China’s wallets have gone mobile

This latest funding round adds to its war chest, providing ample gunpowder to deploy as it looks to expand its products’ breadth and geographic reach.

On today's episode, we discuss what Facebook has become and is trying to be, what to make of social media platforms looking more and more alike, and which of these "copycat" moves might strike gold. We then talk about the significance of Nextdoor going public, how India's social media content liability laws could impact Twitter (and others), and some changes as to what advertisers can, and can't, do on social media. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer senior analyst at Insider Intelligence Jasmine Enberg.

Many of the national and regional rankings for retail ecommerce sales and growth have changed little since 2020.

China could be ready to launch the digital yuan in early 2022, and India is building a CBDC framework while also warming up to Bitcoin.

As brick-and-mortar stores remained shuttered, ecommerce quickly became the channel of choice for many consumers in Latin America. In turn, retailers quickly shifted their attention toward online sales channels to keep pace with consumers’ growing appetite for online shopping.

The pandemic was disastrous for many retailers; we estimate that total retail sales worldwide plunged 2.8% in 2020. Though, while many physical stores were shuttered, digital retail sales soared by over 25% in a single year.

Paytm expanded its BNPL solution with Postpaid Mini and PhonePe launched a digital payment solution for cash on delivery orders—helping expand the country’s digital payment solutions.

The installment lending solution helps Amazon boost ecommerce sales and break further into India’s payment space—and it may also help the etailer capitalize on the global buy now, pay later market.

India’s painful and ongoing struggle with the coronavirus pandemic will lead to a second consecutive difficult year for brick-and-mortar retail sales. At the same time, the public health anxieties constraining overall retail will continue pushing consumers toward digital solutions. We anticipate an extended boom for ecommerce in India, including 27.0% growth this year, for $66.76 billion in sales.

Top 10 countries for ecommerce growth

Health passports could leave travelers homesick

India cracks down on ecommerce giants: The country proposed regulations that would ban ecommerce sites from hosting flash sales or listing affiliated entities as sellers on their platforms, which could spell trouble for players like Amazon and Walmart’s Flipkart.

Worldwide ad spend soars: Total media ad spending will grow faster than anticipated this year, spurred by strong growth in digital and the rapid economic recoveries seen in countries with vaccine access.

The top countries for endless scrolling

This report summarizes our forecasts for nine countries—the US, Canada, France, Germany, the UK, China, India, Japan, and South Korea—and offers comparative analyses of the major time spent numbers for each.