Eighty-one percent of companies are reliant on third-party cookies while 85 percent of consumers want brands to use only first-party data, according to a new report. What advice would you give marketers about shifting from reliance on third-party data to first-party data for ad targeting?

A university study determined that only half of artificial intelligence-generated ads are open about the fact they were created by bots, potentially tricking consumers into false beliefs or causing confusion and dissatisfaction. Will AI-generated advertising content drive more benefits or chaos for marketers?

While promising to help marketers tap first- and second-party data amid new privacy restrictions, data clean rooms remain sparsely used, according to a new study. What do you think of the potential as well as the challenges of using data clean rooms to help marketers transition from third-party cookies for targeting?

Australian supermarket Woolworths has succeeded in using analytics to inform and redesign a number of processes core to its business in a short amount of time, as outlined in a session at the NRF 2023 Big Show. Do you agree with the claim that most retailers’ core processes need to be fundamentally reimagined using data?

A survey from Emarsys finds retailers failing to align with consumers when it comes to when, how and what they want to hear. For starters, the survey found 61 percent of retailers surveyed believe that their customers want to hear from them multiple times a week. Are retailers guilty of too frequent and often too irrelevant communications to consumers?

Meta was dealt a significant blow last week when being found guilty by European Union regulators of effectively forcing users to accept personalized ads. Required changes for the parent of Facebook and Instagram may significantly limit access to data to sell such ads in the region. Will calls for opt-in only requirements for online ad tracking get louder in the years ahead?

If only the legendary merchant John Wanamaker was alive today and using digital media. He’d have less cause to say, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” Where do you see retailers spending their ad budgets in 2023?

Cisco, SAP and Salesforce have all added a chief trust officer (CTrO) to their c-suite as the digital economy has elevated the importance of trust. Should retailers follow? Do retailers need a chief trust officer or to put a c-level exec in charge of trust?

The biggest impediment to creativity is not a lack of direction or failure to be bold enough, it’s a risk-averse culture, cited by 51 percent of marketers, according to new research from the World Federation of Advertisers. What do you see as the greatest barriers to creativity in advertising and marketing campaigns?

A new survey finds many targeted ads and personalized emails make consumers feel “creepy,” but more so with Boomers than younger generations. What should marketers take away from evidence that younger generations may be more open to personal data-driven online marketing schemes?

A new survey of more than 200 information technology and marketing decision-makers from the U.S. and Canada finds agreement that the IT team will become more intimately involved in day-to-day marketing, although each department appears to have different notions about how IT can help. What role should IT play in day-to-day marketing?

A GroupM study estimates advertising accounts for five percent of Amazon.com’s revenues from commerce-related activity and rated that as a “reasonable target” for other retailers working to catch up. Is it realistic for retailers to set a goal of getting about five percent of sales from advertising?

Gartner predicts that by 2023, 60 percent of CMOs will slash the size of their marketing analytics department in half because of “failed promised improvements.” The “root” cause of the shortfall was found to be cognitive biases and an old-school culture. Do you agree that marketing analytics investments will or should be scaled back due to continued shortfalls?

Sephora ran afoul of California’s new data privacy laws, and the beauty retailer is paying the price for it — a settlement of $1.2 million to the state. What impact do you see the Sephora settlement having on how retailers use and sell data, both in California and throughout the U.S.?

A new university study highlights three big challenges to making omnichannel marketing work: data access and integration, marketing attribution and consumer privacy protection. What are the biggest challenges for driving consistent interactions across the customer journey?

Nearly two-thirds of data teams have experienced employee resistance to the adoption of data-driven methods at their organizations, despite an overwhelming 73 percent believing that most employees are open to a data-driven approach. Are employees or c-level executives putting up greater resistance to creating data-driven cultures and organizations?

In another rollout accelerated by the pandemic, Google is now allowing merchants to list their products on Google Shopping for free. Will offering free listings help the Google Shopping platform better compete against Amazon?

In his book, “Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are,” Seth Stephens-Davidowitz explores in part how Big Data can help brands understand consumers better than consumers understand themselves. What are the upsides and downsides of Big Data as a consumer research tool?

Segmentation, predictive analytics, evolving real-time customized offers. Sounds like the sole domain of ecommerce pure plays, but brick and mortar retailers are moving toward the deployment of these and other tools. How can bricks and mortar retailers more fully integrate the kind of analytics more commonly used in ecommerce?

Smartphone messaging is perhaps one of the only areas of technology where we haven’t seen Amazon.com’s name show up front-and-center. But that may be changing. Is it a worthwhile pursuit for Amazon to get involved in messaging to keep people further engaged within its ecosystem?

A recent RSR survey found half of retailers had implemented capabilities related to capturing and analyzing “Big Data while less than a quarter claimed to be “satisfied” with what they had implemented. How can retailers get their heads around Big Data?

The good news for digital marketing this holiday season? Digital ad spend has surpassed TV ad spend, topping $72 billion in 2016. The bad news? For the most part, digital advertising produces abysmal results. How should retail marketers gear their thinking to compete effectively with their digital efforts this holiday season?

According to a new survey, consumers’ privacy concerns are growing and they want more control over their personal data. What steps could retailers take to help consumers feel better about sharing their personal data?

Marketing today tends to be more science than art, though it’s not at the scientific level of software development and IT. At least that’s the view of participants in a recent study. Do you agree that certain parts of marketing process will always be more art than science?

Under Armour attributes its success thus far to creating products that deliver “performance, innovation and advantages” to their customers — all of whom they refer to as “athletes.” Do you agree that Under Armour can gain a clearer, more singular view of the consumer through the use of wearables and embedded tech?

Twenty-seven percent of manufacturers report spending three to five days a month consolidating data to support category management insights, with a further 26 percent spending a full five days on the task, according to a new survey. Do you see the cloud or other technologies speeding up the process of consolidating data for category management purposes?

Retailers are focused on crafting omnichannel shopping experiences which requires investing in developing and integrating different channels. The expectation is that sales performance will improve, yet for most, this doesn’t appear to be happening. Do you think the answer to “omnichannel cannibalization” is to focus greater attention on understanding unique online and offline customer purchase occasions?

While improving data quality is the biggest challenge to marketing data success, it’s also easily the most important objective of a marketing data strategy, according to new research from Ascend2. How can marketers improve the quality of their data? What are the tried-and-true and promising new methods?

According to RSR’s benchmark report on omnichannel order profitability, unpredictable consumer demand is the top business challenge among retail respondents. Is consumer demand really unpredictable, or are retailers just bad at it?

When RSR recently asked about the status of capabilities related to capturing and analyzing Big Data, no capability was reported by up to 50 percent of retailers. Are retailers failing to leverage Big Data due to caution around technology investments or something more?

In the recently released “2016 Retail and Consumer Goods Analytics Study” from RIS News, retailers consistently ranked analytics as a strategic priority. However, efforts towards improving analytics maturity are underwhelming. Do you agree that retailers have been too slow to leverage analytics compared to other industries?

Technology has given retailers new ways to adjust pricing, but dynamic pricing can be a double-edged sword – retailers need to proceed with caution. That was one of the takeaways from a session at the IRCE in Chicago last week. How can retailers best implement dynamic pricing and make use of comparative pricing intelligence?

A variety of intuitive and flexible analytics tools are arriving to finally help retailers make sense of the endless amount of data coming at them. Carol Spieckerman shares four ways data analytics is transforming the retail industry.

Despite the promise or more efficient and effective media spending and hyper-relevant communications, marketing departments still fail to receive strong support from the marketing teams and C-suite execs they serve. What adjustments need to be made to gain their support and adapt to our new digital age?

Optimizing the customer experience continues to be the most exciting digital opportunity available to marketers today, according to results from a recent report. But fast-forward five years and respondents believe a different opportunity will take precedence. What do you see as the most exciting digital marketing opportunity at present? What will it be in five years?