Backgammon

This video of a Backgammon championship garnered more than 175,000 views to-date. It's on YouTube, there are analysts discussing the match, they have a computer that assesses who is "making errors" in real-time, the computer shares the probability of winning in real-time, and the analysts even play a game during a break with one of the individuals in live chat.

Also - Pickleball TV is now a channel on YouTube TV ... nearly ten million subscribers can watch professional pickleball matches 24/7/365. Was that ever a possibility a decade ago? As of tonight, you can't watch ESPN or ABC on YouTube TV but you can watch the World Championships of Pickleball live.

What does this have to do with e-commerce?

There is a lot of innovation these days. Here's an AI tool that promises to replace most of the functions of marketing for small businesses, allowing the marketer to be "strategic". Which is code, of course, for "we're going to take your job and you will be the one who will pay us to give up your job". A lot of innovation, no doubt ... similar to the Backgammon channel above, where the computer is doing a lot of work and yet the analysts still convert everything into plain language. The analysts also promote the book they wrote during the match ... monetizing the event in their favor. Heck, they promote their book being on Backgammon Galaxy (click here). Who knew there was a store called Backgammon Galaxy? More important - that store is on Shopify. While you were trying to adhere to a nonsense-based Omnichannel Thesis that your boutique agency demanded you adhere to (#printisback), Shopify took over the world. 

Imagine five years from now ... your store is on Shopify, Shopify AI is doing your marketing and is fully integrated with the Shopify Ecosystem so when your prospect purchases a t-shirt from Backgammon Galaxy Shopify AI sends the customer a text message encouraging the customer to buy from your store ... all automated, all out of your control. 

It's coming. You know it is coming. You and I are unprepared for this future. We will adapt.

P.S.:  One of the analysts on the Backgammon broadcast said "Learn the Rules, then Break the Rules". That's a smart line. How does that line apply to your business?

P.P.S.:  Backgammon Strategy meets AI Principles. A book on Backgammon Galaxy. Would you be able to write a book called "E-Commerce Strategy meets AI Principles"???