AI, VR, and CX: 7 Top Posts About This Week’s Top Trends: E-commerce Link Digest

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Howdy, Big Thinkers! Hope you’ve had an amazing week. Lots of cool stuff to talk about. How about we get straight to the links with this look at AI, VR, and CX: 7 top posts about this week’s top trends. Enjoy:

1. Leading off, Brand Quarterly has a great piece about “Digital Is More Than Skin Deep: The Three Pillars Of Success.”
2. We took a look at “Voice, VR, AR, and AI: Hype or Hope for Marketers?” that’s well worth your time.
3. VR and augmented reality (AR) are getting their due this week given the attention they received at Facebook’s F8 conference. The New York Times says that Mark Zuckerberg Sees Augmented Reality Ecosystem in Facebook while Econsultancy peeks into the future to help explain “What Facebook’s New VR and AR Platforms Mean for Marketers.” Good stuff.
4. On a related note, Ben Thompson on Stratechery wrote about “The Arrival of Artificial Intelligence” and what it might mean for businesses going forward.
5. One place AI will play a key role is helping Google and Facebook identify quality content to share with their/our customers. So you’ll want to check out this collection of “11 Excellent Posts Connecting Mobile, Content, and Customer Experience.”
6. While we’re on the topic, don’t miss this episode of Thinks Out Loud — our e-commerce and digital strategy podcast — that explains why “Content is King, Customer Experience is Queen.”
7. Continuing that theme, Econsultancy looked at “How Target, Birchbox and Sainsbury’s Ensure Customer Experience Is King.” Again, I’d argue for content on the king’s throne sitting side-by-side with customer experience (the queen), but that’s likely a semantic point so we can let it slide. Be sure to check out the post in either case, OK?
8. Finally, let’s wrap-up up this week’s list of AI, VR, and CX: 7 top posts about this week’s top trends with another Thinks Out Loud episode that focuses on the queen: “Customer Experience is Queen? What Does That Mean?”

If you want learn even more about how your customers’ changing behavior shapes e-commerce and marketing, be sure and register to receive a special report I’ve produced in conjunction with hotel marketing firm Vizergy, “Digital Hotel Marketing in a Multiscreen World.” While it’s targeted specifically at hotel and resort marketers, the lessons apply to just about any business. You can get your free copy of the report here.

You can also check out these slides and video from my recent webinar, “Digital Marketing Directions: Three Key Trends Driving Your Marketing Next Year”:

Finally, you might enjoy some of these past posts from Thinks to help you build your e-commerce strategy and your digital success:

• 6 Mobile Commerce and Strategy Insights: E-commerce Link Digest
• Content is Still the King
• The Digital Strategy Myth
• Why Mobile Payments Will Rule
• Driving Seamless Experiences in 2016 (Thinks Out Loud Episode 149)
• Mobile is So Much Bigger Than You Think (Thinks Out Loud Episode 140)
• It’s Not “Mobile First.” It’s “Customer First.”
• 8 Killer Entries About Improving E-commerce Experience: E-commerce Link Digest