Target-Marketing Becomes More Communal

Behind the scenes of a recent online shopping trip, Blue Kai , a startup company that collects Internet user data, was tracking when a Web surfer browsed for electronics on eBay, searched for cruises and checked out snowboards. It also tracked when a Web surfer researched Chevrolet sport utility vehicles on auto site Autobytel and priced flights to Durham, N.C., at travel site Expedia. After collecting that kind of information, Blue Kai groups Web visits into categories of consumers. It then immediately auctions off the data from some of the sites to marketers and Internet companies, which in turn use it for consumer research and ad personalization. The Web companies make money for selling the data about visitors to their sites, and Blue Kai takes a cut. The advertiser gets its coveted targeting. While the idea of target marketing has been around a long time, marketers until recently have had a hard time buying on enough Web sites to make the targeting truly effective.