Retail marketing platform (and CDP) Ometria has raised a $40 million Series C, bringing total funding to $72 million.  Ometria assembles customer data and then uses artificial intelligence to suggest customer segments, identify campaign opportunities, and predict results.  Marketers still design their campaigns and messages, which can be delivered across email, mobile, websites, social, direct mail, and “more”.

Here’s a cheerful McKinsey report that finds 71% of consumers expect personalized interactions and 76% are frustrated when they don’t happen.  On the other hand, Digital Commerce 360 found that more shopper wanted the ability to opt out of personalization (52%) than wanted personalized product recommendations (32%) or web pages and search results (11%).

Google made a slew – maybe even two slews – of announcements today at its Search On event. Most relevant to this newsletter were new features related to shopping, including visual search, personalized results, and buying guides compiled from multiple trusted sources. It’s probably safe to say that Google wants to reclaim its position as the top product search destination, now occupied by Amazon.