Google has become the latest company to explore the "buy" button on its search engine, as it looks to improve the e-commerce experience for consumers. While Sears Hometown Outlet Stores CMO David Buckley declined to say whether the store is part of that trial, he said it would make sense to add a buy button in search results depending on transaction agreements and relationship with customers. He and others in a separate panel spoke about the pros and cons several days prior to reports that Google is approaching retailers with the service.

Search the phrase "video marketing" on Google, and query pages of YouTube videos serve up in query results. A simple search on the word "video" returns clips from ESPN and Fox News, among others.

Apparently these days it has become difficult to find qualified engineering to build out what Boost Media CEO David Greenbaum calls a "creative optimization platform." He said optimizing the creative in the advertisement remains fundamental to the success of a campaign, but finding engineers to help build the vision continues to present challenges.

Starting a search on one device and completing it on another continues to gain popularity. Sometimes the search will begin on the desktop and the sale will be carried out on the smartphone. I do it all the time. Evidently, according to data released Wednesday, I'm not alone. Surprisingly, although men are typically known for being more tech savvy, women will jump from one device to the next when shopping more often -- especially during the holidays.

Microsoft recently launched Bing Pulse to provide real-time sentiment analysis at live events, but how can brands use the technology in advertising campaigns? While traditional "sponsored by" campaigns seem a bit boring for this real-time platform, the technology could build on a focus group to provide instant access to what hundreds of consumers scattered worldwide might think about a product color or package design.

Public data can provide a wealth of information, especially in the Internet age. Forty-four of the largest online public companies pulled in $85.9 billion in digital media revenue during the first half of 2014, up 17% from the year-ago period. No surprise that Google generated the most with $31.4 billion, up 12%.

Marketers will need to create campaigns that help consumers explore, use, and engage with their brands in 2015, not just discover and buy merchandise. This means measuring whether customers do the research and search for information prior to making the purchase. The searches will become part of the customer life-cycle journey.

When an app learns from doing, we call it artificial intelligence or machine learning. In 2014, the industry began to see this intelligence in predictive analysis, and in 2015, we will see it in apps. Microsoft announced Thursday that it has integrated Bing Image Search into its Office presentation app Sway. While the feature allows users to search for images and add them to their Sways without leaving the app, it also improves the app's machine learning and intelligence features.

Google said Thursday it will update its partner program to combine its existing programs for Apps, Chrome, Cloud Platform, Maps and Search. The move is intended to better sell and serve across the Google for Work and Education suite of products and platforms.

Consumers spent $2.038 billion from desktop computers on Cyber Monday, up 17% compared with a year ago,.The weekend after Thanksgiving also saw its first billion-dollar online shopping day on Saturday, while sales on Sunday fell short of $1 billion.