A Dozen Important Digital Commerce Insights from the Past Week: E-commerce Link Digest

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Hey, Big Thinkers! Hope you’ve had a great Thanksgiving if you’re here in the States (and a wonderful week all the same if you’re not). To carry you through the remainder of the weekend, here’s a list of a dozen important digital commerce insights from the past week. Enjoy:

1. Fabio Matsui at Brand Quarterly writes that “The Marketing Promise Of Virtual And Mixed Reality Is Now Here.” Cool. And well worth a read.
2. We’ve taken a look at virtual and augmented reality a bit previously in “VR, AI, and UX: 7 Posts Highlighting Top Trends for 2016” and “A Quick Postcard from the Future of Digital” that you should really check out.
3. Giselle Abramovich from CMO.com highlights a Gartner study that shows “Marketing Budgets On The Rise As CMO Mandate Grows.” But, of course, with bigger budgets come bigger responsibilities. Read the whole post to see what to do about it for your business.
4. In an another great CMO.com post, Dan Farrell says that “An Agile Attitude Is Key To Digital Innovation.” So, so true. In a couple of recent episodes of Thinks Out Loud, our weekly e-commerce and digital marketing podcast, we’ve revealed “The Simple Truth? Digital is a Mindset” and ‘Your Mantra for Digital? “We Can Figure This Out”.’
5. In one other post on that topic you won’t want to miss, we asked — and answered — “How Can You Succeed at Digital Marketing Next Year? 17 Great Posts Offer Answers.”
6. Benedict Evans writes on his blog that it’s time to move “From Mobile First to Mobile Native.” I couldn’t agree more, having written not long ago that ‘It’s Not “Mobile First.” It’s “Customer First.”‘
7. To help you make that transition, eMarketer highlights “Five Mobile Commerce Predictions for 2017” that you definitely won’t want to miss.
8. Shalini Mitha has a fantastic piece over on The Future of Customer Engagement and Commerce blog that rightly claims that when you “Deliver Exceptional Experiences, Customers Will Always ‘Swipe Right’.”
9. Speaking of getting customers to “swipe right,” you’ll want to give a listen to this Thinks Out Loud episode takes a long look at “What Customers Really Want.”
10. Along those same lines, Steven Cook at CMO.com highlights a fabulous formula you must know: “Design Thinking + Design Doing = Disruptive Growth.” Very smart.
11. Speaking of disruption, Mercedes M. Cardona at CMO.com offers the thought-provoking insight that “Digital Disruption is a Matter of Emotion More Than Metrics.” Not sure that I 100% agree, but there’s certainly something there worth noting.
12. Finally, let’s wrap-up this list of a dozen important digital commerce insights from the past week with these “9 Needed Insights Into Digital’s Future” and this set of “10 Excellent Content, Personalization, and Customer Experience Insights” from the E-commerce Link Digest series.

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