Notably, just under half of all retail sales in the world take place in the US or China; for ecommerce, the two giants will account for a whopping 68.8% of the global total this year. Given this weighting, the health of the US and China goes a long way toward determining worldwide outcomes.

The super app phenomenon that started in China has spread across Asia-Pacific. Regional super apps—including Alipay, Grab, Gojek, and LINE Pay—have seamlessly woven QR code payment capabilities into their powerful ecosystems. This has put proximity mobile payment at consumers’ fingertips.

The EU, UK, China, and both the US Congress and the Biden administration are working on policies, all at various stages of development. What does this mean for marketers? Unlike other technologies, genAI interfaces use existing language skills—a factor leading to broadscale adoption.

China is expected to make an early 2022 launch of its digital yuan. That beats the other 81 countries representing more than 90% of global GDP that were exploring CBDCs as of July 2021, according to Atlantic Council data cited by Axios. Being a pioneer will allow China to resolve development hurdles and smooth out regulatory issues—barriers that could keep other countries sidelined for years.

Kearney’s China Diversification Index, which analyzes the shift of US manufacturing away from China to other low-cost countries in Asia, saw the US import value from China decrease from 66% of the total in 2018 to 55% at the end of 2021. “Made in America” will shift from a consumer preference to a business imperative.

This year, over a fifth (21.7%) of the world’s population will be users of TikTok or its Chinese counterpart, Douyin. However, a potential ban could hurt future US growth. Use this chart:. Effectively distribute budgets for social media ad campaigns. Evaluate ad strategy in the event of a US TikTok ban. More like this:. Global Social Media Update 2023 (Insider Intelligence subscription required).

The minimum sample size per quarter, per market is 1,250; bigger markets have larger quarterly sample sizes, with the maximum being 25,000 in China and the US. Respondents can only participate in GWI’s research once per year. The survey is designed to cover attitudes, perceptions, and actual behaviors.

China is the No. 1 beneficiary, with 41% of US cross-border buyers making a digital purchase from the country in 2022, per the International Post Corporation. Use this chart:. Assess retail competition on an international scale. Reframe marketing messaging to compete with cross-border retailers. More like this:. How ecommerce powers Amazon’s success in 5 charts.

The global economy is likely set for a soft landing, inflation is cooling off, and the worst is seemingly over in Europe and China. As a result, we anticipate a steady retail environment for the next several years across most regions of the world.

Governments are planning for robust investments in the sector, with China planning to spend $15.3 billion, followed by the EU’s $7.2 billion earmark, per Tech Monitor. So far this year, China-based Origin Quantum has raised the most startup funding at $148.2 million to develop its 1,024-qubit quantum processor by 2025.

The big takeaway: The Chinese government’s pandemic response has highlighted the consequences of relying on China as the world’s factory. The situation has driven a host of manufacturers to reassess their production and supply chain strategies to mitigate their risk. Yet there’s no simple way to counteract the ripple effects of slowing Chinese retail sales.

But they will need to rely less on China and navigate the changing tastes of viewers who prefer to watch new films at home.

Beyond the chart: China is absent from this ranking as its social users are on TikTok’s sister app, Douyin. This year, Douyin’s penetration among social users in China will be 77.4%, far higher than TikTok’s penetration in any country, per our forecast. Douyin is also a retail powerhouse in China, but TikTok users in the US have been slower to adopt social commerce.

I think a lot of people are worried about China and how algorithms could be leaky with their data or have biases or stuff like that. So I think you're going to have some sort of regulation around AI technology and the spread of AI technology and also around data security. I think that there'll be consensus around that, but some of the other stuff might take longer. Marcus Johnson:. Mm-hmm.

Despite that short-term pain, the company remains confident in China as a long-term growth market, said CEO Dani Reiss during the retailer’s earnings call, noting that Canada Goose continues to seek leases in key locations throughout China. Global headwinds: The economic challenges facing high-end brands extend far beyond China.

But China-based fast-fashion giants like Shein and Temu could challenge the retailer. Some 44% of Gen Z adults view Shein favorably, according to Morning Consult, which explains why Shein hauls are all over TikTok. Gen Z’s increased spending power and adherence to micro-trend fashion cycles could challenge Amazon’s fast-fashion business.

But I think to points like the ones Bill made, TikTok and ByteDance are going to be committed to doing what needs to be done to avoid getting booted out of these critical markets, especially with ByteDance being under pressure to drive growth outside of China. Marcus Johnson:. Ethan. Ethan Cramer-Flood:.

The news: Chances are high that any potential sale of TikTok to a US company will be opposed by the Chinese government, per The Information. TikTok’s complicated situation: Popular video-sharing app TikTok is facing a potential ban in the US unless its Chinese owner, ByteDance, sells it.

WeChat’s 811.0 million monthly users in China this year would place the super app in second place in Asia-Pacific, according to our figures. Tencent’s flagship also has millions of additional users among the Chinese diaspora in the region and around the world. Douyin’s 692.5 million users this year (all in China) would put it in third in the region.

Calls to ban the app are higher among those aware that TikTok is owned by China over those who are not (60% vs. 27%). Users of the app are less supportive of a ban than non-users (19% vs. 60%). 88% of survey respondents say they have little or no confidence that Chinese social media companies will follow their privacy policies regarding personal information, per Pew.

The US, China (each 24%) and Japan (23%) weren’t far behind. Cost was a bigger factor in the US and China (each 24%), followed by Japan (21%), Germany (20%), Sweden (16%), and the UK (13%). Our take: No country has a perfect system, as far as patients are concerned.

China President Xi Jinping plans to invest trillions of dollars in Chinese companies, infrastructure, and R&D to strengthen the country’s tech sector and reduce reliance on foreign suppliers. Key takeaways: While it may take years to reap the benefits of the CHIPS and Science Act, the incentives to develop US factories and technologies could go a long way in securing commitments from industry leaders.

With China showing no sign of loosening its strict zero-COVID stance, Chinese shoppers will likely continue to rely on ecommerce platforms to deliver everything from groceries to apparel—but convincing them to spend on bigger-ticket items like electronics will be difficult as consumers remain cautious.

China clamps down on AI algorithms. The news: China is introducing new regulations to artificial intelligence and various core technologies that manage ride-hailing services, social media, and communication for over 1.4 billion people. Why this could succeed: Tighter scrutiny on algorithms against unfair or opportunistic activities could result in more equitable service for Chinese consumers.

TikTok’s standard response is to promise investments in local data centers in Europe, even if the majority of its infrastructure runs through China. TikTok has admitted that data on its European users can be accessed by employees in China but denies sharing information with the Chinese government. It said the same about US user data.