25 Retail & eCom Highlights from Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends Report

1. Retailers among top 15 public internet co’s: In 1995, 0; In 2015, 4 (Alibaba, eBay, Amazon, JD.com).
2. This is the first year hours/day spent on mobile aren’t less than desktop + other.
3. Print ad spend is disproportionate to time spent. But digital spend overall is almost in proportion now. Catch-up remains primarily in mobile.
4. Desktop ad spend growth is decelerating, even as companies allocate more marketing budget to digital.
5. Ad formats optimized for mobile: Pinterest cinematic pin, Vessel 5-second, Facebook carousel and Google local inventory.
6. Buy buttons optimized for mobile are Twitter, Facebook and Google.
7. Vertical as a % of video viewing skyrocketed from 5% in 2010 to 29% now → Keep in mind for product pages, ads and social.
8. Buy buttons on mobile will appear just as seamlessly as text, images and video evolved.
9. Tech is changing the world: Square and Stripe (payments), Directly (customer service), Envoy (event sign-in).
10. Messaging apps have more sessions, even if other social networks have greater usage –> Logical for brands to increasingly want to be part of messaging sessions.
11. Mobile messaging is expressive yet fast, casual yet professional, instant yet secure.
12. Asia messaging leaders KakaoTalk (Korea), WeChat (China) & LINE (Japan) have all had commerce since 2013. Facebook and Snapchat have been slower to adopt.
13. Strong Pinterest growth is especially strong in “non-core” categories like cars, motorcycles and men’s fashion.
14. Snapchat, Facebook, Twitch, Soundcloud and Wattpad all fueling multi-media growth in user-generated content.
15. “In the next 5 years, I believe everything will be done on mobile devices.” 60% of millennials agree with this statement, 5% disagree.
16. Instacart, Postmates & Shyp are powered by mobile + sensor + human (way of future).
17. Urban dwellers as a % of US population are at an all-time high of 81%.
18. Household size is 2.5 people vs. 3+ 50 years ago → Consider implications for certain order sizes.
19. $300B e-commerce spend is 9% of retail sales (<1% in 1998).
20. Traditional desktop platforms that rely on traditional shipping are showing huge growth. Especially Alibaba and Amazon.
21. Rising expectation that we can get what we want with ease and speed will create rising demand for flexible workers.
22. Mogujie and Melishuo are leading China social commerce on the foundation of content and community.
23. Lower marketplace revenue shares in China led Taobao/TMall (3%) and Meituan (5%) to grow exponentially faster than eBay (8%) and Groupon (35%).
24. Mobile as a % of e-com sales: India 41%; China 33%; UK & France 21%; Brazil 20%; Australia 17%; US 15%
25. Indian e-com leaders Snapdeal and Flipkart drive much more from mobile than Alibaba, JD.com or eBay.