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The trend: Consumers are less satisfied with chain drugstores than with mail-order pharmacies, mass market merchandisers, and supermarket pharmacies, according to JD Power鈥檚 US Pharmacy Study. Our take: We expect consumers to increasingly explore different channels for getting their prescriptions, both in-person and online鈥攅specially folks in areas affected by drugstore closures. CVS and Walgreens have a built-in advantage of established pharmacy customers, but will lose more of them if they don鈥檛 address long lines at the counter and improve their online and in-app capabilities.

Alibaba and JD.com embark on ambitious expansions despite challenging conditions: Both are making expensive delivery investments that could worsen China鈥檚 price wars.

JD.com challenges Meituan鈥檚 food delivery dominance: The Chinese ecommerce giant will hire 100,000 workers to help break the latter鈥檚 hold on the industry.

JD plans $27.9 billion investment in Chinese manufacturers to ease tariff impact: Ecommerce peers Alibaba and Meituan will join to help export-oriented companies attract domestic customers.

Beijing鈥檚 crackdown on the price wars being waged across China鈥檚 economy is forcing PDD to tread carefully, even as it ramps up spending to narrow the gap with JD.com and Alibaba.

Alibaba, PDD Holdings, and JD.com are the second, third, and fourth largest retail media ad companies in the world. They trail Amazon鈥檚 ad revenue total by a wide margin but tower over companies like Walmart. Worldwide retail media ad spending has years of strong growth ahead. Advertisers around the world will spend $169.06 billion on retail media in 2025.

Alibaba鈥檚 Tmall, JD.com, and Douyin started 618 deals as early as May 13, in part to capitalize on the subsidies, which drove an early boost in sales. Retailers took a similar tack during last year鈥檚 Singles Day, with sales starting the month before鈥攁nd are likely to do so again this year as sentiment remains subdued. Our take: China鈥檚 economy is in a precarious position.

Outpacing Alibaba and JD.com, Pinduoduo retail ecommerce sales grew by 12.5% in 2024. Pinduoduo also surpassed JD.com in sales鈥攁 testament to the group-buying model鈥檚 appeal to price-sensitive consumers in China. Growth will slow to 6.5% in 2025 before accelerating to 7.2% in 2026. Sales growth on Xiaohongshu (RedNote) is projected to reach 10.5% in 2025.

Provide an overview of our UK key ecommerce retailers forecasts as of Q4 2024, including Amazon, Sainsbury鈥檚, Tesco, John Lewis Partnership, Ocado, Next, Currys, Boots, Marks & Spencer, Asos, JD Sports, and Boohoo. Help retailers benchmark their sales against Amazon and other competitors. Equip retailers with the data to forecast future ecommerce sales growth.

That has led to superficial results, with Alibaba, Meituan, and JD.com all issuing statements in late July declaring their commitment to ensuring fair competition. But finding long-term solutions won鈥檛 be easy, because many companies鈥攑articularly in the hypercompetitive EV space鈥攈ave deep ties to local governments, and at least for the time being have no real incentive to change tactics.

At the same time, PDD is plowing tens of billions of yuan into promotions and other incentives to stay competitive with the likes of Alibaba and JD.com鈥攁s well as make sure its merchants can survive both domestic and global uncertainty. Those investments sapped profits in Q1 and will continue to do so as the company continues its RMB 100 billion ($14 billion) merchant support plan.

At the same time, it鈥檚 working more closely with long-time retail partners like Foot Locker, Dick鈥檚 Sporting Goods, and JD Sports. But it has a lot of ground to make up: Wholesale revenues fell 7% YoY in the last fiscal quarter, a sign that retailers are reconsidering orders amid Nike鈥檚 declining brand heat and weakening demand.

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