P2P resale platforms such as Depop have boomed in recent years, but do brands have anything to fear from these digital communities? Canvas8 spoke to Dr. Catherine Armstrong Soule, an assistant professor Western Washington University, to discover how social selling impacts brand perceptions and loyalty.

Instagram has crafted a global community of more than 600 million users. By announcing that it'll be launching an standalone shopping app, Instagram is targeting the 98% of Gen Zers who own a smartphone - two-thirds of which are interested in purchasing directly off social media.

As more people choose to buy through their phones, brands and social platforms are striving to make on-the-go purchasing easier. In partnership with Amazon, Snapchat is introducing a visual search tool that let users discover items through their camera and purchase them in an instant.

China’s elderly population make up the most frequent users of domestic social media giant WeChat. Given this ageing user base and the demographic's greater spending power, there's an opportunity for brands to reposition themselves on the platform to cater to an often neglected audience.