Deep Research
Why Harry's $16 Drops Work Where Subscriptions Can't
A 13-year-old DTC razor brand is using 10,000-unit body-wash batches to pull in 25-to-34-year-olds. The mechanism is reproducible — the base case for using it isn't.
Influencer Trust Collapsed, AI Trust Is Next
A new Harris Poll survey finds 68% of US shoppers have lost trust in influencer recommendations in the past 12 months — and 75% say a single round of paid AI placements would cost AI agents the same standing. Cross-border sellers have a narrow window to be the trust layer that survives both collapses.
TikTok Shop's Fastest-Growing Buyer Is Over 45
TikTok Shop did $4.9 billion in U.S. sales in Q1 2026, up 46% year over year. The number everyone quoted. The number almost nobody unpacked: per Consumer Edge panel data first reported in *The Wall Street Journal*, the fastest-growing spender cohort on the platform isn't Gen Z. It's adults 45 and over
TikTok Shop's Subscription Bet Meets the Cancellation Era
Sellers got a recurring-revenue lever the same week consumers are auditing recurring spend. The categories that work — and the design choices that decide retention — look nothing like SaaS.
Shein's Dublin Probe Is a Marketplace Seller Problem
Ireland's DPC just opened the same Chapter V inquiry that produced the €530M TikTok fine — one year ago, almost to the day. If you sell on Shein Marketplace, TikTok Shop, or AliExpress in the EU, the Dublin playbook is now your problem too.