蘑菇AV

Plan it by American Express, Chase鈥檚 Pay Over Time and Citi鈥檚 Flex Play swept JD Power鈥檚 2025 BNPL satisfaction ratings, edged out fintech competitors for the second year in a row. Our take: Moving forward, the CFPB will be hamstrung by DOGE staffing and funding cuts if it decides to take future action to curb fintechs.

The trend: Consumer experiences with health insurers鈥� digital tools lag when compared with using websites and mobile apps in other aspects of life, according to JD Power鈥檚 2025 US Healthcare Digital Experience Study. The research is based on evaluations from 6,259 members of the 15 largest Medicare Advantage plans and the 15 largest commercial member health plans in the US.

China鈥檚 retail sales ticked up in October: But mixed results from JD.com and Alibaba show that retailers still face significant headwinds.

Alibaba and JD.com tout Singles Day successes, but the data is murky: While transactions rose 27% YoY, the sale was 10 days longer than last year, making it an uncertain gauge of consumer sentiment.

Alibaba and JD.com, China鈥檚 other ecommerce giants, never gained substantial traction in the US, partly due to their lack of spending to acquire customers. US-based Wish spent heavily on digital ads and rode the pandemic-driven ecommerce boom to an IPO鈥攂ut has since lost its way.

Most recently, Amazon submitted an offer to buy TikTok in a letter to Vice President JD Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, though the New York Times reported that people involved were not taking the bid seriously. AppLovin was simultaneously in negotiations to acquire TikTok, with the Trump administration reportedly 鈥渇ully aware鈥� of AppLovin鈥檚 interest.

That said, as Alibaba and JD.com have discovered, there are limits to how far that strategy can go before it delivers diminishing returns.

While the retailer鈥檚 growth outstripped that of domestic competitors Alibaba and JD.com, it was a considerable slowdown from the 44% YoY increase it notched in the previous quarter. Earnings per share of RMB 18.53 ($2.59) fell short of FactSet鈥檚 RMB 19.85 ($2.77) estimate.

China is a global leader in online shopping, with high digital buyer and retail ecommerce penetration. Shoppers are comfortable buying luxury goods online and embracing livestreaming commerce.

The situation: Despite persistent US-China trade tensions, the Chinese economy is proving more resilient than many expected. Our take: China is navigating a high-stakes global environment more deftly than expected鈥攁 promising sign for Chinese retailers. Stronger-than-anticipated export growth, solid GDP performance, and growing trade diversification point to a more stable macroeconomic backdrop. That creates an opportunity for Chinese retailers and manufacturers to tap into rising domestic demand while expanding into alternative export markets. If this momentum holds鈥攁 big if鈥攖hey could potentially outpace the 2.0% YoY retail sales growth that we currently forecast.

Consumers love rewards鈥擳he top reason for switching credit card providers is to find a better rewards program, according to JD Power. And if consumers can earn rewards via their debit cards, it could fuel more frequent debit usage. US debit card transaction value is expected to account for 42.3% of total card transaction value this year, according to our forecasts.

Amazon reportedly made the offer via a letter to Vice President JD Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick鈥攖hough the Times reported that various people involved in the talks aren鈥檛 taking Amazon鈥檚 bid seriously. The bid 鈥渋s proof of TikTok鈥檚 prowess in ecommerce and the changing nature of how consumers shop and buy,鈥� per 蘑菇AV vice president of content Jasmine Enberg.

The news: Cardholders who pay an annual fee report higher satisfaction with their financial product than those carrying no-fee cards, per J.D. Power鈥檚 US Credit Card Customer Satisfaction Study. Our take: Chasing too quickly after the most premium cardholders risks disenchanting young, upwardly mobile professionals in the millennial and Gen Z cohorts. If these elite cards want cardholders who can grow across their financial lifetimes with their products, they need to avoid hollowing out the middle between their elite and entry-level cards.

Both Vice President-elect JD Vance and potential Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. have expressed disdain for pharma ads on TV. This sentiment will likely be drowned out by free-speech arguments as well as intense lobbying from the pharma sector and TV networks.

Nonetheless, disappointing sales from ecommerce giants (e.g., Alibaba, JD.com) and significant sales declines from smaller players (e.g., Suning and Gome) have stunted ecommerce growth. China鈥檚 retail ecommerce sales growth in 2023 was, therefore, adjusted downward from 11.4% to 10.9%. A new breed of social media platform is spurring ecommerce growth.

On the face of it, positive earnings from JD.com and Alibaba appear to indicate that consumer spending is finally turning a corner. But the two retailers鈥� buoyant sales in Q4 were helped by a much longer Singles Day sales season as well as targeted government stimulus measures, showing that shoppers need considerable enticement to loosen the purse strings.

Alibaba and JD.com reap the benefits of the retail media windfall. JD.com and Alibaba鈥檚 Tmall and Taobao are the biggest winners of the retail media advertising bonanza, as almost 90% of retail media ad spend in China is projected to go to ecommerce channels in 2024.

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.

The news: Since President Trump took office, financial watchdogs have made changes to provide more regulatory clarity for banks engaging with cryptocurrencies, per JD Supra. These changes include:. A crypto task force: Acting SEC Chair Mark Uyeda established a new Crypto Task Force to develop a comprehensive regulatory framework.

Foot Locker, JD Sports, and Macy鈥檚 are relying on Nike to shore up their struggling businesses, letting the brand get in front of a wider variety of consumers and potentially take back shelf space from competitors. But the company faces a long road to recovery, which could create more opportunities for Sketchers, Anta, and the numerous upstarts jostling to replace it.

Total new vehicle sales in December were projected to grow by 7.3% YoY, per JD Power. EV sales grew 12% YoY in Q4, an acceleration from 8% in the previous quarter鈥攂ringing full-year sales to a record 1.3 million, according to Cox Automotive.

Ecommerce titans Alibaba and JD.com are facing stiff competition from short-video platform Douyin (China's TikTok counterpart) and group-shopping discount platform Pinduoduo, both known for their competitive pricing strategies. The upstarts are thriving in China's current economic climate, where consumers have turned increasingly price sensitive.

The country鈥檚 largest ecommerce retailers鈥擜libaba, JD.com, and Pinduoduo鈥攁re investing billions of yuan to lower prices for consumers, with mixed results. Both Alibaba and JD.com are losing share, while Pinduoduo鈥檚 relentless push to offer cheaper products is resonating with cost-conscious shoppers.