QR codes died in 2014 and came back in 2020. Sephora, Chipotle, Olive Garden, McDonald's, Walmart, Disney — the brands turning QR into a $40B commerce-enabling layer. Lead generation is the smallest of its uses now.
In the US, SMS is one channel among many. Outside the US, it's the primary commercial channel — and WhatsApp Business, RCS, and Telegram are quietly eating the Western marketing tech stack.
The mobile shift was the most consequential commercial transition of the last twenty years. Five structural shifts that cascaded out of mobilegeddon — and what AI is doing to mobile now.
EPR's reference on mobile shopping app adoption from the 2013 early-growth baseline through 2026 mature infrastructure. Seven structural shifts, five app categories, and what it means for brand communications.
The phone is no longer a discovery channel that pushes the buyer to a desktop or a store. The phone is the store. How TikTok Shop, Whatnot, Poshmark, BNPL, and mobile wallets rebuilt the buyer journey — and what wins next.