Re-Marketing

If you have been to Palika Bazaar in Delhi, you know that only one “kitne ka hai” about something is enough for them to get behind you like anything. They call you, cajole you, follow you till a distance – their voice does even if they physically don't. Heavy discounts are offered and more often than not they close the deal. After coming out, many times we look down upon the cheap methods by which the sale was done – even if the shopping bags are full.

Well, now even sellers who term the Palika Bazar's methods as 'low market' can also benefit from the same technique. The euphemism that Google has used is 'Re-marketing' or 'Interest Based Advertising'.

The 'advertising innovation' is around 6 months old but came to know about it when Ankit was trying to book air tickets online. Though he did not go through with the transaction, for the next few days, he kept on getting related ads by airlines/travel portals flashed on various websites he visited. It was then we realized that he was being re-marketed.

The concept is simple. Suppose you are on the web to buy let's say an airline ticket for a leisure trip to Singapore. You visit a website which has employed re-marketing and browse around. In other words you have asked a Palika Bazaar dukaanwala(shopkeeper) the price of some thing.

The information gets stored in the cache. The dukanwala has locked on to a potential buyer.

If you leave the website without a purchase, then website uses the cache information to display related advertisements wherever you go on the web. If you leave the dukaan without a buy, the dukaanwala follows you, shouting “Aao to sahi. Kitna doge”.

The ads being popped up offer various discounts on the exact route you had searched for. The same is done by the dukaanwala.

I wonder if Palika Bazaar actually had something to do with Google Re-marketing.