In a study of select countries, adults favored in-store over online shopping everywhere except China. There, 54% would rather shop digitally and only 16% preferred physical stores, while the rest had no opinion.

Alibaba’s stranglehold on ecommerce in China is loosening: The company’s earnings disappointed amid weakening consumer demand, robust performances from rivals, and more scrutiny from Beijing.

It should come as little surprise that Amazon was the top US shopping app in 2021, downloaded 40.0 million times that year. More remarkable is Shein’s leap to the No. 2 spot, up from seventh place in 2020. The Chinese fashion giant had 32.0 million US downloads under its belt in 2021, 68% more than the year prior.

In China, ecommerce sales will make up a substantial share of 2022's total retail sales at 46.3%, while the UK and South Korea will round out the top 3, with 36.3% and 32.2% ecommerce shares, respectively.

Shopify works with ecommerce giant JD.com to help its merchants sell in China: The deal marks a major push into China for Shopify and broadens JD.com’s international reach.

China continues to lead the world in all things ecommerce, including innovation. Social commerce livestreaming is just one of many new stories for 2021 and beyond.

The virtual world will change the way consumers in China interact online and shop.

In 2022, 40.7% of China’s digital ad spending will go toward the ecommerce channel, for ads offered by retailers like Alibaba and JD.com. This eclipses the share in the US, where 14.5% of digital ad spending will flow to ecommerce channel ads sold by the likes of Amazon, Walmart, and eBay.

Chinese fast-fashion retailer Shein seeks a $100 billion valuation: That’s more than the combined worth of H&M and Zara, despite Shein selling exclusively online.

Mobile payments are near universal across use cases in China, thanks to high mobile penetration and the rise of a wallet duopoly that’s made them accessible, affordable, and convenient.

Shein’s legal maneuvers demonstrate its global ambitions: The fast-fashion retailer is expanding its Singapore presence as it attempts to bypass stricter Chinese rules on offshore IPOs.