1. Introduction
With the trend toward narrowly targeted or one-to-one marketing,
many companies are adopting direct marketing as a way
of direct communication with carefully targeted individual consumers
to obtain an immediate response. Today, spurred by rapid
advances in database technologies and new marketing media,
especially the Internet, direct marketing has developed dramatically.
Some Internet technologies, such as electronic catalogs and
direct mailing, have been implemented on direct marketing models
(Jonker, Piersma, & Potharst, 2006; Liao & Chen, 2004). Whether
employed as a complete business model or as a supplement to a
broader integrated marketing mix, direct marketing can bring
many benefits to both buyers and sellers. As a result, direct marketing
is growing very rapidly.