On the TechTO stage ×1
First seen on the TechTO stage in 2021. Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Benedict ↗
In their words
In an awful lot of sectors we had this moment of forced experiment, forced adoption, forced acceleration, and everyone had to try and do everything online. Some of it will stick, not all of it. We won't carry on doing things exactly the way we did them in April last year, but we also won't get back to 2019.
It crystallizes the realization that this stuff has gone from being something that some people do for some categories to something that everybody will do for any category. Anyone will buy anything online — that's not the same as everyone will buy everything online.
Even today Amazon is like 40% of e-commerce. So what's the other 60%? A chunk of it is other logistics-based retailers, but a whole chunk of it is other stuff.
More from TechTO ×1
Quick answers
Who is Benedict Evans?
A technology analyst who publishes essays, a weekly newsletter with roughly 200,000 subscribers, and semi-annual presentations on macro trends in tech. He was a partner at Andreessen Horowitz for six years before going independent.
What is his connection to Entrepreneur First?
Entrepreneur First named him a venture partner in May 2020, giving analysis and recommendations on new technologies and markets for its company-builder model. EF had been operating in Toronto for about a year when he appeared with co-founder Matt Clifford at TechTO.
What did he say about the pandemic e-commerce boom?
That it was neither a permanent step-change nor a blip. UK online retail went from roughly 20% to 30% of sales and the US from about 16% to the low 20s; some of that sticks, but the more useful split is between what fits in a parcel and what needs a truck, a fridge or a person on a bike.