Use and Misuse of Technology in Marketing

Abstract

This article describes how the recent breakthrough in information technology has changed in day-to-day life. The smart phone rules the minds and hearts of a major chunk of the population. Internet has become a basic requirement of many a people. Although technology has affected all functional area of business, marketing is feeling the heat even more. The leap in the information technology replaced mass marketing with one-to-one marketing. Customer relationship, knowledge management, database marketing became the buzz words during 1990s. Search services, biometrics and smart cards, enhanced computational speed, M-commerce, and GPS tracking have changed the way marketing is done. However, technology is often misused by marketers to lure customers on wrong premises. Marketers may at times misuse technology for their vested interest. The article discusses the various cases where technology has been misused by the marketers. The article explores the technological innovations in marketing and the potential misuse of technology with special focus on cases from India.