Last week (January 3) MarketingCharts issued an overview of the top marketing charts for 2013. The charts spanned a range of topics including social network use, the rise of Snapchat, E-Commerce customer acquisition and Internet adoption rates among American adults.
Each of the ten charts is thought-provoking but there are two that we reflected on a bit longer than the others.
Most Influential Forms of Advertising
MarketingCharts included a Nielsen article that charted the forms of advertising global consumers trust and act on the most.
One key takeaway is that while online advertising influence is growing, many more consumers rely upon traditional media ads on TV and in print.
From the charting, it is also clear that online consumers are relying on a wide mix of advertising and promotional forms/sources to inform their purchase decisions.
- These findings seem to be reflecting the now very fluid purchase information and decision stream that today’s consumers are navigating. Their reliance on and trust in a diversity of information sources suggests that consumers are seeking different message content, form and density depending on where they are and what they feel they need to know at any given point in their transaction journey.
Fastest Growing US Online Industries
One other chart that caught our attention is the Top 10 Fastest-Growing US Industries (2003-2013), sourced from IBIS World.
Not surprisingly, the fastest-growing US industries over the past 10 years are all online-based, with the steepest growth rates experienced by industries strategically targeting social networks, typically with a more youthful, intensely committed following:
- Social Network Game Development (+134.4%)
- Social Networking Sites (+74.4%)
Amazing revenue growth, but what captured our attention beyond the Social Network growth engine is what has emerged for fashion and durable goods industries that typically are driven by an older demographic, in-retail channel buyer:
- Online Fashion Sales (+55.6%)
- Online Shoe Sales (+17.0%)
- Online Household Furniture (13.8%)
- These three trends are reflecting the coming sea change in retailing that we have seen in the 2013 Christmas season, with the increasing shift away from bricks-and-mortar to online. We are on the cusp of an internet-driven shift away from in-mall/department store shopping and how America will shop in the near future. Steve Bezos’ concept of package delivery by drone might not be as radical as it first may have seemed to some of us.
