Usage of the Web should be integrated with the overall positioning strategy adopted by the company. This will yield better effectiveness measures than will a simple presence on the Web. Goodstein is now looking at how companies with complementary products can coordinate their Web linkages in order to reach new customers. A traditional example of suggestive selling is the shirt, necktie or other complementary garments that a clothing salesperson might set down next to the suit you're thinking about buying. Similarly, Goodstein and a colleague are developing a means to vary the degree of relatedness between a firm's Web site and an advertisement that's in the corner of the screen.
Larger retailers keep databases on customers.
Credit card issuers are selling buying-pattern information about you to other firms. Catalogs seemed to peak in popularity a few years ago, but Goodstein believes they are coming back, with renewed emphasis on delivery dates before Christmas. But Goodstein isn't suggesting that traditional strategies have been neglected. However, the start of the shopping season has been pushed back to Nov. 1 to build consumer excitement about the holidays and to generate sales.