Yuanyuan (Gina) Cui – The Conversation

Many online shoppers who order from independent small retailers have no idea who ships their goods. Odds are growing that it’s Amazon. AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

May 25, 2026

You’ve been trying to get around Amazon – but it’s not that easy

Yuanyuan (Gina) Cui, Coastal Carolina University and Patrick van Esch, Coastal Carolina University

For shoppers tying to avoid Amazon, its expansion into shipping and logistics for thousands of companies makes that choice more difficult.

Alors que le pouvoir d’achat est sous pression, les produits alimentaires haut de gamme prospèrent. Pxhere

May 3, 2026

Pourquoi les États‑Uniens se serrent la ceinture mais peuvent dépenser près de 20 euros pour un smoothie

Yuanyuan (Gina) Cui, Coastal Carolina University and Patrick van Esch, Coastal Carolina University

Et si le vrai luxe, aujourd’hui, se trouvait dans l’assiette ? Derrière l’essor de l’alimentation premium, une transformation des façons de consommer et de se raconter.

A selection of smoothies are listed in front of the high-end grocer Erewhon in Culver City, Calif., on July 17, 2024. Photo by Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

April 8, 2026

Why Americans are buying $22 smoothies despite feeling terrible about the economy

Yuanyuan (Gina) Cui, Coastal Carolina University and Patrick van Esch, Coastal Carolina University

Virtue-signaling and self-care help explain a popular new kind of splurge, even as American shoppers pull back elsewhere.

AI could soon be buying things for you – maybe without even asking. Andriy Onufriyenko/Moment via Getty Images

October 20, 2025

OpenAI slipped shopping into 800 million ChatGPT users’ chats − here’s why that matters

Yuanyuan (Gina) Cui, Coastal Carolina University and Patrick van Esch, Coastal Carolina University

AI agents are poised to do your online shopping for you, with major consequences for the e-commerce industry – and your ability to make choices.

‘Gone but not forgotten’ could become a big understatement in the age of AI. Marina113/iStock via Getty Images

January 8, 2025

Logging off life but living on: How AI is redefining death, memory and immortality

Patrick van Esch, Coastal Carolina University and Yuanyuan (Gina) Cui, Coastal Carolina University

Ethical and legal issues around death in the digital age are thorny enough dealing with social media accounts. AI puts the notion of a digital afterlife into overdrive.

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