It’s been said it costs seven times as much to attract a new customer as it does to retain an old one. And while social media is great for getting exposure, e-mail is a truer connection with your own list of people who have actually spent money with you. How would you advise retail independents to best re-engage with past customers via e-mail?

Amazon is rolling out another way to capitalize on its content: product placement. Is adding one-click purchases to products seen in Amazon Prime Video content a potential game changer or a small way to subsidize the service’s costs?

According to a new university study, overly positive online reviews may be a reason why merchandise bought online has such high return rates. Do you think reviews play a role in return rates for items purchased online?

While many consumers say they’re creeped out by the knowledge that they’re being targeted based on their browser history, a new study finds telling them may improve clicks and conversions. Do you see more benefits than drawbacks in letting consumers know they’re being targeted by ads based on their online behavior? How should they be told?

Says George Anderson, “They say that the first step in dealing with a problem is admitting to having one. Today, I must admit that I have a Target Cartwheel problem.” What do you see as the most important elements in driving consumer acceptance of the Target Cartwheel app? Will the addition of manufacturer digital coupons increase the number of Cartwheel users?

Many advertising mediums are considered annoying, but consumers have become used to them. E-mail has joined that pack. Despite their effectiveness, what flaws do you see in retailers’ mass e-mail campaigns?

Rich, creative content is said to be critically important for marketers propping up blogs, e-zines, e-mail campaigns and other digital communications. And yet, according to surveys, engaging content is getting bogged down by slow turnarounds, vague ROI, and ambiguity about what works. How would you rate the quality of digital content from retailers?

Think QVC — except its online and much more focused on younger consumers. Amazon.com has launched its first live, interactive show online. How great an impact do you see coming from Style Code Live on Amazon’s fashion and beauty sales?

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?

Each January, every brand has a fresh chance to decide how to use its new gift of holiday data. Will the new names simply be added to an e-mail list for continued mass discounting? Or will the insights fuel a long-term customer strategy to drive business more broadly? What are the challenges for retailers in following up on holiday customer data?

With a promise to “Fix the Web,” the former co-founder of Mozilla and inventor of JavaScript has come up with a new browser that blocks ads and third-party trackers while speeding up browsing. Do you think adoption of ad-blocking software and rise in privacy concerns will force the ad-supported web model to change?

In a blog post entitled, “Hello Cyber Season, goodbye Cyber Monday,” Verizon Enterprise Solutions said high-profile online selling days such as Cyber Monday and Green Monday are now behaving like typical selling days over the holiday period. Do e-tailers need days like Cyber Monday to spark holiday shopping?

Retale, which enables consumers to browse weekly circulars from dozens of retailers on computers or mobile phones, is adding an Oculus Rift-based counterpart to its mobile app. How do you see VR possibly transforming the circular experience for good or bad?

Private label manufacturers can help grocery retailers boost sales of their store brands by working together on digital marketing programs. Are grocers missing an opportunity by not collaborating with their private label suppliers on digital marketing programs?

Retailers are increasingly following consumers around the web when they abandon online shopping carts. An article in The Wall Street Journal summed up four ways retailers are trying to reengage customers with their virtual carts. Which retargeting methods do you see as most appropriate and which will consumers likely find disturbing?

EBay Advertising U.K. has launched a predictive targeting tool for identifying and segmenting “parent” shoppers. The launch is part of a larger push to use online behavior to better engage shoppers across life stages. How effective do you think predictive targeting tools based on online shopping behavior will be?

Facebook has introduced a tool that will give retailers greater access to information about consumers near their stores. The catch is that all the information on those individuals is aggregated and anonymous. How valuable will gaining this type of view of nearby customers be for stores?

We talk a lot about omnichannel retail and giving today’s shoppers every option when it comes to product ordering and delivery. But what is really at the heart of retail success is establishing a trusting relationship with customers. It sounds simple, but it’s not. Which customer-facing technologies are most sensitive to trust issues?

Americans want their coupons, especially the printed kind. That’s the finding of new research by CreditCards.com, which found that even young, connected consumers make use of old fashioned paper coupons to get their discounts. Why do you think consumers continue to prefer paper coupons compared to digital alternatives?

Will Target’s recent rebound continue or will a rough holiday season negate the chain’s recent gains? That’s what many Target watchers are wondering as the chain kicks off a new holiday marketing program that may play a major role in answering that question. Is focusing on digital for the holiday a good investment in Target’s overall branding?

The headline is a quote from David Carr, The New York Times’ late media critic, according to Tara Fuller, content strategist, T Brand Studio, the branded content team in the newspaper’s advertising department. Why is online brand content often lackluster? What advice would you offer to brands around creating compelling content?

Amazon.com normally turns up the volume when it has something new to introduce. But lately, on the topic of adding limited e-commerce functionality to its Fire TV devices, the company has been uncharacteristically quiet. Do you see Amazon developing its Fire TV device technology to the point where consumers will be able to order products such as clothing worn by actors within shows?

Providing a deeper dive into its search content, Google has launched a new tool called Shopping Insights that lets retailers analyze product interest by city and time in order to better understand local demand. How good a job do major retailers currently do in determining local demand for products?

It’s still early days for Gen Z, but already one defining characteristic is abundantly clear: This generation is WiFi enabled. If the Millennials are the “digital natives,” then this age bracket might be the “internet-in-its-pocket” generation, according to David Bell, professor of marketing at Wharton. Do you see greater challenges for retailers and brands attempting to reach Gen Z versus Millennials?

In September, Facebook indicated that the social network’s users would finally be getting a long-asked-for “dislike” button, or at least ways to show empathy. It turns out Facebook is exploring many more emotional responses. Will Facebook’s “Reactions” feature be a big plus for retailers and brands?

Speaking last week at the Shop.org 2015, Doug Mack, CEO of Fanatics, the largest e-tailer of fan merchandise, discussed the challenges around delivering relevant offers to consumers and described what his company is doing to tackle them. How can retailers avoid being overwhelmed by data in creating relevant offers for consumers?

By now, most retailers and brands have a handle on e-mail campaigns and at least a decent one on social media. But how many marketers are connecting all the necessary dots in order to increase the value of their e-mail marketing promotions by getting them shared and measured properly on social media?

In successfully transitioning from a TV retailer to a digital, multi-channel retailer, QVC focused less on matching the level of its TV shopping experience and more on complementing and enhancing it. In what obvious and less obvious ways can online supplement the brick & mortar experience and vice versa?

A university study found that financial incentives are not always required to drive customers to try something new, including multichannel shopping. In fact, they can be counterproductive. Do you agree that incentives encouraging multichannel shopping often come off as manipulative and work counterproductively?

Facebook indicated last week it was close to testing a “dislike” button, or at least one that expresses empathy, to sit alongside its thumbs-up “like” button, promising both benefits and risks for retailers. Would the arrival of a dislike button on Facebook be a net positive or negative for retailers and brands?

The costs and limitations of urban retail space make names like Lowe’s and Home Depot a rare sight within the confines of densely-populated big cities. But Lowe’s is trying to meet the hardware needs of New Yorkers by introducing two new stripped-down, small-format locations in Manhattan. Is rolling out small-format, high-tech urban stores a good expansion strategy for Lowe’s?

A new survey from Hotwire PR finds marketers struggling to integrate campaigns across marketing channels, finding that nearly half generally admit that campaigns tend to work in isolation, with different channels being used to implement different campaigns. How important is it for retailers to develop single campaigns that works across marketing channels?

Despite near complete saturation when it comes to smartphone use, Millennials have been slow to adopt shopping apps. New studies suggest the solution may lie in crafting programs suited to the generation’s unique shopping habits. What will it take to get otherwise uninterested Millennials to install and use retailer apps?

Gartner defines data driven marketing as “acquiring, analyzing and applying information about customer and consumer wants, needs, context, behavior and motivations.” However, the marketer and marketing researcher should ask: “But what should I actually do differently to be data driven?” How well equipped are CPG marketers today to use data driven marketing approaches?

Digital ads work, particularly for dollar stores and warehouse clubs, according to research by Placed, a firm that specializes in location analytics. Will having the ability to track consumer behavior connected to digital ads result in a significant increase in retailer budgets going to this delivery method?

Retailer sites, printable coupons and retailer emails are the most commonly used digital tools by online shoppers, though they’re not the ones wielding the greatest impact on shoppers’ journeys, details Epsilon in a recent study. What is your analysis of what the Epsilon survey reveals about the digital journeys of shoppers?

Amazon is rolling out a Treasure Truck delivery service in the Seattle area providing consumers with access to limited-quantity goods on sale every day. What do you see as the potential benefits of Treasure Truck?

According to a recent survey, 16 percent of kids send online links to their parents while nine percent use social sharing sites like Pinterest or Instagram in order to influence parental purchases. Should retailers look to (digitally) assist kids in influencing parental purchases?

Retailers of all sizes are catching on to the fact that video can be the next best thing to visiting the store in terms of product education and conversion. Do you see ways to make video work more smoothly and effectively as part of the online shopping experience?

Last month BrainTrust panelist Martin Mehalchin was a guest of personalization vendor Monetate at their customer Summit in Philadelphia. In her CEO keynote, Lucinda Duncalfe introduced a concept she calls the “Five Stages of Personalization.” Do you see value for retailers in judging their maturity based on the “Five Stages of Personalization” model?

Downloaded coupons get up to an 85 percent redemption rate with current brand users but they are failing to persuade switchers or recruit new users. True pre-shop consideration is moving outside of the coupon hunt to another media platform How do you see augmented reality and digital coupons altering the grocery experience?

Today, it’s no longer about customers being loyal to brands; it’s about brands being loyal to customers. If you really want to get your customers’ attention — consistently — you need to cut through the noise and truly recognize and relate to customers. What steps should stores take to deliver more relevant communications to loyal customers?

With consumers increasingly turning to multiple screens for research and buying, retailers are doubling down on mobile advertising to reach them throughout the purchase process, according to reports. Do you see mobile advertising become the primary medium to reach omnichannel shoppers and drive in-store visits?

In what is being seen as a potential challenge to Amazon but perhaps a conflict for retailers, Google plans to begin testing “buy buttons” in coming weeks. Do the benefits for stores around mobile shopping outweigh the potential risks of losing control of the shopping experience and access to data?

Retailers are finding yet another critical use for beacons: parking. Shoppers who park and receive messages on their smartphones from businesses nearby are 30 percent more likely to visit that location, according to HotSpot, a Canadian mobile parking payment solution and proximity marketing company. What do you think of a shopping beacon linked to parking?

Mobile is remaking retail as consumers increasingly use their devices to hunt for information before they shop. But one information source remains strongly rooted in the past — the printed circular. Why do you think printed circulars continue to be widely used rather than digital alternatives by American consumers?

Consumers aren’t too happy with the “personalized” offers and communications they’re getting from retailers. A recent survey found only 22 percent of consumers believed the average retailer understands them as an individual. Why are retailers’ personalization efforts getting such a low rating from consumers?

Facebook last week formed partnerships with two retailers — online apparel site Everlane and flash sale site Zulily — to let them use its Messenger Platform as a customer service tool. How open will consumers be to communicating with retailers via messenger apps?

According to a study last December by The Relevancy Group, via eMarketer, segmentation and targeting top the e-mail marketing priority lists of marketers in 2015. That is hopeful news, because according to the same research, e-mail offers are a long way from being personalized. What do you see as the cause or causes behind the lack of personalization in e-mail marketing?

Facebook has acquired TheFind, a sophisticated e-commerce search app. The acquisition is said to be less about online selling and more about improving the relevance of the social network’s advertising. What will the acquisition of TheFind mean for Facebook?