[ESSEC Knowledge] by Richard McFarland - Professor at ESSEC Business School

In this article, Professor Richard McFarland describes how he and his colleagues designed and piloted a method of automated adaptive selling for online retailers, which permits e-commerce sites to use the same influence tactics that salespeople use in face-to-face interactions. Their innovative research recently won an Emerald Literati Award from Emerald Publishing.

Scenario 1: You walk into a store in search of one specific item and found yourself leaving with many more items in hand--the salesperson just seemed to ask the right questions and give helpful answers.  

Scenario 2: You’re idly browsing Amazon and it seems like the site is seeing straight into your heart. You find yourself adding much more to your cart based on the products that they ‘recommend for you’ than just the item you set out to buy originally. But how did Amazon know just how to appeal to you??

In scenario 1, you’ve experienced a strategy called adaptive selling, meaning that salespeople adapt their sales strategy to you.. In scenario 2, the retailer has used a customized shopping experience based on your individual browsing habits.

[To read the full article please follow this link.]