Most Internet shopping sites also allow you to create a “shopping basket”, which will store details of products you intend to buy until you're ready to “go to the checkout” and pay your money. What customers put into their baskets can be tracked, and this data can be aggregated and analysed to provide the basis for a “you might be interested in...” link which may tempt you into another purchase. Customer reviews and ratings for particular items can also be fed into this analysis, which can make the suggestions scarily accurate (or rather depressing - that everyone's shopping behaviour is so predictable). Sites that allow the creation of a “homepage” that adapts to the customer/user's preferences are often termed Portals

For examples, it's worth looking at Amazon.co.uk [accessed 5 November 2006], one of the market leaders, at how they use enthusiasts to generate information and use purchase and “basket” data to suggest products. Also take a look at the technical support forums for each main product on the Expansys [accessed 5 November 2006] website as a model for customers providing peer-support themselves. Here, the problems and FAQs for each product are available before purchase, and the potential customer can ask about the features of the device so that a more informed decision can be taken.