Mary Meeker: Queen of the Internet Speaks in 2018
Once a year everyone in Tech looks to one woman- Mary Meeker. Every year she delivers an Internet trends report to the world and her predictions are often scarily accurate…
Once a year everyone in Tech looks to one woman- Mary Meeker. The internet oracle spent two decades at Morgan Stanley, working on things like Google IPO, before joining the VC fund Kleiner Perkins in 2014. Every year she delivers an Internet trends report to the world and her predictions are often scarily accurate…. (check her out on Wiki if you want to know more: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/mary_meeker )
She called email as being the internet’s killer application in 1995; predicted browsing through information services to be the next big breakthrough and foresaw Amazon’s rise to the top.
This year her report was a 294-page presentation in 30 minutes covering everything from smart phones to education and property and tech competition. If you don’t have time to read the full 294 pages checkout our key take-outs for retailers
Here are some key retail take-outs
- Online battleground: investigation vs. retail: consumers are using social media for investigation more and more, and then going onto shop. Retailers are focusing on Amazon, but the Facebook threat is under the radar. Investigation happens less in store now. 80% people report Facebook as the platform to see a new product (with 60% Instagram) and 55% people claim to end up buying a product online after discovering on social.
- Commerce sites are developing capabilities to encourage investigation: (Amazon has higher search levels that Google in US now) and investigation/social media sites are developing Commerce (Facebook & Google shop)
- Shopping & Entertainment are blending together. Entertainment is becoming a big part of the shopping experience. If you want the transaction, aim to own the pre-&-post transaction experience.
- Consumers value location-based personalisation: Google searches that include the phrase ‘’near me” (e.g. restaurants near me) have skyrocketed by 900% in last 2 years; so, retailers and restaurants have a clear directive to step up.
- Personalisation of product and experience = higher customer satisfaction. Brands that personalise score higher customer satisfaction levels. Customers expect it now.
- Subscription drives sales: users are increasingly willing to pay a monthly fee for easy access to content, and even regularly-used products.
- China is coming: Alibaba + Amazon have similar focus areas, Amazon may have higher revenue, but Alibaba has higher volume and is aggressively expanding into countries like India and Indonesia. Both are bundling services with a breadth and price that competitors can’t match. China now hosts 9/20 top global internet companies while US hosts 9/20. all are poised to collide as they all seek to invade developing nations to find growth.
- AI is sexy and the future but there is still simpler & more obvious low hanging fruit. Better utilisation of Wi-Fi and Networks can connect consumers’ offline and online shopping and preferences to drive short term growth.
- Privacy Paradox. Organisations are caught between using their data to provide a better customer experience & violating customer privacy. GDPR is leading towards higher privacy, but consumers in China are more relaxed about how their data is used: 38% China citizens willing to share data for better services, compared to 25% in US and 16% in UK. That means China could gain a data advantage that lets it more rapidly develop technologies & service, so European retailers need to work out a competitive strategy.
Having read our key insights and want more a full copy of the presentation is available in a link here: http://www.kpcb.com/internet-trends
If you would like some insight into how to keep your business ahead of these trends, or if you want to sense-check your current digital strategy and planning email Andrew.mann@northbailey.com.
As a Senior Leader, Andrew Mann has run Clubcard at Tesco, Nectar at Sainsbury’s and Consumer Insight and Loyalty at both as well as at Asda and the Cooperative. He is a founding partner of NorthBailey, a start-up retail consultancy specialising in insight-driven digital transformation and loyalty management.
NorthBailey embeds in client organisations providing extra brainpower & competent pairs of hands to accelerate your strategic thinking and help deliver profitable digital transformation of your business.
