Tasks Vocalized: Voice search is already supplanting text entry. A new survey from Invoca revealed that 58% of in-home voice assistant device owners now use voice for tasks they used to complete by typing or swiping. Invoca concluded that the customer experience is currently undergoing a sea change as the switch from older input and interaction methods is displaced.

Brand Retail Denied: New figures from Jumpshot showed that consumers are now making 54% of their online purchases via marketplaces, rather than brand-operated sites. And that figure climbs to as high as 60% for some product categories. Why? Marketplaces offer shoppers a one-stop online destination for a range of goods, and can use their scale to offer a better customer experience, Jumpshot found.

Black Friday Deals: Hold off on buying that gift for a few more days. SaleCycle surveyed retailers in the US and UK and discovered that 76% plan to offer Black Friday promotions this holiday season. Unsurprisingly, when the question was narrowed to retailers in the US alone, 83% planned offer deals, compared with 70% in the UK.

Thanksgiving Prep: What groceries are US consumers loading up on before Thanksgiving? Turkey—a lot of turkey. Nielsen reports shoppers will buy 365 million pounds of turkey in the days leading up to the holiday, and 250 million pounds of potatoes. And let's not forget dessert: The hungry masses will purchase some 28 million pies as well.

Don't Forget About X: Gen Xers are often overshadowed by baby boomers and millennials. But CivicScience dug up some interesting stats on the demographic, such as that they are more likely than other groups to use a tablet. The cohort is also more loyal to brands than millennials, according to the research.

GDPR Blues: It's not great news for European businesses (or their regulators, for that matter). More than nine in 10 (92%) polled by RSM reported they were unprepared for implementation of the EU's impending General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The new regulation is intended to strengthen data protection for consumers, but 28% of businesses said they were unfamiliar with it.