Retail website made unique for each shopper

Washington

AFTER years of using customer data to fine-tune their marketing efforts to smaller and smaller groups, retailers are now making a massive and expensive effort to tailor their websites and promotions for an even narrower target: an audience of one.

Retailers and experts say the industry is in the early stages of a push towards personalisation, in which individual shoppers have different experiences on retailers' websites and receive highly customised emails, coupons and special offers.

CVS pharmacy, for example, might email a shopper about allergy medication based on weather conditions in their geographic location.

At luxe department store Barneys New York, shoppers who browsed a collection from Italian designer Marcelo Burlon are likely to see a version of the Barneys website that pr…