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TikTok鈥檚 rapid ascent in social commerce is drawing comparisons to Amazon鈥檚 flywheel strategy. The platform is taking multiple steps to achieve its goal of quadrupling its global ecommerce business to a potential $20 billion in annual merchandise sales through TikTok Shop. Here鈥檚 what鈥檚 working, what isn鈥檛, and what has yet to be seen.

On today鈥檚 podcast episode, host Bill Fisher is joined by our researcher Man-Chung Cheung and analyst Carina Perkins to examine TikTok鈥檚 ecommerce plans around the world, looking at what鈥檚 driven success in some markets and held it back in others.

Slower growth in these segments could drag down overall ecommerce expansion. Compounding the challenge are strained logistics systems, longer fulfillment timelines, and increased risk of inventory stockouts, as carriers and the USPS must now verify package values. While ecommerce will continue to gain share of total retail, growth is likely to fall short of prior projections.

37% of ecommerce marketers worldwide use AI for customer service and support, according to February 2024 data by Qualtrics and Klaviyo.

Livestream shopping gains steam in the US: Twenty-four percent of US consumers have participated in a livestream shopping event, up from 16% last year, which is why Shein and Zara are investing in the channel.

Search giant and AI leader Baidu is working on reimagining its services with genAI, from search and document creation to digital avatars for livestream shopping. Currently, Baidu鈥檚 AI chatbot Ernie generates 18% of the company鈥檚 search results. India鈥檚 genAI sector is also gaining momentum.

August retail sales data points to consumers鈥� continued resilience: While spending is healthy, shoppers remain deal-focused as they look ahead to the holiday season.

The opportunity: Buy now, pay later (BNPL) is forecast to become a 鈧�300 billion ($315.4 billion) industry in Europe by 2025, making up about 11% of the continent's ecommerce market, per Tech.eu. Klarna wants to capitalize on this growth by expanding into high-growth-potential markets. Eastern Europe鈥檚 immature BNPL market offers untapped opportunities for Klarna to grow.

UK: Plans to ban ads for foods high in fat, sugar, and salt in 2024. Singapore: Banned ads for sugary drinks in 2020. The evidence is mixed on whether these bans change consumer behavior. "It takes a much more holistic approach just to sort of promote healthier diets," Cheung said regarding food advertising restrictions.

Following its recent UK banking license approval, the fintech giant aims to enter the growing stablecoin market alongside Circle, Tether, and PayPal. This positions Revolut to expand its crypto services, enhance transaction efficiency, and strengthen its foothold in digital finance. Stripe has returned to crypto, starting with the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin.

Personalized Promotions tools to help advertisers offer discounts in markets including the US, UK, Canada, Australia, France, and Japan. A new bidding feature in Performance+ that lets advertisers maximize the overall value of campaigns, not just clicks or conversions, giving them more control to tailor their strategies.

That could mean a divesture of Boots, the company鈥檚 UK pharmacy chain that has been in talks to be sold multiple times over the past few years. It would also likely indicate even more layoffs and an acceleration of its planned store closures as Sycamore looks to right-size the business.

In addition to a US listing, Klarna is also considering a UK listing. The BNPL company is seeking a valuation of around $20 billion, per Bloomberg. This is up considerably from its $6.7 billion valuation in 2022鈥攖hough nowhere near its record $45.6 billion valuation. The takeaway: The BNPL industry is leaning into subscription models.

And finally, across the ponds on the south coast of England, we have our senior analyst, who covers everything retail and e-commerce for the UK and a bit of Western Europe as well. It's Carina Perkins. Carina Perkins:. Hi, Marcus. I'm so thrilled to be here. Marcus:. Okay, let's just get this out of the way.

According to July 2022 data from Anteriad, 61% of marketers in the US and UK have a CRM in their martech stack. CRMs are traditionally owned by the sales team, but they are now essential to show attribution and marketing鈥檚 contribution to revenue growth. Predictions. Marketers that don鈥檛 get integration right will miss the mark.

And Spotlight, a collection of new and revamped services including a search engine and video content for shopping, demonstrates its ambitions to become a super app. It used partnerships to branch out. Klarna expanded its tie-in with Marqeta to bring physical cards to the US and launched BNPL products focused on groceries.

Retail ecommerce has entered a new era of slow and steady growth in most countries. This status quo replaces the previous era of spectacular growth and jarring declines.

Outside advisors provide guidance, like current ZEO (no, that鈥檚 not a typo), British American fashion designer Harris Reed. So how does Edelman tap into the Lab? 1. Proactively, with education about macro trends:.

Why it matters: A take-private deal with Sycamore could include a sell off of some pieces of Walgreens鈥� business, such as Boots, the company's UK pharmacy chain that has been in talks to be sold multiple times over the past few years.

Can Tubi break into a tight UK streaming market? The Fox-owned service launched in the UK last week hoping to capitalize on a turn toward cheaper streaming options.

BNPL providers have built out their shopping features to capitalize on holiday spend. Klarna launched a suite of retail tools in October including an AI-powered shopping lens, cash-back rewards in the UK, and shoppable videos. And Afterpay partnered with Rokt last week to display targeted offers in Afterpay鈥檚 checkout, which can help boost basket sizes. 3.