The Internet is back -- just in case you thought it had gone away. "The 200 million Americans who now have web access are likely to spend more than $120 billion online this year," according to the Economist Magazine in an optimistic new survey of E-Commerce. The publication also points out that business-to-business (B2B) services have now climbed to more than $1 trillion a year. Wal-Mart, for instance, manages all of its supplier relationships over the Web through a proprietary B2B network.

This is good news for companies that intend to capitalize on customer intelligence. After all, web-based interactions and transactions are far more traceable than offline marketing and commerce. However, the real challenge lies in intelligently managing customer interactions that encompass both click and bricks.

"No company can any longer afford to ignore the internet, even if it does not itself sell much or anything at all online," states the Economist. "Consumers are behaving as if they see no great distinction between online and offline shopping. They do both. For most consumers, the internet is just another sales channel, and a convenient tool for browsing and research, and they make their purchase in whatever way happens to suit them best. To reach these customers, companies have had to look at new and different advertising and marketing strategies. This is why firms are finding that paying for sponsored links to appear on search sites like Google and Yahoo! has become one of the most effective marketing tools..."