Mary Meeker's Internet Trends 2018

Well, hello there! Its been a while :) I have been meaning to get back to this blog thing for a few months now and its been hard finding the time and clarity of thought to pen down some thing that I thought would be of value to you guys...and then, Mary Meeker released her Internet Trends Report.  As I created my list of takeaways from this year's report, it struck me, this is right around when I created my blog last year! So, wow, its been a year.  Thanks to all of you who have subscribed, provided words of encouragement and most importantly, given me a voice.

Which brings me back to Mary Meeker's report that covers Internet Trends in 2017 - The Year of Voice!

If you have been subscribing since I started this, you are familiar with Mary Meeker, a venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byer.  Each year, Mary publishes a (rather long but insightful) report on trends that are shaping business and consumer investment across the world.


This year's report is 294 pages long.

A simple Google search will yield you a lot of recaps and I find it helps me to jot down my key takeaways and the implications it has for the industry I am in.  So, without further ado, here are my takeaways for this year:

1.       2017 - The Year of Voice (Slides 25, 26): Google’s Machine Learning Word Accuracy has now converged with the threshold for human accuracy!  Amazon Echo’s install base increased from ~8MM at the end of 2016 to >30 MM at the end of 2017.
What should you be thinking about?: When does your company expect your customers’ shopping behavior to become more voice led and how can you time your investment in this channel so when customers are ready, so are you?

2.       Using Personalization to improve experience (Slides 29-31): Companies are using a combination of personal plus collective data to recommend everything from music and movies you will like (Spotify, Netflix) to better routes for your commute from Downers Grove to Downtown Chicago ;) At the same time, there is a heightened need for companies to protect their customer data from unintended consequences and reassure customers that their data is not being improperly used.
What should you be thinking about?: How can you combine owned and third-party customer data to better predict products a customer is most likely to buy?  I have recently seen some fascinating use of this data in conjunction with neural networks to surface products with a high probability of purchase.  

3.       Amazon as a Search Engine?!?! (Slide 62-69) : More product searches start on Amazon than Google (49% vs. 36% split across search engines).  Traditionally, we have seen Google as the ad platform and Amazon as the commerce platform. Each company is now trying to own a piece of the other’s pie – Google is fighting back with more “shopable” ads and Amazon now has their own Ad platform that is growing steadily.  
What should you be thinking about?: If you sell on Amazon, how does your product rank on their platform? How big of an impact do PLAs have on your business and do you expect that to increase?

4.       Social Media Driving Discovery AND Purchases (Slide 71): Per a Curalate customer survey in 2017, 78% of respondents (18-34 years old, USA) had discovered a product on Facebook and 59% on Instagram.  55% of respondents (18-65 years old, USA) had bought a Product online after social media discovery.
What should you be thinking about?: Albeit based on a small sample size for the survey, these are staggering numbers.  If not already, my guess is UGC and social sharing are areas of increasing focus in the coming months.

5.       CLTV becomes even more important as CAC rises (Slide 76): “In performance-based [digital advertising] channels, competition for top placement has reduced ROIs over the years & been a source of margin pressure…”
What should you be thinking about?: This, to me, underscores the importance of growing your Retention channels and improving cSAT and NPS so you don't have leaky buckets.

6.       Subscription Service Growth (Slide 81):  Newspapers and magazines have always understood subscriptions.  Adobe made a huge shift while I was there from selling an annual license for Photoshop products to a monthly subscription.  Amazon’s Subscribe & Save, StitchFix, Ipsy, Spotify, Peloton, the list goes on…businesses and customers are embracing the subscription model.
What should you be thinking about?: How can you reimagine your current and new products through a subscription lens?  Monthly delivery of flowers and chocolate covered strawberries? Any takers?? 

7.       

Mobile Ad Spend trending in the right direction (Slide 96) : In 2016, people spent 28 percent of their media time on mobile yet it only received 21 percent of ad spend.  In 2017, we are seeing 29% of time spent on mobile and 26% of ad spend on mobile.  So, movement in the right direction… Globally, daily average time spent watching videos on mobile is 30+ minutes. Time spent on mobile are new hours in the day that advertisers have never previously had access to.  Time on mobile is short and focused so there are fewer opportunities to actually show an impactful ad versus traditional channels. 
What should you be thinking about?: Increase bite sized (preferably personalized) content on mobile to promote discovery and purchase.

8.       Personalization – It’s all about “me” (Slide 192):  Google queries starting with “For me”, “Should I…” have seen upwards of 60% growth – queries with “Near me” have seen a whopping 900% growth.  Wow!
What should you be thinking about? :  “Should I send my wife roses or chocolates for Valentine’s Day?” – How about both? J

9.       Changing face of the workforce - Lifelong Learning + Freelancing (Slides 163, 232): This one is not product related but was interesting from an employment perspective.  The freelance workforce is growing 3 times faster than the total workforce growth rate.  At the same time, lifelong learning is becoming a prerequisite for the evolving work environment.  Incidentally, >50% of freelancers updated their skills in the last 6 months compared to 30% non-freelancers.
What should you be thinking about? :  I would encourage companies to think about workforce flexibility, training programs, freelancer staffing models etc.  I would encourage you all to become lifelong learners.  It will truly be about survival of the fittest :)

10.   The shift in drivers of commerce (Slide 79): This was one of my favorite slides.    

What should you be thinking about?: Customers expect ‘Curated product discovery + 24x7 recommendations’.  Obviously, this is easier said than done but companies that are delivering on this (with the ‘perceived value > price’ proposition) are winning. 

Drop me a note if there are other things that jumped out at you and hope to talk to you all soon!