The impact of web personalisation on consumer attitudes and behaviours : a systematic literature review

Abstract

鈥淐ustomers, whether consumers or businesses, do not want more choices. They want exactly what they want 鈥� when, where and how they want it 鈥� and technology now makes it possible for companies to give it to them鈥� (Pine, Peppers and Rogers, 1995, p.103). Advances in technology are enabling marketers to deliver on this claim, and to develop increasingly personalised customer experiences, as well as transmit precisely targeted marketing messages, moving towards the 鈥渟egment of one鈥� (Lamberton and Stephen, 2016, p. 4). Identifying the needs, wants and demands of each individual customer is nowadays not only possible, but also becoming increasingly important as a source of competitive advantage (Kumar, Dixit, Javalgi, & Dass, 2016). Personalisation is a process that uses customer data to understand individual preferences and subsequently, allows companies to match relevant products and services (Montgomery & Smith, 2009) and adapt the ideal marketing mix (Arora et al., 2008). Fundamentally, personalisation empowers marketers to engage in one-to-one marketing (Peppers & Rogers, 1993). The potential impact of personalisation is significant. The personalisation of products and services can lead firms to establish better, stronger, more profitable customer relationships (Rust & Huang, 2014). However, personalisation has its caveats, that include, among others, the augmented tension emerging from privacy concerns and a sense of vulnerability among users from whom data is captured (Aguirre, Mahr, Grewal, De Ruyter, & Wetzels, 2015).