This FAQ breaks down livestream shopping trends and what they mean for marketers

The effects of new tariffs are starting to hit home: Retailers that rely on discretionary spending are struggling, signaling rising anxiety among businesses and consumers—and likely slower growth ahead.

QVC partners with TikTok as time runs out on second ban deadline: The retailer’s bet on the platform reflects both the growing importance of social commerce as well as confidence in TikTok’s future.

TikTok is intent on growing livestream sales: The platform plans to open live studios and is testing ways to make all content shoppable, even as retailers shift focus to shoppable TV.

Consumers of all ages and income levels shopped Amazon Prime Day this year. Shoppers spent more this year compared with 2022, and despite a tough economic climate, Prime Day shoppers didn’t price compare as much as expected.

QVC and HSN’s parent company makes a play for younger consumers: Qurate’s new Sune mobile app features a personalized video feed to drive product discovery.

Walmart, TalkShopLive, Qurate expand livestream commerce options to bring in holiday shoppers: But celebrity guests may not be enough to overcome limited consumer adoption and awareness.

The livestream shopping landscape has completely transformed in recent years. QVC, which saw 45% of the downloads among the top 10 US livestream shopping apps two years ago, accounted for just 10% in the first five months of this year. (Apps like YouTube and TikTok were excluded because ecommerce is a secondary feature of their platforms.)

The year 2021 marks a new era for retail and ecommerce. The pandemic drove a massive shift in almost everything digital, and while 2020 will remain an anomaly in terms of the frenzied pace of adoption, consumers’ new behavior is here to stay. Over the next five years, digital activities will continue growing from today’s accelerated base.

Creator economy crescendo: Amazon is quickly building out areas of its business that center on influencers, as the walls between social media and ecommerce erode and creators' roles in those spaces start to blend together.

NTWRK pushes live shopping in the US: The livestream-centric mobile marketplace is competing with giants like Amazon and Facebook as US companies emulate China and struggle to succeed in the fledgeling livestreaming ecommerce space.

Social commerce accelerated in the US in 2020 amid the pandemic-driven ecommerce boom as key platforms advanced their shopping and checkout capabilities.

Target’s increased focus on building its ecommerce business has been paying off. The big-box retailer, which used to rank No. 11 in the US in terms of ecommerce sales, has now surpassed three competitors to become No. 8. Our latest ranking of the nation’s top retailers by online sales shows strong growth for Target’s ecommerce business, while that of QVC and HSN owner Qurate Retail Group will decline.

Though social commerce conversions will remain a challenge, the mid-funnel opportunity is growing. Instagram’s continued rollout of shoppable content features is helping brands and influencers spotlight product content and forge a better path to purchase. Pinterest has also introduced features to make it easier for retailers to upload and promote product content. And video-first platforms Snapchat and TikTok are both testing shoppable content features.

The latest round of tariffs imposed by the Trump administration could come as soon as this week. The retail industry might not feel the full impact of these measures until 2019, but additional fees on goods from China will undoubtedly affect US trade, especially if China follows through with threats of retaliating tariffs.

The share of consumers using mobile devices for retail purchases is lower in France and Germany than in several other nations in Western Europe. Yet together, the two countries will account for over $45 billion in mobile sales in 2018.