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Consumers brace for tariff-related price hikes: Some take preemptive action, with 1 in 10 shoppers making a big-ticket purchase to sidestep rising costs.

Douyin, TikTok's Chinese sibling, is about to become China鈥檚 largest social platform. It's also crashing the country鈥檚 ecommerce party. Already the fourth largest online shopping platform by sales, its market share is rapidly approaching JD.com's.

The considerable uncertainty surrounding Temu鈥檚 business model could be hurting its ability to attract shoppers: Weekly active customers fell 9% YoY for the week ended February 15, per Earnest Analytics. Our take: PDD is in a tough spot.

Nike is trying to reposition its direct-to-consumer (D2C) segment as a full-price business, starting with its ecommerce channels. Nike Digital went from having over 30 promotional days last January and February in North America to zero, Hill said. That helped boost full-price sales, but not enough: Nike Digital鈥檚 North America sales fell 12% YoY during the quarter.

Gen Z shoppers embrace Temu, Shein, and TikTok Shop: 1 in 4 makes a purchase at a Chinese online marketplace at least once a week, as their array of cheap, trendy goods proves impossible for the price-sensitive cohort to resist.

US consumers shop frequently with Temu and Shein, despite trust issues: Both Chinese retailers are winning more repeat customers than established players like eBay and Etsy.

Walmart faces heat after asking Chinese suppliers to cut prices: The retailer鈥檚 attempt to shift the burden of US tariffs backfired, highlighting the widespread impact of the trade war.

Costco tries to shift tariff burden onto China suppliers: But that strategy comes with increasing risks as Beijing takes a more active role.

China鈥檚 example would suggest that retail media has enormous headroom for growth in the US. Companies like Amazon have been growing their ad revenues by leaps and bounds, and yet ecommerce channel ad spending will still only represent 14.6% of the US digital ad market this year. In China, the share will be 38.1%.

Zooming out: Consumers are validating marketers鈥� concerns as Canada, China, and the EU implement retaliatory tariffs. 91% of US shoppers are preparing to change their buying habits in response to the tariffs, with 41.4% planning on using sales or coupons, per Numerator, indicating that many might be hesitant to accept future price spikes.

The most popular channels for pet food-related information are traditional ecommerce platforms such as Tmall and JD.com (64.7%), short video ads (58.5%), and pet shop ads (41.9%). South Korea is increasingly falling in love with cats and dogs. For six years, South Korea has had the lowest fertility rate (the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime) in the world.

Beauty ecommerce is surging: While India has historically been a difficult market to break into given high levels of protectionism from its government, the rise of ecommerce has made it easier for companies to set up shop. Platforms like Nykaa and Blinkit offer the opportunity to get in front of avid beauty shoppers.

Temu and Shein won over cost-conscious shoppers in 2024: But regulatory concerns over tax loopholes, product safety, and labor practices could weigh on growth in 2025.

How will tariffs affect international ecommerce? Trump鈥檚 punishing tariffs on Chinese imports could significantly impact Chinese retailers like Temu and Shein, which rely on low-cost goods to compete in the US.

China鈥檚 deflationary spiral is expected to continue this year: A sharper-than-expected drop in prices in February underscores Chinese consumers鈥� extreme reluctance to spend.

With the majority of Foxconn鈥檚 manufacturing taking place in China, ongoing tariffs are squeezing the company while it鈥檚 already facing a 13% YoY drop in Q4 profits and net operating losses. Our take: Foxconn鈥檚 warning highlights a growing problem for Big Tech鈥攖ariffs are no longer just a supply chain issue; they鈥檙e a long-term strategic headache.

"Nobody knows what's going to happen and when," said our analyst Rachel Wolff on a recent 鈥淏ehind the Numbers鈥� podcast, about the potential impact of tariffs. "Everybody's just waiting until the last possible minute to figure out, will these actually go into effect?" Retailers are bracing for disruptions as President Donald Trump鈥檚 on-again, off-again tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada, China, and the EU loom.

JD saw strong double-digit YoY growth in 鈥渕ost of our product categories as well as key metrics, such as our quarterly active users and shopping frequency,鈥� CEO Sandy Xu said in a statement. Behind the numbers: JD鈥檚 upbeat earnings mirror a similar report from Alibaba, which saw a sizable uptick in both new customers and orders in Q4 as shoppers appeared more eager to spend.

TikTok sister app Douyin is a livestream behemoth in China, where nearly 40% of internet users also engage in livestream shopping, according to our forecast. But in the US, the format hasn鈥檛 caught on in the same way.

On today's episode, in our "Retail Me This, Retail Me That" segment, we discuss why livestream shopping hasn't caught on in the US and the UK the same way it has in China, what TikTok is doing to make the US鈥檚 launch more successful than the UK's, and what shoppers are looking for from a livestream. Then for "Pop-Up Rankings," we rank the top four brands that have done livestream shopping well. Join our analyst Sara Lebow as she hosts analysts Sky Canaves and Carina Perkins.

Temu, Shein, and TikTok Shop are winning this holiday season: Sales growth for all three outpaced larger players like Amazon and Target in November.

Zara bets on live shopping following China success: The fast-fashion retailer is expanding its live commerce capabilities to the US, UK, and Europe.