If you’re leading digital growth, operational change, or customer experience, this report is built for you. The Race to Unified Commerce explores how today’s most agile brands are overcoming complexity to create connected, profitable journeys across every channel with fewer silos, smarter systems, and sharper focus.

Retail is no longer defined by isolated moments. It’s a continuous experience where customers expect every interaction to feel seamless, relevant, and rewarding.

Zoomers are 40% likely to buy a trending product on social media. Much more likely, in fact, compared to boomers (23%) Gen X (33%), but just slightly more likely than millennials (39%). If you’re targeting zoomers and millennials, and you’re not on socials… you’re not even in the conversation. But which social platforms are we talking about?

So… 66% of Gen Z is likely to buy directly from TikTok, making it the top social commerce platform for the generation.

To stay competitive in today’s evolving marketplace, businesses must look beyond traditional customer satisfaction (CSAT) metrics and prioritize customer experience (CX) as a catalyst for brand growth. Research shows that experiences contribute more to brand strength than advertising alone. Brands that achieve sustainable growth and pricing power are those that strike the right balance between meaningful relevance and distinctive difference, a dynamic seen in the contrasting strategies of companies like Starbucks and ALDI.

As more consumers seek tailored online interactions, companies can turn to AI and generative AI to better scale their ability to personalize experiences. Here’s the challenge facing brands and retailers: Communicate clearly with a vast array of consumers who speak thousands of languages, hail from countless different cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds, and make purchasing decisions based on highly personal preferences. It’s no easy feat to reach all of these consumers on a broad scale in an authentic way.

When you need to expand your business presence on the internet, you have two choices: organic growth or paid advertising. Organic growth means people find you naturally through social media content and when your website appears in search results. With paid ads, you place your message right where potential customers will see it.

The difference is that, rather than spending several months hoping your content will appear naturally on Google or gain attention on social media, paid advertising lets people see your business right away. Your company’s name and message could appear at the very beginning of search results or within social media feeds by tomorrow.

More than 6 in 10 merchants cite an increase in first-party misuse (aka “friendly fraud”) over the past year. 2/3 of merchants with annual revenues greater than $1B use in-house dispute management methods rather than third-party services. This results in up to 34% greater revenue loss versus merchants who use third-party platforms to manage disputes.

Key takeaways and insights within the report include:

Retail performance is at a tipping point. In 2024, 65% of online shoppers abandoned purchases due to poor website experience, and with peak season traffic on the rise, the margin for error is razor-thin. How site speed, efficiency & insight can optimize performance in the moments that matter most ? Yottaa’s 2025 Holiday Readiness Report provides essential insights into how top retailers are optimizing their digital storefronts to deliver faster, smarter, and more profitable experiences this holiday season.

Gen Z is ready to spend. Are you ready to capitalise? Black Friday used to be pretty straightforward. Add discounts at the front of your store and let the people fight over the products for a day. But for Gen Z, Black Friday isn’t just a sale day now; it’s practically a whole season. They go hunting across the depths of the internet (the way around which they know better than you) for the best deals and offers.