In a world where we are spoilt for our shopping choices – marketers often grapple with what do to make that elusive customer come again and shop from his store. Not only that, he also wants that customer to spread the good word about the shopping experience he has had at his store to other people so that they may want to come there too! Alas! His is not the only store in town! The growth of Modern Retail that India has experienced is simply breathtaking. With a USD 330 billion in 2007 to an estimated USD 427 billion industry by 2010 and providing employment to about 8% of India’s population, Retail Sector is a power source to reckon with. So, what worries our marketer here is the unlimited options that his customer has to do his shopping. Whatever he offers in the range of products is available equally well in many other retail outlets, so why would his customer want to come only at his store? Customer is the king and he simply is spoilt for choices these days!

“Most advertising tends to be”, Edward Kosner once said, "a trailing indicator of popular culture". 

This might have been true 30 years ago, but the scene today is different. Advertising is actually CREATING culture(s) and is more and more targeted at changing the basic psyche of the target customers.

John Wanamaker the man who invented department stores and price tag in 1870 famously said “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, the trouble is, I don't know which half.” More than a century later the proverb still holds true and more so for the internet based advertisements. According to a Mckinsey research internet advertisements going to the wrong audience accounts for $332 billion of wasted resources of which $112 billion is spent in America alone. For any marketer this waste of resources is a night mare. In the following article we will try to look at the various tolls and technique which companies and agencies are using world wide to track their advertisement so that it reach the correct audience.