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TikTok doggedly pursues ecommerce expansion: The platform inked several deals to help grow its merchant base, but it faces significant obstacles in its path to growth.

Nearly 1 in 3 consumers (31.8%) prefer not to intertwine their social media usage with shopping activities, highlighting a desire to keep these aspects of their online experience separate. The predominant reason for consumers not shopping on social media is a lack of trust in sharing personal data, with a significant 37.3% identifying it as a concern and 24% considering it the most important reason.

Brands like The Ordinary and La Mer generate tens of millions of dollars in sales on Amazon, despite not having an official partnership with the marketplace. That鈥檚 a significant brand safety risk, given the possibility of customers receiving counterfeit, damaged, or otherwise poor-quality merchandise.

Sales are quickly approaching $100 billion. Gen Z鈥檚 influence on social media habits, new commerce technologies from TikTok, and rising annual spending by buyers are the main factors driving growth. And with users now spending just shy of 2 hours on social media per day, there is plenty of room for brands and users to squeeze more sales.

Traditional mediums will take a backseat to digital. Relatively few respondents to our survey had plans for out-of-home, traditional TV, and radio in the next 12 months. That reflects a shift away from traditional media advertising and toward digital formats as consumers in Latin America spend more time online than ever before.

Third-party marketplace sales generate over half of Amazon鈥檚 total sales. Third-party marketplace ecommerce sales will grow faster than overall online sales in the US, according to our US Retail Ecommerce Marketplaces Forecast 2023 report. Retail marketplace ecommerce sales will represent over a third of total retail ecommerce sales in the US by 2027.

Retail media will continue to be the fastest-growing segment of digital advertising in the coming years. By opening up their digital platforms to third-party sellers, retailers can generate high-margin revenues from advertising and marketing services charged to sellers to promote their products both on- and offsite. Amazon has built a commanding lead in this space鈥擜mazon Ads draws more than three-quarters of US retail media ad spend.

Many brands are entering the year with flat鈥攐r declining鈥攂udgets. You can鈥檛 assume what you did last year will work this year, and your average order value and conversion rates could decline from 2022 as consumers continue to be more money-conscious, said Ken Magner, strategist, marketplace search at Tinuiti, in a recent webinar.

Walmart鈥檚 market share gains continued in Q1 as the retailer emphasizes value and convenience: The company continues to draw in more high-income shoppers, while its advertising and marketplace offerings boost revenues.

With the anticipated growth of Prime Day sales, retail media spending will balloon as Amazon retailers invest in marketplace ads to capture more attention during the event.

It is also leaning on marketplace sellers to broaden its merchandise offerings.

Digital ad spending growth in Canada continues apace, driven in large part by key industries tied most closely to the digital economy. Our rankings show that retail and CPG lead the way, while sectors like travel and automotive are still recovering from hard times during the pandemic.

So it's a very diverse landscape, be it digital marketplaces, mass merchandise, category specialists, or commerce intermediaries, thinking about those last mile players. Now, it's very interesting to see when we look at some of the major retailers, their traffic to their site is actually bigger than a lot of the major publishers in certain countries.

Rounding out the list at eighth place is Lids, the hat retailer expanding its "Hat Drop" concept from online to physical stores. The company plans to open 20 new customization hubs targeting sports memorabilia enthusiasts with personalized, localized offerings in sleek, energetic retail environments. Listen to the full episode. This was originally featured in the Retail Daily newsletter.

The under-wraps operation would give The Trade Desk a much more active role in the CTV marketplace, positioning it against other CTV platforms like Roku and Amazon and setting a standard that removes intermediaries from the ad buying process.

The latest antitrust enforcement under the EU鈥檚 Digital Markets Act (DMA) comes as Apple is in the middle of a product-wide AI pivot. The requirements: The DMA wants Apple to open up access to key features like the Siri voice assistant as well as the payments chip. Apple has six months to make cross-device interoperability easier in the EU.

Google鈥檚 I/O showcases bold AI integration across products: The announcements show its marketplace strength but it鈥檒l need an effective monetization strategy to beat the competition.

So Amazon really still having huge dominance of the e-commerce category and what we're seeing, like Paul said, we're seeing similar here is that a lot of retailers are copying Amazon's model, particularly around online marketplaces, which are becoming really popular.

The news: Chase will start to block more Zelle transactions that stem from social media marketplaces or messaging apps in order to protect consumers from scams, per The Verge. Starting March 23, Chase will 鈥渄elay, decline, or block鈥� payments using its discretion and may also request more information when consumers add a payment recipient to Zelle.

Our take: Disney is likely to find another favorable outcome in its clash with DirecTV, further diminishing pay TV鈥檚 standing in the complex video marketplace. Venu Sports has been shelved for now, but it鈥檚 potential launch could pose a significant threat to linear TV鈥檚 remaining crown jewel: live sports.

Note: Respondents were asked, "When thinking about the evolving TV/video marketplace, how many common, unified currencies should there be for impression measurement?".