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Thinks Out Loud: E-commerce and Digital Strategy

Thinks Out Loud: E-commerce and Digital Strategy

Written by: Tim Peter
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 A weekly podcast exploring how e-commerce and digital trends shape your business and marketing strategyCopyright 2025 Tim Peter & Associates Economics Management Management & Leadership Marketing Marketing & Sales
Episodes
  • Should Your Business Have a ChatGPT App? (Episode 479)

    Should Your Business Have a ChatGPT App? (Episode 479)
    Jan 8 2026
    ChatGPT has opened up its app platforms to all businesses. In general terms, that’s a Good Thing. Seriously. The question is whether this general good thing is specifically good for your and your business. In this episode of the podcast, host Tim Peter looks at ChatGPT’s apps and addresses the following questions: Are ChatGPT apps good for your business or not?What are the risks of using ChatGPT apps for your business?How can you minimize those risks and get the long-term benefit for your business from ChatGPT apps?What are your immediate next steps if you’re interested in trying ChatGPT apps to reach customers? All that and more in this episode of the show. Here are the show notes for you. Should Your Business Have a ChatGPT App? (Episode 479) — Headlines and Show Notes Show Notes and Links Developers can now submit apps to ChatGPT | OpenAIApp submission guidelinesIntroducing apps in ChatGPT and the new Apps SDK | OpenAIThe Biggest Risk to Your Business? Becoming a "Hidden Intermediary"How Intermediaries Drive Up Your Costs: 5 Ways to Protect Yourself (Travel Tuesday)The Brand is the Prompt (Thinks Out Loud 465)“Gatekeepers Gonna Gate” is Gonna Kill ChatGPT (Episode 477)What Changed in AI and Marketing This Year, Why It Matters, and What Comes Next (Episode 478)What ‘The Brand Is the Prompt’ Really Means for Your Business (Episode 474)In the Age of AI, Brand Isn’t Everything. It’s the Only Thing (Episode 472)Are ChatGPT’s Apps Good for Your Business? (Episode 471)AI and Zero-Click Search: The Real Story (Episode 467) Buy the Book — Digital Reset: Driving Marketing and Customer Acquisition Beyond Big Tech Tim Peter has written a new book called Digital Reset: Driving Marketing Beyond Big Tech. You can learn more about it here on the site. Or buy your copy on Amazon.com today. Past Appearances Rutgers Business School MSDM Speaker: Series: a Conversation with Tim Peter, Author of "Digital Reset" Free Downloads We have some free downloads for you to help you navigate the current situation, which you can find right here: A Modern Content Marketing Checklist. Want to ensure that each piece of content works for your business? Download our latest checklist to help put your content marketing to work for you.Digital & E-commerce Maturity Matrix. As a bonus, here’s a PDF that can help you assess your company’s digital maturity. You can use this to better understand where your company excels and where its opportunities lie. And, of course, we’re here to help if you need it. The Digital & E-commerce Maturity Matrix rates your company’s effectiveness — Ad Hoc, Aware, Striving, Driving — in 6 key areas in digital today, including: Customer FocusStrategyTechnologyOperationsCultureData Best of Thinks Out Loud You can find our “Best of Thinks Out Loud” playlist on Spotify right here: Subscribe to Thinks Out Loud Subscribe in iTunesSubscribe in the Google Play Store Contact information for the podcast: podcast@timpeter.com Past Insights from Tim Peter Thinks Technical Details for Thinks Out Loud Recorded using a Heil PR-40 Dynamic Studio Recording Mic and a Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 (3rd Gen) USB Audio Interface into Logic Pro X for the Mac. Running time: 19m 17s You can subscribe to Thinks Out Loud in iTunes, the Google Play Store, via our dedicated podcast RSS feed (or sign up for our free newsletter). You can also download/listen to the podcast here on Thinks using the player at the top of this page. Transcript: Should Your Business Have a ChatGPT App? You probably saw the news right before the holidays that ChatGPT has opened up its apps to, well, essentially everyone. I think that this is a good news story generally and one that also illustrates where we’re likely to head long term. Because I’m really comfortable that we’ve all seen this movie before. In my view, we’re definitely headed for another gatekeepers gonna gate reality. Why? Well, that’s what this episode is all about. I’m going to look at ChatGPT apps, as well as the future landscape of apps in Gemini, Perplexity and Claude, and talk a bit about what those mean for your business today and longer term. I’m Tim Peter. This is episode 470 of The Big Show. Let’s dive in. So yeah, ChatGPT now lets developers submit apps to their platform. That is almost certainly a good news story. It’s certainly far more good news than bad. It’s very cool. It levels the playing field for most businesses. One of the biggest problems in my opinion of the launch of apps in ChatGPT was that it really favored large companies. It was limited to large companies. And it heavily skewed towards intermediaries like Zillow, OpenTable, Expedia, Booking.com, TripAdvisor, DoorDash, Instacart, and Spotify. Y’know, gatekeepers of some size or other. But by opening apps up to the world — and of course with moderation to ensure that your app meets their various guidelines — now apps in ChatGPT aren’t just for Expedia ...
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    19 mins
  • Best of the Show: In the Age of AI, Brand Isn’t Everything. It’s the Only Thing (Podcast)

    Best of the Show: In the Age of AI, Brand Isn’t Everything. It’s the Only Thing (Podcast)
    Dec 30 2025
    Anyone who’s read my writing or listened to the show knows that I’m generally bullish on the potential benefits of AI for customers and brands. Where I’m far less bullish is when “experts” tell you that AI will prevent you from building meaningful connections between your brand and your customers. Whether they mean to or not, they’re describing a world where every brand becomes a commodity. And, frankly, I simply refuse to go along. That view is simply nonsense. Brands exist so that customers can easily identify the products and services they know and trust. That was true 100 years ago. It will be true 100 years from now. Or, at least, it will be if we do the work, right now, that will teach customers to ask for us by name. Getting that right depends on building brands customers care about, that they’ll love, that they’ll demand. Put simply, in the age of AI, brand isn’t everything. It’s the only thing. Why is brand “the only thing” in the age of AI? Why does it matter? And what can you do to ensure customers ask for you by name? That’s what this “Best of the Show” episode is all about. Here are the show notes for you. Best of the Show: In the Age of AI, Brand Isn’t Everything. It’s the Only Thing — Headlines and Show Notes Show Notes and Links In the Age of AI, Brand Isn’t Everything. It’s the Only Thing (Episode 472)What Changed in AI and Marketing This Year, Why It Matters, and What Comes Next (Episode 478)Best of the Show: What ‘Your Brand Is the Prompt’ Really Means for Your Business (Podcast)What Amazon’s Perplexity Lawsuit Means for the Future of AI and Marketing (Episode 476)What ‘The Brand Is the Prompt’ Really Means for Your Business (Episode 474)Trivago – WikipediaMetasearch engine – WikipediaAI at MetaThe Biggest Risk to Your Business? Becoming a "Hidden Intermediary"The Hotel Marketing and Distribution Trend You Care About Most This YearRevisiting “The New SEO” (Podcast)The Hidden Factor OTA’s Use to Get Between You and Your Guests (Travel Tuesday) – Tim Peter & AssociatesMost Popular Apps (2025) – Business of AppsAre ChatGPT’s Apps Good for Your Business? (Episode 471)ChatGPT AtlasOpenAI’s Sam Altman hypes mystery ChatGPT device — ‘It’s so beautiful, a case would be a crime’ | Tom’s GuideThese are the ChatGPT-powered AI devices that OpenAI might be working on | TechRadarComet Browser: a Personal AI AssistantThis new AI browser lets you set up ‘Skills’ to take on your everyday tasks – how it works | ZDNETTop AI Web Browsers Benchmark Including ChatGPT AtlasThe Brand is the Prompt (Thinks Out Loud 465) Buy the Book — Digital Reset: Driving Marketing and Customer Acquisition Beyond Big Tech Tim Peter has written a new book called Digital Reset: Driving Marketing Beyond Big Tech. You can learn more about it here on the site. Or buy your copy on Amazon.com today. Past Appearances Rutgers Business School MSDM Speaker: Series: a Conversation with Tim Peter, Author of "Digital Reset" Free Downloads We have some free downloads for you to help you navigate the current situation, which you can find right here: A Modern Content Marketing Checklist. Want to ensure that each piece of content works for your business? Download our latest checklist to help put your content marketing to work for you.Digital & E-commerce Maturity Matrix. As a bonus, here’s a PDF that can help you assess your company’s digital maturity. You can use this to better understand where your company excels and where its opportunities lie. And, of course, we’re here to help if you need it. The Digital & E-commerce Maturity Matrix rates your company’s effectiveness — Ad Hoc, Aware, Striving, Driving — in 6 key areas in digital today, including: Customer FocusStrategyTechnologyOperationsCultureData Best of Thinks Out Loud You can find our “Best of Thinks Out Loud” playlist on Spotify right here: Subscribe to Thinks Out Loud Subscribe in iTunesSubscribe in the Google Play Store Contact information for the podcast: podcast@timpeter.com Past Insights from Tim Peter Thinks Technical Details for Thinks Out Loud Recorded using a Heil PR-40 Dynamic Studio Recording Mic and a Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 (3rd Gen) USB Audio Interface into Logic Pro X for the Mac. Running time: 15m 49s You can subscribe to Thinks Out Loud in iTunes, the Google Play Store, via our dedicated podcast RSS feed (or sign up for our free newsletter). You can also download/listen to the podcast here on Thinks using the player at the top of this page. Transcript: In the Age of AI, Brand Isn’t Everything. It’s the Only Thing The single biggest story in marketing and customer acquisition this year has been artificial intelligence. That’s no surprise for anyone listening to this show. What I think is a shock and a surprise, though, is that more people don’t recognize why AI makes building your company’s brand more important than ever. AI is already disrupting...
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    16 mins
  • Best of the Show: What ‘Your Brand Is the Prompt’ Really Means for Your Business (Podcast)

    Best of the Show: What ‘Your Brand Is the Prompt’ Really Means for Your Business (Podcast)
    Dec 24 2025
    The holidays are a great time to catch up on some of the big ideas we’ve covered on the podcast this year. And one of the biggest is the notion that “Your brand is the prompt.” That idea is even more important now that ChatGPT has opened access for any business to release their own app on the ChatGPT platform. Once businesses start taking advantage, your biggest problem won’t be getting ChatGPT to find you. It will be getting them to show you instead of the millions of other businesses who also want ChatGPT to show them. If only there was a way that companies could stand apart. If only there was a way to ensure customers found you, every single time. Oh, wait. There is. It’s called building a brand. I’ve studied how we can build brands beyond Big Tech for over 20 years. That’s the core of what my book Digital Reset is all about. Building a brand that works in the age of AI is exactly what “your brand is the prompt” really means for your business. And it’s what this Best of the Show episode of the podcast is all about. We hope you’ll enjoy revisiting this topic. We’ll be back with new episodes after the holidays. In the meantime, here are the show notes for you. Best of the Show: What ‘Your Brand Is the Prompt’ Really Means for Your Business — Headlines and Show Notes Show Notes and Links What ‘The Brand Is the Prompt’ Really Means for Your Business (Episode 474)Tim Peter’s quick thoughts about ChatGPT opening apps to all on LinkedInOpenAI opens ChatGPT to third-party travel apps • Hospitality.todayDevelopers can now submit apps to ChatGPT | OpenAIIn the Age of AI, Brand Isn’t Everything. It’s the Only Thing (Episode 472)Are ChatGPT’s Apps Good for Your Business? (Episode 471)Mark Schaefer on the most important "soft skill" in the AI Era where he talks about Amazon limiting the number of books that a person can self-publish to three per day.The Brand is the Prompt (Thinks Out Loud 465)My original post about “The Brand is the Prompt” on LinkedInWill Agentic AI Kill Your Content Marketing? (Episode 470)The New SEO? (Episode 469)AI and Zero-Click Search: The Real Story (Episode 467) Buy the Book — Digital Reset: Driving Marketing and Customer Acquisition Beyond Big Tech Tim Peter has written a new book called Digital Reset: Driving Marketing Beyond Big Tech. You can learn more about it here on the site. Or buy your copy on Amazon.com today. Past Appearances Rutgers Business School MSDM Speaker: Series: a Conversation with Tim Peter, Author of "Digital Reset" Free Downloads We have some free downloads for you to help you navigate the current situation, which you can find right here: A Modern Content Marketing Checklist. Want to ensure that each piece of content works for your business? Download our latest checklist to help put your content marketing to work for you.Digital & E-commerce Maturity Matrix. As a bonus, here’s a PDF that can help you assess your company’s digital maturity. You can use this to better understand where your company excels and where its opportunities lie. And, of course, we’re here to help if you need it. The Digital & E-commerce Maturity Matrix rates your company’s effectiveness — Ad Hoc, Aware, Striving, Driving — in 6 key areas in digital today, including: Customer FocusStrategyTechnologyOperationsCultureData Best of Thinks Out Loud You can find our “Best of Thinks Out Loud” playlist on Spotify right here: Subscribe to Thinks Out Loud Subscribe in iTunesSubscribe in the Google Play Store Contact information for the podcast: podcast@timpeter.com Past Insights from Tim Peter Thinks Technical Details for Thinks Out Loud Recorded using a Shure SM7B Vocal Dynamic Microphone and a Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 (3rd Gen) USB Audio Interface into Logic Pro X for the Mac. Running time: 22m 09s You can subscribe to Thinks Out Loud in iTunes, the Google Play Store, via our dedicated podcast RSS feed (or sign up for our free newsletter). You can also download/listen to the podcast here on Thinks using the player at the top of this page. Transcript: Best of the Show—What ‘Your Brand Is the Prompt’ Really Means for Your Business  2025 reinforced many of the lessons from my book, Digital Reset. One of the biggest revelations is the idea that “your brand is the prompt.” In the book I talked about why your brand is a moat that protects you from competitors and gatekeepers alike. Well, news from ChatGPT highlights exactly how important this is. You see, just last week ChatGPT announced that it’s opening up its app store to essentially anyone. I’m going to have a full show about this after the holidays, but I think we’re overlooking one key point when we only look at the upsides of ChatGPT making apps available to any business. Turns out that there are almost a billion websites in the world, roughly 200 million of them actively updated. If we assume that even one-tenth of those actively updated sites makes ...
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    22 mins
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