One of my favorite themes these days is that marketers focus on personalization while consumers want value.  Let’s add some wood to that fire with this Oracle Retail study, which found that consumers rate convenience as the most important part of a great in-store experience (56%), ranking experience far behind at 37%. Yet retailers prioritize them equally: experience 35% vs. convenience 34%.

One factor driving martech growth has been the ability for marketers to buy systems with little corporate IT support. This study from Entrust Datacard found that even IT professionals recognize that letting users pick their own tools can provide a competitive advantage. Their preferred solution is to make IT more responsive rather than giving up control entirely.

It barely feels like news when industry giants add AI features, since that’s what they’re expected to do. But lots of people use their products, so their announcements are probably of higher interest than most. With that in mind, let’s note that Adobe has just announced general availability of agents for audience creation, journey orchestration, experimentation, journey insights, website optimization and agent support.