According to the report from BRP, 55% of retailers are focused on optimizing the customer experience to increase customer loyalty by improving the mobile shopping experience and creating a unified experience across all channels. "The customer experience in a unified commerce world is much more complex than it is in a pure play e-commerce or brick-and-mortar retail environment and we are seeing retailers map out the entire customer journey to design the optimal customer experience," said Perry Kramer, vice president and practice lead at BRP. "This complexity expands exponentially as the proliferation of social media, the Internet of Things, (IoT), artificial intelligence and machine learning influence the retail world and more specifically, the customer journey." Stores must now encompass both worlds – the sensory experience generally available in the physical world, such as touching and feeling merchandise and personally interacting with a knowledgeable associate – whether simply human or a combination of AI and human characteristics – married with the unique and personalized shopping experience common in the digital world. The physical and digital worlds are forever intertwined as we look to the future. BRP conducted the 2017 Customer Experience/Unified Commerce Benchmark Survey to understand retailers' customer experience priorities today and for the future, and how the evolution of unified commerce helps provide retailers with the right people, processes and technology to enable retailers to enhance the customer experience.

While artificial intelligence is becomes a major new tool for marketers, nearly one in two retailers are missing out on leveraging AI marketing to better understand customer behaviours, according to new research. The study, conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Emarsys, looked at the growing role of AI in the retail and e-commerce industries. In an industry that's thought to be going through a'creativity crisis', there's some good news for retail marketers amongst the findings: The study, entitled'Building Trust and Confidence: AI Marketing Readiness in Retail and e-Commerce1', sought to understand if there is still a gap between the readiness of AI marketing solutions to execute on real-time B2C marketing campaigns, and the readiness of marketing tech users and business decision makers to adopt AI marketing technology. Businesses polled across US, UK, Germany, France and Australia had revenues from at least $50m to more than $5bn. The study highlighted that marketers and business decision makers polled believe AI-powered marketing will shift the role of marketing toward more strategic work (79%) and make marketing teams more efficient (86%) and effective (86%), as well as enabling them to focus on value-generating tasks as AI automates workflows (82%) and reinventing the way that marketers work (82%).

Old dogs can always learn new tricks, provided they are smart enough and have the right tools. Founded in 1962 -- a generation or so before ecommerce giants like Amazon -- Walmart has 11,700 stores and 140 million weekly shoppers in 28 countries around the world. Here in the 21st century, Walmart has also become the second largest online retailer. As such, Walmart is in a unique position to build a bridge between its ecommerce operations and its global network of stores. That means deploying the kind of machine learning that can leverage a strength Walmart has been building for some time: the digital relationship between its customers' online experience with the experience of shopping in malls.

If you make a purchase by clicking one of our links, we may earn a small share of the revenue. However, our picks and opinions are independent from USA TODAY's newsroom and any business incentives. Amazon Prime Day is officially over, but that doesn't mean the internet is now void of all deals on great products. Many of Amazon's competitors are keeps things going with continued and new bargains. And Amazon still has great offers for anyone who missed out on yesterday's savings.

Amazon is holding its third-annual Prime Day today, and you still have a few hours until the deals are over. The self-proclaimed holiday will end at 3 a.m. EST (12 a.m. Amazon has deals on its devices, including discounts on Alexa-powered gadgets, e-readers and Fire tablets. The Echo Dot is on sale for $34.99, and the Amazon Echo is priced at $89.99, half off its original $179.99 price. Amazon is selling its Fire 7 tablet starting at $29.99, while its Fire HD 8 version is on sale for $49.99.

Amazon's biggest problem is that it can't teleport products into the homes of customers. As the largest online retailer, the company struggles with the "last mile problem," or the difficulty of moving goods that final distance between a hyper-efficient warehouse and the eager customer's front steps. To help solve this issue, the company has famously been working on drones to make the final drops. It still sounds like science fiction, but Amazon's drone delivery program is actually deep into testing, and it is built like infrastructure, to accommodate the instantaneous demands of a massive population, where it can. Along with the testing, Amazon has filed several drone-related patents, including a concept for recharging stations mounted on streetlights, and a distribution center contained within an airship.

Prime Day, aka Amazon Prime Members' Christmas in July, is upon us. Since July 10th at 9 p.m. ET, digital doorbusters have been available across Amazon for Prime members, offering large savings and discounts on anything from home appliances and goods to trending tech items. Members with an Amazon Alexa device skipped the virtual lines as Voice Shopping deals began yesterday at 7pm ET. Already blew through your budget on summer vacation? Not to worry, there are plenty of bargains still available for those looking to score a W on Prime Day.

Whether you're a fan of flying or getting unique photos or videos, drones are an increasingly popular way to play around with flight. Thanks to their equipped cameras and higher-end specifications, drones are a far distance away than traditional radio-controlled helicopters or planes. Drones are also one of the many offerings from Amazon on this year's Prime Day. For entry-level drone users, the U818A has features that include an included remote control, a quad-propeller design and a protective frame that insulates the propellers from serious damage. According to Holy Stone, the U818A also sports a 720p-resolution camera that can be used for shooting images or photos that can be saved on the included 4GB microSD card.

AI enables computers to make autonomous decisions. It is a step forward in automation that is changing the retail industry. In retail, AI is used to analyze customer data, adapt how companies interact with shoppers and predict consumer demand in order to better manage inventory. For example, AI can decide for the retailer what items to show to shoppers and how to display and present them, and it can recreate the interaction that the shopper experiences with store associates at brick-and-mortar stores by guiding and advising the customer. AI enables retailers to drive sales and anticipate demand, gain a better understanding of consumer behavior and offer highly accurate, individualized promotions.

Call it a glorified ad campaign. Call it whatever you want, but Amazon's third annual Prime Day is here. Amazon introduced its first Prime Day in 2015 as a super sale exclusive to Prime members. Last year's installment increased global sales more than 60% compared with the first year. Unlike past iterations, which ran 24 hours, this year promises an extra six hours of savings, stretching from Monday night until the end of the day Tuesday.