Instacart is planning to end its delivery partnership with Whole Foods Market and transfer many of its personnel to other retailers. The partnership has been in doubt since Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods.

It's difficult to properly quantify the direct financial impact of sales training, so it's important to look past return on investment when considering the results of training efforts, writes Brian Williams. Instead, consider whether training will increase metrics such as win rates and use those to measure the effectiveness of training programs.

Air travelers will see changes in 2019 including flight experiences tailored to different price points and increased use of biometrics to speed up boarding and security screening. Flyers may also see higher airfares as fuel prices rise.

In the past, brands have typically expanded overseas through a master franchising model, but direct multi-unit franchising is gaining some momentum, writes Michael Seid, CFE, of MSA Worldwide. "Before selecting the method to use, financial modeling based on careful analysis must be conducted," he notes.

Small businesses often benefit from video marketing because it's an effective way to communicate their unique value proposition in a format that will attract customers, writes Ryan Robinson. Depending on the brand, funny videos, live events or even how-to videos can resonate with viewers and lead to more sales.

To generate leads using social media, it's important to optimize your efforts according to platform using factors such as the type of content you produce and the target audience you're attempting to reach, writes Amy Balliett. She also recommends using LinkedIn's lead generation tools to get your social media marketing campaign started.

The US economy is "definitely slowing down," and fourth-quarter growth is likely to measure at about 2.5%, according to former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. Although Greenspan doesn't expect a recession, he said rampant government spending and improperly funded entitlement programs are going to hold back growth.

More than 90% of Americans believe the relationship between the US and Japan is important for the economy, while 66% of Americans said the US should emphasize strong relations with Japan and other traditional allies even if it hurts relations with China, according to a Chicago Council on Global Affairs report. The US and Japan are currently preparing for important trade talks in 2019.

HubSpot's customer relationship management and marketing automation features made it one of the most popular workplace apps of 2018, according to Zapier. Other popular workplace apps included team-chat app Slack and Facebook Business, which helps companies market themselves on the popular social media network.

Jivox has launched Customer Journey Optimization, a tool that allows marketers to view which marketing paths are most successfully engaging customers. The company has also debuted Channel Connector, which uses Jivox IQ to automatically personalize website and email content.