For that, a personalized Web experience is critical. By offering personal recommendations, which can change after every purchase and every visit, it hopes to get people to keep coming back. Brand-building is just as important as sales for many merchants. They're finding that personalizing attracts more people and keeps them on their sites longer. It then spits out a ranked list of dogs that fit their personal preferences.
Loyal users are just as critical for merchants.
To do that, you have to target on an individual basis,'' says Godfrey. For many earthly merchants, the Net's ability to personalize products and services with pinpoint precision adds up to a bowling ball aimed at the very foundations of modern-day commerce. It heralds wrenching change for how manufacturers, distributors, and retailers will be organized and run. One Customer at a Time and a professor at Duke University. Dell Computer Corp., for instance, has created some 1,500 customized home pages for its best customers so they get direct access to corporate-specified personal computers, negotiated discounts, and records of orders and payments.