【正文】 ortance to banks and other financialservices firms will therefore increase and they are most likely to buy relatively expensive items, such as automobiles and durable goods. 7 Nevertheless, the biggest opportunity for panies selling massconsumer goods and services will be the newly empowered middle class. To serve these households successfully, panies will need to understand how the saving and spending patterns of consumers change as their ines increase. Hitting a moving target: Although the middle class will not reach its full spending potential for nearly 20 years, its household saving and consumption patterns have already begun to take shape. Today China39。G, have already begun creating models to target this segment profitably. Recognizing tomorrow39。 the advance of technology, resulting in better informed and therefore more demanding consumer, and the proliferation challenge: recent advances in technology, information, munications, and distribution have created an explosion of new customer segments, sales and service channels, media, products and brands. New marketing techniques In order to cope with these challenges, a number of new marketing techniques have been developed recently, like Customer Relationship Management, Key Account Management and application areas like the service sector and emarketing have received serious attention in marketing literature. On the other hand, information technology is providing us with a level of information our colleagues of 20 years ago could only dream of: The Information Gold Mine1 The incredible munications and puting power of the Inter is handing panies an unprecedented opportunity to collect and analyze information. By tracking everything from which advertisements prompt that first mouse click all the way through the actual sale, they‘re scrambling to unlock patterns of customer behavior hidden since the dawn of merce. Computers are working away, mining the hidden veins of gold in mountains of data in an effort to prompt customers to buy more, stick around, and pay extra for tailored products and services that will result. Along the way, the goal is to save money by targeting only the most profitable customers and avoiding the manufacture of costly products nobody really wants. Ultimately, merchants want to tailor unique products and services to each and every customer – socalled mass customization, the unrealized dream of every marketer. Information gathered over the Net can provide the kind of insight into customers that 20 years ago we could scarcely imagine. It‘s as if we can train cameras on every square inch of a store, with teams in back rooms monitoring how often shoppers touch a rack of sweats or turn up their nose at a pair of slacks – and still more legions to make new products on the spot and rush them out to those fussy buyers. The Inter is turbo charging the ability to understand customers. This ultrapersonal targeting help Emerce finally deliver on its promise to revolutionize the business world. Now that Web sellers have all this traffic and millions of customers, they need to find a way to extract the real profits that investors increasingly demand. If they can get to know them like small town shopkeepers used to know their customers, they can provide a unique service or product, they can sell more and charge more. What is the magic behind all this new found data collection ? While marketers can‘t track what ads customers are really watching, any online merchant with tracking software and database programs can keep tabs on how many times a Web visitor checks out an advertisement or a product – and what they skip over. To do that, Web sites can simply place tags, called cookies, on a visitor‘s puter disk drive. Those cookies, bined with online registrations, can then be added to information from Emails and phone inquiries placed by customers. Add in what the cookies and credit cards say about purchases made, and Ebusinesses suddenly have a treasure trove of insights. Now that the Net reached mass market status, with 100 million cybersurfers and counting, Web site operators demand software that would asses what was clicking and what was missing. There is a choice of software to answer their questions, software modules that track 1 Heather Green, The Information Gold Mine, Business Week, July 26th, 1999 4 buying trends across hundreds of Web sites, as well as phone calls from customers and instore behavior. The new ability to track results can mean quick pay offs: ? By tracking inquiries and transactions that result from online campaigns, conclusions can be drawn about the ads that attract most clicks so the advertising can increase spending on those sites. ? It‘s also a way to quickly correct marketing nightmares. ? Data also can help panies b their information stashes for clues on how to keep their customers ing back. ? By tailoring products and service to a buyer‘s fancy, clients will bee loyal. Even better, as customers tell the pany more about themselves, sellers can create new products that have builtin buyers. ? Ultimately, merchants can reach the dream of manufacturers and service providers: products customized for every single customer. The vast information the Web provides on each buyer has suddenly put the seemingly impossible dream of mass customization within reach. But it requires slick cooperation among suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers. Dell has led the way with its builttoorder PCs, but it‘s a whole new approach for most industries – even online merchants. Despite the Net‘s promise, bringing all data together and making sense of it remains a huge technological and logistical challenge. If these problems are overe, panies may finally provide the kind of frictionless merce that bo