An exploration of the resource theory in the Internet environment

In the competitive world of Internet-based marketing an organization is often required to implement some form of Personalization and Customization as part of its Customer Relationship Management efforts in order to gain a competitive advantage within its industry and establish long term relationships with its customer base. This goal is often accomplished by developing a method to organize and analyze consumer demographic and psychographic data, in an effort to discover trends in the purchasing behaviors of specific customer audience segments. The knowledge gathered from analysis of this type could then be converted into the decision support component of the organization's online marketing efforts. Therefore, the primary purpose of this research study was to utilize an Internet Consumer Purchasing Behavior survey to determine if a universal set of business rules could be established, modeled upon the principles of the Resource Theory (1993). These business rules could then assist marketers in providing personalized content to online consumers, based upon their ability to fulfill various pre-defined demographic categories.