By pooling resources, partners can realize a significant reduction in these expenses. The downside of sharing is that each participant gives up some control of each of these processes. A significant amount of trust among partners in the alliance is also required. The demographics that can be collected through a Web site are just being discovered. Customer buying patterns can be inferred through click analyses, buying history, and revealed preferences.
Some applications can even determine customer ZIP codes.
All of this information can be used toward encouraging customers to make repeat purchases. These techniques must be applied with a light touch to protect customer privacy and conform to government regulations. Completely disclosing demographic collection to customers is undoubtedly the best policy. The real-time nature of Internet buying can work to the advantage of buyers and sellers. By means of dynamic pricing, inventories can be more precisely controlled by offering lower prices on products that must be moved quickly.