Marketing one‐to‐one and its dependence on knowledge discovery in databases

One‐to‐one marketing has received increased attention by academics and practitioners. In essence, one‐to‐one marketing reconfigures the familiar four Ps into one element: the relationship. It represents the ultimate expression of target marketing ‐ a market of one ‐ or at least one at a time. It is safe to say that the concept has been refined and its potential has been highlighted. Still unresolved is the means by which organizations can implement one‐to‐one marketing. A promising solution is the application of the information technology data mining technique. Data mining allows organizations to find patterns within their internal customer data. As a result, data mining is often called Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD). Whatever patterns are uncovered can lead to identification of likely target segments. Armed with such information, organizations can refine their targets and develop their technology to achieve true one‐to‐one marketing. While a promising technique, data mining must be developed and applied intelligently by managers. In addition, managers must realize that marketing 1:1 requires the combined skills of a multi‐disciplinary team.