Net Worth: Shaping Markets When Customers Make the Rules [Anglais] [Relié]

No one ever said consumerism was easy. At one end, the poor consumer faces a bewildering array of goods and services. On the other, vendors contend with a diverse and fragmented marketplace that makes finding the right set of customers akin to finding the proverbial needle in the haystack. And in between are the billions misspent on muffed purchases and broken marketing campaigns that serve only to stuff mailboxes and alienate the very customers that vendors are trying to attract. The rise of e-commerce has only intensified the problem by offering consumers even greater choice and vendors more competition. John Hagel and Marc Singer think they've got a better idea, and in Net Worth, they present an online scenario that would end this chaos and give both customers and vendors what they really want.

At the heart of Hagel and Singer's solution is the "infomediary" that sits between the customer and vendor. For the consumer, the infomediary acts as a trustworthy agent who knows the needs and habits of the client. For the vendor, the infomediary is the holy grail of consumer behavior, a marketer's dream. The infomediary brokers client information to vendors in exchange for goods and services for the consumer. The result? Happy consumers, satisfied marketers, and a very lucrative business model that awaits those entrepreneurs and companies that are bold enough to embrace the idea. The authors painstakingly outline the challenges and opportunities of developing an infomediary business and go as far as to peg the potential market cap of a dominant player at $20 billion by its fifth year of operation. While the idea of software agents is nothing new, Hagel and Singer may be breathing new life into the idea at just the right time. And even if infomediaries never arise, following the thinking of Hagel and Singer is well worth the price of admission. For marketers, managers, entrepreneurs, and just about anyone who thinks about e-commerce. Highly recommended. --Harry C. Edwards

Looking at the future of e-commerce, Hagel (coauthor of Net Gain) and Singer, both principals in the consulting firm McKinsey & Company, add a provocative twist to the conventional view that those companies with the best information about their customers will be the most successful. They examine not only how companies can acquire information about consumers but also, crucially, how consumers can control dissemination of their personal information and even charge companies for their use of it. To the ever-expanding e-commerce lexicon they add a new term: "infomediaries." These third parties will serve both consumers and marketers: consumers will use infomediaries to help them find products at the best price, avoid unwanted product pitches and protect their privacy; in turn, via the use of sophisticated filters, infomediaries will be able to provide targeted consumer profiles to companies. The companies will then be able to anticipate consumers' needs and offer them appropriate products. While some companies, such as Intuit or AOL, currently perform some of these functions, the authors predict that the infomediaries are likely to be new companies formed by partnerships between existing firms?most likely between companies with large consumer databases and newer, more Internet-savvy entrepreneurial ventures. Well-written and full of scenarios of how these infomediaries will develop, this book will interest marketers and those consumers who are eager to explore the electronic frontiers of the economy. 50,000 first printing; $150,000 ad/promo.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Following up on his Net Gain: Expanding Markets Through Virtual Communities (LJ 3/15/97), Hagel and new coauthor Singer suggest a mechanism for preventing the "privacy backlash" to electronic commerce building among consumers. "Infomediaries," a new business venture category, will protect individual consumers, keeping them anonymous by integrating their confidential information into "classes." These infomediaries will facilitate transactions for customers, for a commission. Travel agents, private bankers, personal shoppers, and other services already perform part of the function the authors envision. Because of the large capital investment required to start such a venture and the need to reach a critical mass of clients quickly, infomediaries will probably come from combinations of existing companies, Hagel and Singer suggest. AOL, Yahoo, Motley Fool, Mediconsult, Amazon.com, Microsoft, and L.L. Bean, with their existing customer relationships and profiles, are proposed as logical choices. An interesting concept, but the authors' faith that infomediaries will work together to set standards and that consumers will trust them borders on naivete.?Susan DiMattia, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Whether you_re a portal with millions of surfers, a digital merchant with thousands of customers or an entrepreneur looking to launch the Web_s next success, everyone is trying to _monetize_ – read: profit from – an online audience. In Net Worth, John Hagel and Marc Singer present their step-by–step path to big money. In a nutshell, you need to become an infomediary.

Forget disintermediation and one-to-one marketing, these information intermediaries will get between buyers and sellers and act as trusted agents that selectively exchange data between the two sectors. In this world, consumers will somehow trust their personal characteristics and purchasing habits to the infomediary to simultaneously protect their privacy and save time and money on shopping. Businesses will give up direct contact with these customers so they can instead buy prequalified leads and gain more data about customers from the infomediary. Net Worth estimates that an infomediary that recruits 1 million members by the end of its second year could realize revenues approaching $100 million.

But whether customers and businesses will buy into this utopian vision of a world free from spam, telemarketer calls during dinner and haggle-free auto buying remains a long shot.

– Maryann Jones Thompson

"Anybody running a traditional business who feels threatened by the onset of electronic commerce should feel more threatened after reading John Hagel III's new book. Unless they feel inspired to make its message work for themselves."

"To get a handle on the next potential revolution--starring an empowered consumer and diminished brand importance--executives at companies big and small will be speed-reading this one."

"Hagel and Singer's work continues to break new ground, and in this volume they provide another twist on the many books written about the information age. ... The authors' goal in writing the book is to engage the reader with a broader set of themes that will be critically important to creating value on digital networks. In addition, the authors challenge a number of views about the Internet. Recommended for senior management, Internet entrepreneurs, and graduate marketing students."

"Net Worth is worth a read for any e-commerce manager."

Consumers already recognize the need to protect their privacy when using the Internet to communicate, browse for information, and purchase goods and services. With Net Worth, authors Hagel and Singer build an intriguing scenario in which customers take control of their personal data and refuse to surrender it without some compensation. As customers search for the best deal and the safest place for their information assets, an opportunity emerges for firms to leverage new, web-based strategies and act as "infomediaries"--brokers or intermediaries who help customers maximize the value of their data. Net Worth constructs a new business model around the infomediary, and reveals the coming battle among infomediaries for customers' trust and private information. The authors examine the opportunities the infomediary will present for businesses and consumers alike, as customer-centric brands rise up as the primary source of new value creation, forcing companies to reassess the nature of their core businesses and their long-held beliefs about brands and marketing.

This visionary book constructs a new business model around the infomediary--brokers or intermediaries that help customers maximize the value of the data--and reveals the coming battle among infomediaries for customers' trust and private information.

A Business Week Bestseller

"A practical, insightful manual that shows how to implement the visionary ideas of Net Gain. This is the kind of book you want to keep out of your competitors' hands." --Esther Dyson, Chairman, EDventure Holdings, and author of Release 2.0: A Design for Living in the Digital Age

"The Internet is truly a new medium, and most writers miss its impact. Hagel and Singer demonstrate convincingly that profile-based and intermediated marketing are the new drivers of revenue in the digital age." --Eric Schmidt, CEO, Novell, Inc.

"Mass communication on the Web will ultimately favor the proverbial 'little guy,' and John Hagel explains why. Showing how individuals will gather and use information to manage relations with Corporate America, Net Worth turns the Internet on its head. Companies trying to capitalize on the global network can learn much from this book." --Tom Gardner, Cofounder, www.fool.com

"As we all seek to 'monetize community' effectively and compassionately, the timeliness of this book almost scares me. Hagel once again pushes us forward by suggesting a business relationship for community that recognizes the richness and complexity of the consumer relationships that we've already sewn." --Bo Peabody, President and CEO, Tripod, Inc., and Vice President of Network Strategy, Lycos, Inc.

"Hagel and Singer display a depth of insight and level of understanding seldom seen in works on Internet commerce. Net Worth is a road-map for success into the new century. I hope none of my competitors read it." --Trevor Dow Traina, President and Founder, CompareNet

"Net Worth may be the single most important book yet on the Internet economy. If Hagel and Singer are correct--and I believe strongly that they are--then infomediaries will be at the epicenter of a fundamentally new way to create relationships between consumers and marketers." --Jeff Levy, Cofounder and CEO, RelevantKnowledge, and Vice Chairman, Media Metrix

John Hagel III is a principal in McKinsey & Company, Inc.'s Silicon Valley office and a leader of the firm's Interactive Multimedia Practice. He is the coauthor of the bestselling book Net Gain: Expanding Markets through Virtual Communities. Marc Singer is a principal in McKinsey's San Francisco office, where he coleads the firm's Continuous Relationship Marketing Practice.