to 1.5% for the period from November through January 2020.

• eCommerce is expected to continue its trajectory upward with growth ranging from 25% to 35%.

Holiday 2020

• Many of the brands surveyed by Attentive plan to start holiday promotions in the first week of November.

• However, this might be too late, as platforms like Amazon have recommended getting an early foothold with this holiday season shaping up to be the most competitive online shopping season possibly ever.