alt-commerce livestream shopping feature

Alt-Commerce: The Future of Consumer Buying and Selling

| Olivia Viniss

In recent years, a new wave of non-traditional, alt-commerce models has emerged, challenging our assumptions about consumer purchasing and preferences. Alt-commerce represents a radical shift in the way people buy and sell products. Innovation and technological advances, coupled with the need to foster closer customer relationships, have given rise to new selling channels.

TikTok phone feature

TikTok Reportedly Tests In-App Shopping in U.S.

| Mike O'Brien

As Amazon stumbles, planning to lay off ten thousand workers, drastically scaling back its facilities plans and missing earnings forecasts, ascending rival TikTok is becoming more of a globally dominant behemoth, day by day. The latter reportedly began testing an in-app shopping feature with select U.S. retailers last week.

China Luxury Goods Market Up 48% in 2020

| Mike O'Brien

Driven by a pandemic-fueled lack of travel and more disposable income, the China luxury goods market grew 48% in 2020, doubling the country’s overall share, according to Bain & Company. The upward trend is expected to give China a leading share of 45% of the global luxury market by 2025, outpacing Europe and North America.

SEKO Acquires Freight Forwarder Air-City to Expand Its Services in China

| Mike O'Brien

SEKO Logistics has acquired New York-based freight forwarder and cross-border ecommerce firm Air-City, Inc. for an undisclosed sum as it looks to expand its shipping capabilities into China and add resources and infrastructure in the critical New York area. A year ago, SEKO acquired GoodShip International Inc. in Chicago.

China and India: The Most Advanced in Payment Technologies

| Daniela Forte

China and India are the most advanced in terms of cross-border payment technology and providing options to make the process as friction-free as possible, according to data from Worldpay. See what trends are shaping cross-border payments in Latin America and which markets are most popular for U.S. merchants to sell into.