The Intention Economy

In this title, Doc Searls maps out the implications of a customer-driven business revolution that's flipping the paradigm of supply and demand, and putting consumers in charge. Who owns the marketplace? Is it business - or the customer? According to Doc Searls, widely-read journalist and blogger and co-author of "The Cluetrain Manifesto", customers are on the verge of becoming truly free and independent actors in the marketplace with the power of telling vendors what they want, how they want it, and where and when they should be able to get it. This imperative shift in customer power will alter the balance of the market and usher in what Searls calls the "intention economy". In this book, Searls lays out a map for an economy driven by consumer intent, where vendors can - and must - respond to the actual intentions of customers, instead of simply vying for customer attention in hopes of selling them what they might want. In the intention economy, individual power increases, demand drives supply, and information precedes money. Only the vendors and organizations that are ready for the change will survive, and thrive. In fact, says Searls, this paradigm shift has already taken place in many concrete ways - for example, how "vendor relationship management" is supplanting "customer relationship management". And there are more indications on the horizon that the tipping point is not far behind. "The Intention Economy" maps out the implications - both immediate and far-reaching - for business and the world.