Getting Personal Online: Can Consumers be Targeted Behvaiorally for Internet Advertising?

The emergence of the internet as a tool for business to consumers has far - reaching ramifications. It has enabled consumers to perform many stages of the sales process in a quick and efficient manner. It also provides comprehensive product information, facilitates comparison-shopping and allows for a condensed sales process. But the basic question is how to know the customers on line? Is it really possible to study the psychographics of the on line customers and then to tap them accordingly with the right kind of ads and appropriate messages? Behavioral targeting is one of the many innovations developed by web savvy businesses to log on to personal traits and preferences of the target customers. It is believed that A CUSTOMER VISITING A WEB SITE IS THE MOST POWERFUL BEHAVIOR THAT HE CAN SHOW.