What's next in digital? How do you stay ahead?

There's a lot of noise out there.

We cut through that noise to identify the core issues so you don't have to.

Dear Reader,

Here at BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, our goal is to provide:

Unbiased insight and analysis
Forward-looking views of changing trends and impending disruption
Advanced curation of key topics to help you make smarter decisions

As part of this mission, we spend thousands of hours researching and identifying the core issues you need to know within your key areas of interest. After identifying the core issues, we then exhaustively refine all of the available research into jargon-free straightforward reports. In the past year we've produced over 50 comprehensive reports based on five areas: Mobile, Digital Media, E-Commerce, Payments, and the Internet of Things.

Here are some of our most popular reports to date:

Interested in the future of Payments?

The Payments Ecosystem Report

Understanding this complex and rapidly evolving space can be challenging.

In this explainer, we offer a high-level look at the payments industry — how it functions, who the key players are, and the trends shaping the industry. We start by explaining payment-card processing, since the majority of consumer payments and transaction volume flow through this system. From there we take a look at how consumers' move to mobile devices is changing the way we pay, and which players stand to benefit. Access This Report »

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The Mobile Payments Report

Mobile payments — the use of phones to complete transactions in stores instead of cash and physical card swipes — are going to grow much more quickly than many observers believe. As Apple, Samsung, Google, PayPal and others increase their focus on mobile wallet products, paying with phones in stores is going to become commonplace.

In this report, we explain how a few US retailers account for the vast majority of over $4.7 trillion in aggregate payment volume. Many of these retailers have already adopted the technology necessary to accept mobile payments from Apple Pay and similar apps, or plan to. It only takes a handful of these large retailers to drive an explosion in mobile payment volume and that's precisely what we think is going to happen. Access This Report »

The Peer-to-Peer Bundle of Reports

Since the financial crisis, borrowers have been eager to get lower interest rates and better access to credit, while lenders have searched for higher returns on their investments. Banks, saddled with regulatory burdens, haven't been able to fully meet these needs. This has left room for the growth of a new market — peer-to-peer lending & payments.

In this report bundle, we analyze the factors that have helped nurture the most successful markets for peer-to-peer lending, identify the next high-growth markets, and assess the risks that could stall the industry's progress. We also explore the market for P2P payments, how they work, and the types of businesses that are offering these services and why. Access This Report »

Interested in Mobile trends?

The Virtual Reality Hardware Report

There has been a lot of buzz recently around virtual reality (VR) and its potential is a new hardware device and software platform. The technology, which immerses the user in a computer-generated simulation of an environment, projects highly visual imagery in full 3D.

While the technology has been associated mostly with gaming, the platform offers new opportunities for video, e-commerce, and more.

In this report, we provide proprietary forecasts for VR headset shipments and revenue and estimate average selling price over the next five years. We also take a look at the different types of VR headset technology now on the market, discuss which categories will win out, and look at several use cases for VR headsets, including gaming and other. Access This Report »

The Smartwatch Report

Apple's trusted, high-end brand will give the smartwatch category immediate clout and help drive much more interest among consumers, particularly those attracted to luxury goods. And the pricing, materials, and design on certain models will make the Apple Watch the first smartwatch to compete in the luxury-wristwatch category.

In this report on the smartwatch market and the luxury wristwatch market, we take a closer look at the opportunity for Apple's wearable device, how it might impact the market for luxury watches, and forecasts shipments for both Apple Watch and the broader luxury watch market over the next five years. We also examine the pricing and design strategy behind Apple Watch, the new retail distribution opportunities with this device, and the wider opportunity among tech-savvy consumers. Access This Report »

The App-Store Marketing Report

The total number of apps people are using hasn't changed much over the past few years. This means users are consolidating their app choices, and spending more and more time with a few favorites. This creates added pressure to stand out in the app stores, and develop apps that can gain and keep a loyal audience.

In this report we discuss why it is becoming increasingly important that developers field a competitive app-marketing strategy for triggering downloads and encouraging sustained use, and retaining users. There are a number of different tactics, both paid and free, that marketers might use. Access This Report »

Interested in the future of Digital Media?

The Social Media Demographics Report

The demographics of who's on what social network are shifting – older social networks are reaching maturity, while newer social messaging apps are gaining younger users fast. The top trend over the last year has been the growth of image-focused social networks — particularly Pinterest, Instagram and Snapchat — among specific demographics.

In this report, we unpack data from over a dozen sources to understand how social media demographics and preferences are still shifting. Access This Report »

The Native Advertising Report

Native ads perform better than non-native ads and so command higher prices. For this reason, publishers are in a race to deploy as much native ad inventory as possible. The challenge is that native ads run the gamut — from social ads bought programmatically, to sponsorships that require an in-house staff to create.

In this exclusive report, we examine each of the different native ad formats and look at spending trends for each. We find that spending on native ads will reach $7.9 billion this year and grow to $21 billion in 2018. Social will remain the biggest slice of this spending but native-style display will grow its share rapidly. Here, you will find a detailed breakdown of spend projections and growth rates for each of the three main native ad types — social-native, native-style display ads, and sponsored content. Access This Report »

The Subscription Revenue Report

Many digital media companies have embraced monthly and annual subscriptions (or even daily subscriptions, in the case of Pandora). The business model allows digital media companies to provide a premium experience that offers more than the basic often ad-supported service level.

In this report, we look at how prominent players in five separate categories have tried to build a subscription-based revenue stream alongside ad-based businesses: the categories are video, music, news publishing, social networks/messaging, and dating apps. Of course, each category is different, and won't face the same challenges and opportunities in dialing up the percentage of subscribers and subscription revenue. Access This Report »

Interested in disruptive E‑Commerce trends?

The Social Commerce Report

Social media may still only drive a small share of total online retail sales, but its impact is becoming impossible to ignore. Social-driven retail sales and referral traffic are rising at a faster pace than all other online channels.

The top 500 retailers earned $3.3 billion from social shopping in 2014, up 26% from 2013, according to the Internet Retailer's Social Media 500. That is well ahead of the roughly 16% growth rate for the overall e-commerce market in the US.

Now new initiatives from a number of different social networks are making these platforms absolutely essential for retailers that want to drive sales and boost engagement.

In this report, we analyze social media's role in online retail — whether that's driving direct sales with the use of embedded "Buy" buttons on social media posts, or referring traffic to retailers' websites and apps. We measure the impact social media has on e-commerce by looking at metrics such as conversion rates, average order value, and revenue generated by shares, likes, and tweets. We also outline the latest commerce efforts by leading social networks. Access This Report »

The Health and Personal Care E‑Commerce Report

At $300 billion a year in sales, health and personal care is the second-largest retail category in the US behind groceries. However, like the grocery industry, e-commerce has yet to really disrupt the American drug store.

But more consumers are beginning to shop online for products that they'd typically go to a drug store to purchase. About 36 million US consumers shopped online for health and beauty products in the spring of 2014, up from 20 million consumers in spring 2010.

In this in-depth report, we look at why the health and personal care business has proved so challenging to e-commerce companies — from consumer reluctance to complicated and expensive logistics — and what new strategies e-commerce startups and big-name retailers and brands are pursuing to push more health and personal care sales online, including the increasing prevalence of recurring subscription services for these products. Access This Report »

The Shopping Cart Abandonment Report

Shopping cart abandonment — when shoppers put items in their online shopping carts, but then leave before completing the purchase — is the bane of the online retail industry.

But it's also a huge opportunity: Approximately $4 trillion worth of merchandise will be abandoned in online shopping carts this year, and about 63% of that is potentially recoverable by savvy online retailers, according to BI Intelligence estimates.

In this report, we explain what leads a shopper to abandon an online purchase and how retailers can begin to combat rising shopping cart abandonment rates. We collected and analyzed data from top e-commerce companies, and spoke with industry experts whose job it is to reduce abandonment rates and boost conversions, to come up with a number of solutions that can help retailers recover lost sales. Access This Report »

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Interested in preparing for the Internet of Things?

The Connected Car Report Bundle

The connected-car market is in its infancy, but is set to take off over the next five years; automakers and tech companies have begun to partner to put features into our cars that we would normally use on smartphones.

Early connected-car users are being equipped with technology to stream music, look up movie times, be alerted of traffic and weather conditions, and even offer driving-assistance services such as self-parking. Effectively, car companies and tech companies are together beginning to turn the car into an extension of the mobile experience.

By 2020, we estimate that 75% of cars shipped globally will be built with the necessary hardware to connect to the Internet.

In this report bundle, we look at forecasts, competing technologies, and leading manufacturers in the connected-car market. We also examine the self-driving car market by running through the current state of the self-driving car and provide in-depth analysis for how we see the self-driving car progressing over the next five years. Our detailed examination describes the economic impact that self-driving cars can have and look at the current barriers preventing the self-driving car from coming to market. Access This Report »

The Drones Report

The fast-growing global drone industry has not sat back waiting for government policy to be hammered out before pouring investment and effort into opening up this all-new hardware and computing market.

A growing ecosystem of drone software and hardware vendors is already catering to a long list of clients in agriculture, land management, energy, and construction. Many of the vendors are smallish private companies and startups — although large defense-focused companies and industrial conglomerates are beginning to invest in drone technology, too.

In this report, we take a deep dive into the various levels of the growing global industry for commercial drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This 32-page report provides forecasts for the business opportunity in commercial drone technology, looks at advances and persistent barriers, highlights the top business-to-business markets in terms of applications and end users, and provides an exclusive list of dozens of notable companies already active in the space.

Finally, it digs into the current state of US regulation of commercial drones, recently upended by the issuing of the Federal Aviation Administration's draft rules for commercial drone flights. Few people know that many companies are already authorized to fly small drones commercially under a US government "exemption" program. Access This Report »

Insurance And The IoT Report

The ability to bring internet connection to nearly every type of consumer device will have huge implications for the insurance industry over the next five years. Insurers looking to cut costs, improve business practices, and better assess clients' risk levels, will increasingly invest in the Internet of Things (IoT).

Some auto and health insurers are already offering a new type of insurance — usage-based insurance (UBI) that uses IoT devices to track clients' activity and offer discounts or rewards for healthy and safe behavior. We expect 17 million people will have tried UBI auto insurance by the end of this year.

In this report, we examine the impact of the IoT on the insurance industry. From free fitness trackers to track individuals' exercise habits to drones to assess damages in unsafe post-disaster conditions, we analyze current US insurance markets — including the auto, health, life, and property insurance markets — and look at ways insurers are integrating IoT devices. Access This Report »