Origins and theoretical foundations of «personalization»

Abstract

These days, customer have changed. We are currently witnessing an evolution in fashions, habits and consumption behaviors. Faced with the multitude of offers proposed by companies (atomicity of the offer); consumer aspirations have changed so much. However, the customer asks to satisfy him individually.

The rise of digital is also an important issue which has developed the benchmark spirit among consumers. Today's customers easily compare the commercial offers sent to them; he becomes informed and warns instantly, this makes him very demanding.

So and as Walsh and Godfrey already mentioned in their article in 2001: Tomorrow the undifferentiated offers (standards) will seem very outdated (the case of the choice of colors for the Fordist current) so much the personalization of the offer and service will be a practice fairly regular. (Walsh, 2001)

Consequently, the optimal solution will be to offer the customer exactly what he wants: personalization at all levels and of all dimensions of the proposed offer. All these reasons and others force companies to respond to this new need which is personalization.

Our article aims to present a literature review of the notion of personalization by highlighting its origins, definitions, dimensions, forms and the conceptual models that have already dealt with this variable. Finally, we will present the benefits of personalization as a marketing strategy for both the customer and the company.