Key takeaways from the Mary Meeker 2018 Internet Trends Report

The annual Mary Meeker Internet Trends report has just been released and as in previous years, the report is chock full of valuable data, insights and trends across everything Internet-related. We’ve poured over all 294 pages to pick out the key findings you should know.

Digital media use Digital media use has increased 4% in the last year, with the average adult now spending 5.9 hours per day consuming digital media. The majority of those hours are spent on a mobile device (3.9 hours per day to be exact) – so responsive web design is key for web developers. Video We have long since known that video was an engaging and compelling format for consumers but the report shows that mobile adoption is currently on the increase. The average viewing minutes per day is expected to increase to around 35 minutes this year.Video formats are also growing in line with demand, with new content types emerging to great success. One of the ones identified in the report to look out for is Twitch. Ecommerce Ecommerce is booming the figures show, with ecommerce sales increasing by more than 16% between 2016-2017. There was a 14% year-on-year growth. What’s more, ecommerce has gained a 13% share of retail sales, signifying that consumers are not only comfortable buying goods and services online, their actually doing it faster than ever before.Within that ecommerce field, Amazon has been going gangbusters. Already a favourite means of product discovery, it has eked out a 28% gain, versus a 20% gain in 2013.Ecommerce is also evolving rapidly and modern consumers expect something entirely different from the websites they visit. Key to the modern ecommerce user experience is mobile availability, personalised experiences (such as tailored coupon codes, offers and recommendations) plus easy payment options. These are all things you’ll need to be aware of if you take up a web design business opportunity and begin to create ecommerce sites for clients. Product discovery Amazon is now the prime source of product discovery, with 49% of shoppers saying they begin their product search on the marketplace. 36% prefer to use a search engine. Those shoppers who use Amazon will tend to buy the product from Amazon too.Shoppers who use a search engine for product discovery will interact with numerous channels before purchase – such as paid search, Google Shopping and product listing ads.Social media channels are also starting to get in on the act with Instagram and Facebook serving up personalised recommendations to users in their feeds.