NIQ Research Reveals New Rules of Commerce: AI Is Beginning to Decide What Consumers Buy

NielsenIQ (NYSE: NIQ) has announced the release of its new global report, The Commerce Revolution: Where East Meets West, which examines how Eastern-led commerce innovation and Western retail media monetization are colliding to reshape global consumer commerce.

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The report finds live, social, and quick commerce—long scaled across Asia—now drive most incremental digital growth worldwide, while Western markets accelerate adoption as these formats localize. At the same time, retail media networks (RMNs) have become one of the fastest‑growing advertising channels globally, with US retail media ad spend projected to reach $107.6 billion (USD) in 2026.

Beyond this, the report finds that previously siloed operational functions of sellers are beginning to blur boundaries. Payment platforms and rapid fulfillment models from the East are converging with the monetization models born in the West, setting the stage for a singular global commerce model that unifies digital channels, consumer markets and operational functions.

Key findings from the report include:

• Emerging channels are scaling fast. Live, social, and quick commerce now drive most incremental digital growth globally. In the US, social commerce (+62.9%) and quick commerce (+62.2%) are outpacing traditional e‑commerce growth.
• Discovery‑led commerce is going mainstream. In APAC, nearly 60% of consumers shop via social and quick commerce. In Western markets, discovery is accelerating, with nearly one‑third of consumers purchasing after discovering products on social platforms.
• Quick commerce is resetting fulfillment expectations. In India, quick commerce now represents about 80% of FMCG sales, while China’s network of roughly 10,000 dark stores enables 30-minutes-or-less delivery at a national scale.
• Retail media is scaling globally. Retail media reached $184 billion in global spend in 2025, with more than 270 networks worldwide.
• Super‑apps point to what’s next. APAC accounts for nearly 55% of global e‑commerce, driven by integrated platforms that unify content, commerce, payments, logistics, and AI—models increasingly influencing Western markets.
• Agentic commerce is collapsing the traditional funnel. AI agents are beginning to autonomously discover, evaluate, and purchase products on consumers’ behalf, accelerating the shift toward AI‑driven decisioning and fundamentally changing how brands compete for visibility, relevance, and growth.

“The convergence of Eastern formats with Western monetization models isn’t a future scenario—it’s already reshaping the marketplace in real time,” said Marta Cyhan-Bowles, Chief Communications Officer & Head of Global Marketing COE at NIQ. “Global commerce is accelerating faster than at any point in retail history. The future won’t belong to a single region, channel, or model, but to the brands and retailers who can best understand and act on consumer demand across platforms. In this new era, commerce intelligence, connecting brands, consumers and platforms through a unified, data-rich view of the ecosystem, will define the next phase of growth for our clients.”

Underscoring how essential it is to understand how commerce is evolving, NIQ recently announced the launch of its Commerce Lab, a new initiative focused on solving the data and measurement challenges shaping the next generation of commerce. This builds on NIQ’s broader strategy to redefine how commerce is measured, validated, and scaled in an increasingly automated world.

This shift underpins The Commerce Revolution, emphasizing that this new landscape requires brands and retailers to operate more like technology, media and data companies. Brands must unify their data, content, and measurement capabilities across channels to capture value in a highly interconnected, omnichannel world.

As global commerce shifts from fragmented channels to connected systems, understanding where growth is coming from—and how value is being created—has become essential. To learn more, visit niq.com/commerce-revolution.

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.

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© 2026 Nielsen Consumer LLC. All Rights Reserved.

FAQs

What is The Commerce Revolution: Where East Meets West?
The Commerce Revolution: Where East Meets West is NIQ’s latest global report examining how Eastern‑led commerce innovations—such as live, social, and quick commerce—are converging with Western retail media, data, and monetization models to create a more connected, AI‑driven global commerce system.

What is driving this shift in global commerce?
Global commerce is moving from standalone channels toward interconnected systems. In the East, discovery‑led formats, super apps, and fast fulfillment have scaled rapidly. In the West, retail media networks, first‑party data, and measurement infrastructure have matured. AI is now acting as the connective tissue between these models, accelerating convergence worldwide.

What is commerce intelligence?
Commerce intelligence is the ability to connect what brands and retailers need to know, what consumers need to discover and decide, and how platforms operate—through a unified, data‑rich view of the commerce ecosystem. It enables more accurate decision‑making, closed‑loop measurement, and confident growth across increasingly complex commerce environments.

What is agentic commerce?
Agentic commerce refers to AI‑driven systems in which AI agents autonomously discover, evaluate, and increasingly purchase products on behalf of consumers, using real‑time data such as pricing, availability, and preferences. As this model scales, AI agents are beginning to reshape how products are discovered and chosen across platforms.

How is AI changing product discovery and purchasing behavior?
AI is shifting commerce from search‑based journeys to discovery‑led and agent‑driven decisioning. Instead of consumers actively browsing and comparing products, AI systems increasingly surface, rank, and recommend options—collapsing the traditional funnel and changing how brands compete for visibility and conversion.

What is live commerce?
Live commerce is a shopping format where products are promoted and sold through real‑time video streams—often hosted by creators or brands—combining entertainment, interaction, and immediate purchasing within a single experience.

What is social commerce?
Social commerce integrates product discovery and purchasing directly into social media platforms, where content, creators, and community influence drive awareness, consideration, and conversion.

What is quick commerce (q‑commerce)?
Quick commerce is a retail model focused on ultra‑fast delivery—often within 30 to 60 minutes—enabled by localized inventory and designed to meet immediate or top‑up consumer needs, particularly in FMCG categories.

What are retail media networks (RMNs)?
Retail media networks are advertising platforms operated by retailers that allow brands to reach shoppers using first‑party data across digital and physical touchpoints, typically near the point of purchase, with an increasing focus on measurable, closed‑loop outcomes.

Who is this report for?
This report is designed for brand manufacturers, retailers, platforms, and media leaders seeking to understand how global commerce models are converging—and how AI, data, and measurement will determine the next phase of growth.

How can NIQ help brands and retailers navigate this new commerce landscape?
NIQ is uniquely positioned to measure and understand the convergence of commerce formats, platforms, and AI‑driven decisioning. By connecting consumer behavior from discovery to purchase and enabling closed‑loop measurement across channels, NIQ helps companies quantify incrementality, optimize investments, and turn complex data into confident action as global commerce systems evolve.

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