Retail sales in the United States climbed more than predicted in March, owing to a jump in e-commerce revenues. This demonstrated that the economy concluded the first quarter on a solid foundation.

Strong retail sales caused Goldman Sachs economists to raise their GDP growth forecast for the first quarter to 3.1%, annualized from 2.5%, reported Reuters.

The Commerce Department’s data on Monday, which came after news of solid employment gains in March and an increase in consumer prices, boosted predictions that the Federal Reserve would delay decreasing interest rates until September.

Last month, sales were buoyed by a 2.7% increase in online receipts, up from 0.2% in February, noted the report.

TikTok and Instagram are the most popular social media channels for Gen Z customers to find new brands, according to EMarkerter data.

Brand websites or apps are also popular with Gen Z buyers looking for apparel, with nearly 40% of Gen Zers saying they are its top online discovery channel.

The survey asked, “Think about the new clothing brands/products you purchased. Where did you first see or hear about them? Select all that apply.”

Clothing shoppers were those who discovered and bought a new article of clothing or product in the past 6 months.

Amazon accounted for 80% of marketplace sales, 40% of e-commerce sales, and 4% of retail sales in the United States in 2023, according to Marketplace Pulse.

A forecast by EMarketer says Walmart is far behind Amazon in e-commerce sales, with only 7.4% of retail e-commerce sales in 2023.

Amazon is the company to beat—or partner with—for e-commerce, but according to EMarketer, it does not lead in total retail sales in the United States.

However, according to Marketplace Pulse, Walmart will account for approximately 6% of total US retail sales in 2023, compared to 4% for Amazon.

TikTok’s future Instagram competitor app for photo sharing could be called TikTok Notes, according to screenshots uploaded by users, reported TechCrunch.

TikTok also stated that the app was under development.

TikTok users have recently received pop-up notifications promoting a new TikTok Notes app for sharing images.

The message states that the firm will soon introduce “a new app for photo posts” called TikTok Notes, which would allow users to share their existing photo posts. Users can choose not to share their image posts with the new app.

Store brand beauty product sales in the United States increased by 10.5% in 2023, according to data from the Private Label Manufacturers Association and Circana as of February 2024.

According to the report by EMarketer, “Many beauty shoppers have begun turning to dollar stores to find low-priced beauty products, with many stores selling dupes of popular brands and even some national brands like Garnier and Maybelline.”

A December 2023 survey by Intelligence Node and Dynata found that 17% of US shoppers were buying more store-brand items to save money.

Target just introduced dealworthy, a new private-label brand that offers a variety of products (including beauty, home, and essentials) for cheaper prices, with most items priced around $10.

Meta submitted a motion on Friday to dismiss the FTC’s monopoly charges, which contained information about how much advertising money Instagram has generated in recent years.

The Verge reported that in 2021 alone, Instagram earned $32.4 billion in revenue, outperforming YouTube, which earned $28.8 billion.

Business Insider has noted its advantage over YouTube, stating that it gives away 55% of each advertising dollar it generates to content owners who submit films, whereas Instagram gives up much less.

According to Bloomberg, the percentage of Meta’s revenue derived from Instagram increased from 26 percent in 2020 to around 30 percent in the first six months of 2022.

Total sales at British supermarkets increased by 5.4% year on year in the four weeks ending March 23, as falling inflation encouraged buyers to spend more, according to research firm NIQ market figures released Wednesday.

The growth was slightly larger than the 5.3% rise reported a month earlier, reported Reuters.

Mike Watkins, NIQ’s UK head of retailer and business insight, stated that a drop in food costs in March and supermarket competition helped sales.

“However, overall consumer spend remains under pressure as many household bills continue to increase above (inflation) and this is reflected in the continued weak consumer confidence,” he said, according to the report.

YouTube has released three new improvements for video creators that aim to provide them with a better insight of their audience and improve the user experience they deliver.

The updates include: Live stream reaction analytics; Breakdown of impressions from new and returning viewers;
The ability to live-stream to YouTube in HDR, reported Search Engine Land.

To get this information, go to your content and select the overview tab. This functionality is currently only available on Studio web and mobile.

YouTube’s product lead for homepage and recommendations, Todd Beaupre, stated on X that YouTubers should not “delete videos unless you have a very, very good reason.”

“When you delete a video, you delete your channel’s connection to the audience that watched that video. If you want to maximize your growth, keep your videos public or unlist the[m] if you must,” he added.

Elon Musk, the owner of X, posted on Thursday that “Meta was also falsely claiming credit for sales that actually originated from X” after advertisers filed a $7 billion lawsuit against Meta.

The advertisers accuse Meta of allegedly inflating ad viewership, reported Search Engine Land.

Advertisers allege they were unlawfully charged excessive prices to advertise on Facebook and Instagram.

The advertisers suing Meta claim that the Potential Reach statistic used by the company to calculate advertising expenses is based on the total number of social media accounts rather than individual users, noted in the report. They claim this strategy is problematic since it may contain bots and phony accounts, resulting in advertisers paying more money to deliver their ads to bots.

Meta rejected the allegations, stating that the price advertisers pay is based on performance measures, not the Potential Reach metric, as the case claimed.