The consumer habits reshaping global retail were built in the East — and most Western shoppers haven’t yet adopted them. NIQ report shows that brands still treating live, social, and quick commerce as “emerging” risk being left behind.
Chicago, 17 July 2026 — The center of gravity in global retail has shifted East. The formats now driving the fastest growth in global retail (live shopping, social commerce, and delivery in minutes) were pioneered and scaled in Asia, and most Western consumers have yet to adopt them. According to NIQ (NYSE: NIQ), a leading consumer intelligence company, in its global report The Commerce Revolution: Where East Meets West, the gap between East and West is still vast.
The scale is already substantial. China’s live-commerce market alone was worth roughly $900 billion in 2025, approaching the size of the entire US e-commerce market, according to market data cited in the report.
Yet 68% of consumers in North America and 67% in Europe have never once bought a product through social media, and roughly two-thirds have never used quick commerce. As APAC races ahead, now accounting for nearly 55% of all global e-commerce, Western brands and retailers that keep treating these channels as experiments risk being left behind. And AI is accelerating the shift.
The “must-know” numbers
- The East is the world’s e-shopping capital. APAC accounts for roughly 55% of global e-commerce revenue in 2025, and China’s live-commerce market — at approximately $900 billion — approaches the scale of the entire US e-commerce market. China’s social-commerce market alone is on track to reach $1.8 trillion by 2030, up from about $500 billion today (market figures and projection cited in the report).
- The West hasn’t fully adopted these behaviours. 67-68% of consumers across North America and Europe have never purchased through social media, and roughly two-thirds (~69% in North America, ~66% in Europe) have never used quick commerce, while 59% of APAC consumers already buy through social platforms.
- Quick commerce is a way of life in Asia. It now accounts for around 80% of FMCG online sales in India, while China’s ~10,000 dark stores enable 30-minutes-or-less delivery at national scale.
- The West’s counter-move retail media is scaling but still hard to measure. Global retail-media spend hit $184 billion in 2025 across 270+ networks (US projected at $107.6 billion in 2026), yet almost half of brands say their measurement is only somewhat effective, or not effective at all.
The story isn’t that two regions are drifting apart. It’s that they’re converging. Format-led behaviors from the East (live shopping, social commerce, ultra-fast delivery, super-apps) are increasingly running on the monetization and measurement rails built in the West. AI sits at the center of this shift, accelerating both sides: powering discovery in the East and pricing, targeting, and measurement in the West.
For manufacturers and retailers, the shift is from managing channels to orchestrating systems: connecting data, media, and commerce into a single, continuously optimizing engine. The brands that treat live, social, and quick commerce as the main event, rather than “emerging” experiments, will define the next decade of growth.
“What’s happening in Asia isn’t a threat to Western retail, it’s a preview,” said Emilie Darolles, President Western Europe, NielsenIQ. “Live shopping, social commerce and instant delivery aren’t ’emerging’ channels; in Asia they’re simply how people shop, and European consumers are already moving the same way. The brands that lead the next decade will read the East as a roadmap and act on it now, while the opportunity is still wide open.”
About the report
The Commerce Revolution: Where East Meets West analyzes the convergence of Eastern and Western commerce models across live commerce, social commerce, quick commerce, retail media networks, and emerging agentic commerce. It draws on NIQ Consumer Outlook, Retail Pulse, Digital Purchases, and Omnisales data, alongside third-party sources including McKinsey, Morgan Stanley, and Adobe.
About NIQ
NielsenIQ (NYSE: NIQ) is a leading consumer intelligence company, delivering the most complete and trusted understanding of consumer buying behavior and revealing new pathways to growth. By combining an unmatched global data footprint and granular consumer and retail measurement with decades of AI modeling expertise, NIQ builds decision systems that help companies turn complex data into confident action.
With operations in more than 90 countries, NIQ covers approximately 82% of the world’s population and more than $7.4 trillion in global consumer spend. Through cloud-based platforms, advanced analytics and AI-driven insights, NIQ delivers The Full View™—helping brands and retailers understand what consumers buy, why they buy it, and what to do next.
For more information, please visit www.niq.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements regarding market trends, projected growth of live, social, quick, retail-media, and agentic commerce, and the anticipated impact on brands and retailers. These statements are based on NIQ’s current expectations and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Third-party figures (including estimates attributed to McKinsey, Morgan Stanley, and Adobe) have not been independently verified by NIQ. NIQ undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement except as required by law.
Notes to editors
Figures in this release come from two types of source, both drawn from NielsenIQ’s The Commerce Revolution: Where East Meets West (April 2026).
NielsenIQ proprietary data: consumer-adoption figures (59% of APAC consumers buying via social; 67–68% of North American and European consumers who have never bought via social; ~69% North America / ~66% Europe who have never used quick commerce) are from the NIQ Consumer Outlook survey; India online-FMCG and quick-commerce adoption figures are from NIQ Retail Pulse and Digital Purchases; Western channel-growth figures are from NielsenIQ Omnisales.
Market figures cited in the report (not NielsenIQ-measured): the ~$900 billion China live-commerce figure (2025 market/GMV scale) and the ~55% APAC share of global e-commerce are market estimates cited within the report; retail-media figures ($184 billion global spend, 270+ networks, US $107.6 billion projected for 2026) are third-party market forecasts. Live-commerce creator/EMV figures are from WeArisma.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the single biggest finding?
China’s live-commerce market was worth roughly $900 billion in 2025, approaching the scale of the entire US e-commerce market.
Why does this matter for Western brands and retailers?
Live, social, and quick commerce are already mainstream in Asia and are now the fastest-growing parts of Western retail. The East’s playbook is becoming the global playbook, and brands still treating these formats as “emerging” experiments risk being left behind.
How far behind is the West, exactly?
67–68% of consumers in North America and Europe have never bought a product through social media, and roughly two-thirds have never used quick commerce — even as APAC accounts for nearly 55% of all global e-commerce.
What should brands do now? Shift from managing individual channels to orchestrating connected commerce systems that link data, media, and fulfillment across East and West.