The power of creators is alive and well—despite reports suggesting the opposite. Marketers are increasing, not cutting, their influencer spending, particularly on TikTok. But creator partnerships may not be right for every marketer, as challenges from brand safety to measurement persist.

TikTok’s rapid entry onto the social scene in Canada makes it a prime venue for marketers to increase investment. Brands of all stripes should test new ad formats, work with creators to engage audiences, and aim to trigger social commerce transactions from TikTok.

TikTok announced new Shopping Ads this week in an effort to streamline in-app ecommerce.

With millions of views on social media, celebrity endorsements, and even a scandal under its belt, Olaplex is primed for the spotlight.

In December 2021, Insider Intelligence analysts published their top five retail trends for 2022, detailing our predictions for the upcoming year. But 2022 has been anything but predictable. In this Analyst Take, we revisit those trends to find out what’s changed, what’s stayed the same, and how we’re thinking about five of retail's biggest trends amid this era of uncertainty.

Influencer marketing has a disclosure problem: The Crypto market in particular has seen top creators push what turned out to be scams, costing followers millions.

TikTok’s growth could be stifled by ties to China: Intense demand and repeated scandals have the company twisted in a knot.

On today's episode, we discuss what happens next now that the newsletter boom has faded, Uber getting serious about grocery, how Starbucks is defying inflation, whether Spotify can revolutionize podcast ads, robots doing all of our housework, an unpopular opinion about TikTok's hype, why so many baseballs are used during a game, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our director of reports editing Rahul Chadha and analysts Suzy Davidkhanian and Blake Droesch.

On today's episode, we discuss the most important figures from Meta's Q2 earnings, the biggest challenges for the company, and how much of a competitor TikTok really is. "In Other News," we talk about the new social media app BeReal, its impact on the space, and what changes we can expect to see as Gen Z takes over social media from millennials. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Debra Aho Williamson.

When it comes to online shopping, 61% of US consumers begin their product hunt on Amazon, close to half on a search engine like Google, and 32% on Walmart.com.

Among US companies investing in digital video advertising, the share that did so exclusively on YouTube increased from 47% in Q4 2021 to 60% in Q1 2022, for a total of roughly 9,300 companies in the US.

What’s next for TikTok? The social video behemoth could be expanding into music streaming services to challenge Spotify and Apple Music. We look at other tech segments ripe for a TikTok takeover.

On today's episode, we discuss whether Instagram is starting to look a little too much like TikTok, why we're seeing more brands pop up in movies and TV shows, how to win young people's loyalty, what comes after the iPhone, the potential of NFL+, an unpopular opinion about vinyl versus digital audio, some interesting population facts, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our director of reports editing Rahul Chadha and analysts Blake Droesch and Paul Verna.

The TikTok train continues to gather steam, with growing user numbers, engagement rates, and ad revenues. But UK marketers have a lot to consider when marketing on TikTok—where catching the eye of users is an entirely different proposition than it is on other social platforms.

On today's episode, we discuss what to make of Snapchat's Q2 sales slump, what the No. 1 challenge facing the company is, and how Snapchat+ will fair. "In Other News," we talk about how to best interact with Gen Zers on social media and the significance of TikTok testing games in the app. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Jasmine Enberg.

There will be about 94 million users on TikTok by the end of this year. As the platform pushes further into commerce in the US, our Reimagining Retail podcast team weighed in on which communities are having the greatest impact.

Canada’s consumers are slowly but surely shifting to online shopping, with ecommerce more than doubling its share of total retail sales since 2019. In this report, we look at the various retail milestones Canada will reach in 2022, as well as our first-ever breakdown of the country’s ecommerce sales by product category.

Growth of total retail sales in Southeast Asia is set to accelerate in 2022, bucking the global slowdown trend and roaring past its pre-pandemic rates. Singapore will shine exceptionally bright by leading the region in ecommerce growth.