Why Rising Shipping Costs Are the Real Threat to Small Online Retailers in 2026
Carrier price hikes are quietly squeezing margins, and small e-commerce businesses can’t afford to ignore the impact.
Expert Mode: Rewriting the Profitability Playbook with AI
For any enterprise marketing leader, the last few years have felt like a relentless stress test. Economic headwinds, from tariffs to inflation and supply chain snarls, have put unprecedented pressure on the P&L. The traditional playbook in these situations is well-worn and, frankly, uninspired. It presents a binary choice: either pass rising costs directly onto consumers and risk alienating your most loyal customers, or absorb the hit and watch your margins evaporate.
MarTech: How AI agents shaped the record-breaking 2025 holiday season
This article was written by Greg Kihlström for MarTech. Salesforce data shows where AI agents drove growth, conversion and efficiency during the holidays — and what marketers should do next.
Expert Mode: Turning the Trillion-Dollar Returns Problem into a Revenue Engine
We, as marketing leaders, spend fortunes crafting seamless pre-purchase journeys, optimizing every click and impression, only to have the entire relationship tested in the often-clunky, anxiety-inducing post-purchase phase. The return is where brand promises meet operational reality, and too often, reality falls short. It’s a trillion-dollar problem globally, a figure so large it can feel more like an unavoidable cost of doing business than a strategic challenge to be solved.
MarTech: When AI agents become the customer
This article was written by Greg Kihlström for MarTech. Agentic AI is
intermediating the consumer-brand relationship, changing how products are discovered, evaluated and purchased.
The Effect of Conversational Commerce on Digital Strategy
By 2024, active voice assistants topped 8.4 billion worldwide—yes, that’s more assistants than humans. Voice-driven purchases now account for $3.3 billion in consumer spending, with projections reaching $45 billion by 2028. Adoption is meaningful, too: as many as 43% of people with voice-enabled devices use them for shopping activities. Of those, 51% use voice to research products, 22% buy directly, and 17% use it to reorder.
Expert Mode: The Infinite Channel Problem and Why Your Supply Chain is Your New Best Marketer
We are entering an era where the brand is less defined by its advertising and more by its operational excellence. The consumer, now accustomed to near-instant gratification, has little patience for supply chain disruptions, delayed orders, or poor communication. The paradox we face is that as AI potentially atomizes the customer journey across infinite touchpoints, it also provides the tools for unprecedented levels of personalization and proactive service.
CMSWire: Cyber Week 2025: The Rise of Agentic Commerce and the Surgical Shopper
The story isn’t declining foot traffic — it’s the rise of informed,
AI-empowered buyers who expect certainty and value in every interaction. This article was written by Greg Kihlström for CMSWire.
Expert Mode: How AI Is Transforming Retail Media from Ad Channel to Profit Engine
For years, the promise of retail media networks (RMNs) has been shimmering on the horizon—a high-margin revenue stream for retailers and a direct line to the point of purchase for CPG brands. Yet, for many, the reality has felt less like a strategic revolution and more like a digital version of the in-store circular. The focus has often remained on top-line metrics and impressions, treating the RMN as just another advertising channel to be managed, measured, and ultimately, siloed from the core business.
Expert Mode: The Future of Payments is Frictionless, Embedded, and AI-Powered
The payments landscape is rapidly evolving, driven by digital transformation and rising customer expectations. Consumers crave seamless, integrated experiences, and businesses that fail to deliver risk being left behind.