Every year since the mid 1990s, Mary Meeker has presented the latest internet trends in the US and globally.
You can view her here delivering the latest trends for 2018 (she speaks for 33 minutes). In typical style, she speed clicks through no less than 294 slides at a rate of 1 every 6 seconds. Don’t blink, as it’s one of the most amazing presentations you see.
So what? Well, not only is the content good, but as I have mentioned before, the ‘Trend is your Friend‘.
If you’re running a tech business, or any business really, you need to know which way the world is going. It’s far easier than swimming against the tide…
- Internet growth is slowing – not surprising for something that has over 50% market share globally; there are now 3.6B people connected.
- Digital media use still growing – up to 5.9 hours a day.
- Devices are better, cheaper and faster – we’re doing more with our devices, with coin exchanges and digital payments exploding.
- Voice is lifting off – the tech is now there for voice, with products growing.
- Data vs Privacy – companies are using data to provide us with better experiences, but we’re giving them enormous amounts of our data. “While it’s crucial to manage to manage for unintended consequences, it’s irresponsible to stop innovation and progress.”
- US tech companies investing heavily in R&D – a ton of money is being invested in tech companies. The top 5 R&D companies are tech companies, and fastest growing: Amazon, Google, Intel, Apple & Microsoft (with Facebook 11th.) Tech companies are now 25% of total market cap.
- E-commerce growing strongly – a lot of it is driven by Amazon. Integrated payment and customer support systems are exploding. Shopify even has an online exchange where you can buy and sell online shops, from within its own platform.
- Search continues to dominate – people find products via Google, but also Facebook and Instagram. Google is adding a commerce platform, while Amazon is evolving its ad platform.
- CTRs and CPMs are rising on platforms – cost is rising more than reach, but both are rising.
- Spotify converting most of its users to paid – driven by a great user experience.
- Mobile shopping growing fast – especially using video and gaming. Shopping = entertainment.
- Alibaba is now the leading retail environment in China – e-commerce sales in China is 20%, #1 in the world.
- US Household and student debts rising – while personal savings are low; relative prices are falling, people spending less proportion of their incomes on food and entertainment.
- Rise of the gig economy and sharing – leading to rises in flexible gig economy jobs, renting out spare home space on AirBnB.
- Transportation spending flat – cars are lasting longer, Uber driving prices down.
- More spending on health care – but there are signs that tech can bring prices down: “Let’s hope so.“
- While some jobs are displaced, others are created – service jobs have replace ag jobs, aircraft jobs have replaced locomotive jobs.
- US unemployment is low, consumer confidence high and rising – job openings at 17 year high.
- Most desired non monetary benefit is flexibility – tech and freelance work make this possible. 15M ‘on-demand jobs’ in the US, such as Uber, AirBnB and Etsy.
- Massive uptake in data makes data cheaper – also drives customer satisfaction and personalisation.
- AI emerging – “one of the most important things humanity is working on.”
- Cyber Security – a major sector.
- US vs China – China had 2 internet leaders 5 years ago (in Top 20); today China has 9. Rest are from US. Facebook and Google (US) dominate with ~2B users each, but Tencent and Alibaba (China) both have ~1B users each. AI growing in China, as are doctoral and first degree holders.
- Hunger for education – Coursera and Youtube learning courses/videos rising rapidly; lifelong learning & retraining.
- Change. Opportunity. Responsibility – “we’re living in an era of unprecedented change, and along with this come opportunity and responsibility.“
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About Mary Meeker
Former Wall Street analyst and now VC, Mary worked at Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley (where she was lead manager for the Netscape float and later on the Google IPO.) She published her first internet report in 1995. She is partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
Main Image: screenshot of Mary Meeker presenting at Code 2018 Conference.
