Monthly Brandtech Blend – February 2021

Everything you need to know this year is in Benedict Evans’ annual presentation about macro and strategic trends in the tech industry: “The Great Unbundling”

As the tech industry celebrates its 50 years of existence, it is also breaking many of its patterns. 2020 was the year all tech businesses grew and changed at a never seen before pace. The multi trillion dollar retail, brands, TV, and advertising industries are being overturned. Among other changes, software is taking over everything, China’s smartphone use is larger than both Europe and the US combined… Many new paradigms that place tech and innovation at center stage, but also that make the industry a regulated one. 

What will the impact of these regulations be? How is the Chinese internet slowly taking over America? What has changed in the e-commerce industry and why is Shopify on everyone’s lips? Benedict Evans tries to answer these complex questions and gives us some perspective on the year that saw a decade’s worth of changes happen. 

Download this fascinating presentation here.

Brands will have to become compliant in 2021, and the challenge may be bigger than it seems

Consumer privacy laws gained tremendous traction over the past year, and while advertisers have seen their entire landscape shift, brands are also facing a disruption in the rules governing their marketing strategies. Between CCPA, CPRA, Apple’s updates to its IDFA and the French CNIL’s new guidelines, industry players must adapt fast. But being compliant is not always easy and navigating consumer privacy laws can be painful. Companies need to change their data collection strategies, but also implement data governance processes and focus on being transparent with their customers.

In the midst of all this, tech giants are making things harder for everyone else. For instance, as browsers are removing third-party cookies from their ecosystem, tech giants are creating gigantic walled-gardens and consequently being accused of antitrust and anti-competitive behavior. 

Read more on VentureBeat.

What can the advertising industry expect from Biden’s presidency?

In unprecedented times, it appears somewhat logical to witness unexpected reactions, such as the advertising community welcoming a president who intends on regulating the tech industry, upend data collection practices and raises taxes. What’s more, Biden also shows a strong will to hold up the tech giants’ CEOs to their ethical and social responsibility as well as reaching high standards in terms of data privacy, consumer protection and antitrust issues. One thing we can count on is for privacy regulation to continue being in the limelight in the United States in 2021. 

Learn more on what to expect from Biden’s presidency on Digiday and check out this state and federal privacy regulation cheat sheet.

WeChat boosts its e-commerce goals with a $250 billion transactions score

The Chinese super-app is turning 10, and has never been better! Its mini programs facilitated 1.6 trillion yuan (around $250 billion) worth of transactions last year, which is double their transaction value for 2019. Tencent commented on these numbers pointing out that the growth of these mini programs will help WeChat gain a strong position in the FinTech business as digital payments are a major revenue driver for the company. 

Read more on TechCrunch.

Worldwide e-commerce  will reach $5 trillion this year, and Shopify accounts for a significant portion of it

Global e-commerce sales grew 27.6% in 2020, in spite of the pandemic. Even though worldwide brick and mortar sales plummeted, e-commerce managed to perform above expectations, and shopify took home a – large – piece of that pie. Indeed, the e-commerce giant experienced unprecedented growth, which seems like a good sign for the future of online retail. Shopify even released a study looking at the future of retail and also future growth of e-commerce in 2021. They also look at how physical retail will evolve and create new opportunities for local businesses, or how up and coming brands will improve discoverability to answer the consumer’s need to buy from independent brands – or at least get to choose between independent and marketplace options. 

Read more in eMarketer and download Shopify’s report here.