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The first edition of our Global Digital Index offers a clear-eyed look at the digital shopping landscape in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)—namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

We forecast PayPal’s core US users will reach 92.5 million this year, which accounts for more than 4 in 10 US digital buyers. Incentives like rewards can help with uptake, and if its relationship with Coinbase can make paying with the asset more accessible at the POS, it could take off.

Mental health is the leading value that Gen Z, an essential source of digital buyer growth, wants brands to support. Reaching critical audiences requires brands to align with the social issues that resonate with these consumers. Audiences are willing to shift their spending away from brands that don’t remain committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives like mental health awareness.

For digital shoppers, retailers can showcase convenience, delivery perks, and digital personalization. To connect the online and in-store experience, retailers can use services like click-and-collect or in-app shopping lists to help consumers move seamlessly between channels. This was originally featured in the Retail Daily newsletter. For more retail insights, statistics, and trends, subscribe here.

There will be 42.4 million fashion online resale platform buyers in the US this year, nearly a fifth (18.8%) of total digital buyers, according to a December 2023 Ä¢¹½AV forecast. We estimate that each of those buyers will spend an average of $345.92 on those platforms this year.

Ä¢¹½AV four in 10 US digital buyers will use BNPL this year, per our forecast. But it could cause friction among merchants who may not want to be automatically opted into accepting the payment method: BNPL can be more expensive for retailers to accept than cards or other payment types. Our take: In-store has become the new battleground for BNPL players.

Our take: While brands might feel pressured to step away from DEI or face conservative legal pushback, staying committed will continue having benefits, especially for brands that want to reach younger audiences driving digital buyer growth. Gen Z attitudes indicate that ditching DEI is a business risk—but that maintaining authentic commitments is an opportunity.

Digital shopping is especially social. Gen Zers lag behind millennials and Gen Xers in digital buyer penetration, as a large portion of Gen Z does not yet have disposable income. As these future digital buyers grow up and become financially solvent, their digital behaviors should be closely watched. Financial rewards are not the only motivation for Gen Z.

AR reshapes the digital shopping experience. Virtual try-before-you-buy is revolutionizing how consumers interact with products in digital environments. By 2027, a quarter of all digital shoppers will engage with AR shopping, per our forecast. And by 2028, 78% of social network users are projected to interact with its shopping features.

Snapchat maintains demographic strength with younger audiences, especially Gen Z, the predominant source of digital buyer growth. Highlighting its ability to reach these demographics over other platforms could attract advertisers and creates looking to target this audience.

For each consumer who supports brands stepping away from DEI initiatives, four to five would reward companies that stand by them. 77% of consumers are willing to abandon brands that reverse support for diversity. 40% of Gen Z adults have stopped using or purchasing from brands who contradicted or reversed their DEI efforts—critical as Gen Z represents the primary source of digital buyer growth.

The number will grow to 17.4 million by 2028, per our forecast—accounting for over 39% of digital buyers, and nearly a third of the population. Social media plays an important role in discovery. Gen Z, in particular, is likely to discover new products through social media ads (60%) and influencer posts (46%), per AB Tasty.

Its popularity in China, where 47.2% of digital buyers will be livestream buyers, remains unmatched. But after a few years of uncertainty, digital marketers in the US can now be sure that livestreaming has a bright future in their home market. Social media is the main driver, but not the only one.

But advertising around film and TV content on Snapchat is a significant opportunity to reach consumers where they’re more likely to be engaged and receptive to brands—especially Gen Z, which accounts for the majority of Snapchat users and represents the predominant source of digital buyer growth, per our forecast.

Breaking it down: Younger generations like Gen Z and millennials have increasing spending power and represent the predominant sources of digital buyer growth.

Between Q4 2023 and Q2 2024, the number of digital buyers on Temu surged from 1.3 million to 1.7 million, while digital buyers on Shein increased from 0.8 million to 1.1 million, according to Roy Morgan Research. Temu’s and Shein’s retail ecommerce sales in Australia were $1.7 billion and $1.1 billion, respectively, from June 2023 to June 2024, per a Roy Morgan Research forecast.

We expect Mercado Libre’s digital advertising business to nearly double in size between 2024 and 2026—rising from $1.04 billion to $2.00 billion—driven by an influx of new digital buyers and more full-funnel ad offerings. Mercado Pago is a key part of Mercado Libre’s mission to make digital payments a common part of everyday life.

But only about half (51.7%) of Asia-Pacific’s population will be digital buyers in 2025. The region is in second-to-last place ahead of only the Middle East and Africa in digital buyer penetration. While adoption is very high in Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, the region’s other countries are laggards, underlining their market potential.

The platform maintains strong penetration with Gen Z, a key source of digital buyer growth. While platforms like Instagram also have millions of Gen Z users, Gen Z represents over 50% of Snapchat’s user base—which isn’t the case for Meta platforms. Highlighting Snapchat’s ability to provide authentic social connection is critical in a time where many platforms are evolving toward broadcast models.