Why Doesn’t Every Web Site Use IP Targeting?

When we invented IP intelligence back in 1999, our honest opinion was that nearly every web site on the Internet could benefit from this technology.   The location of your business and knowing/understanding your customers are both of the utmost importance in developing a successful business in the real world.  People and business realities don’t change just because business is conducted online.

One of the coolest new uses of IP intelligence takes place on the Ace Hardware web site [http://www.acehardware.com/home/index.jsp].   Through “My Local Ace,” the  site instantly determines where you are located and shows you the number of stores in your area.   What a simple, but very valuable feature!

Why wouldn’t every e-commerce or enterprise/business site use features like this to attract consumers and make their lives easier while shopping or looking for information?  Why do web sites STILL force consumers to “choose their location” from a drop down menu?   In the real world, you don’t force a consumer to pick his or her location—you automatically know it, and you customize your offerings, pricing, branding accordingly.  Things should not be different online.

In my view businesses that adapt to these realities will thrive, while businesses that still continue to put up one-size-fits-all web sites and make consumers find their way through a maze of web pages, will struggle.  Kudos to Ace Hardware for such a novel use of IP Intelligence—hopefully soon, this kind of smart use of technology will become the norm, rather than the exception!!