"Hi, my name is Scott, I'll be your personal shopper today". This greeting is something we may not all have encountered yet. But more and more stores are hiring people to work as personal shoppers, guiding you through the products the store offers.

Retailers are latching on to the idea that the overall customer 'experience' is important to shoppers today. Dressing up mannequins will no longer suffice if business wants to sell clothes. For online retailing a personal shopper comes back with exactly what we want, saving us the hassle of going to dozens of different websites to find what we were looking for.

Nooked, led by IIA Netvisonary of the year, Fergus Burns, is a pioneer in this area.

The Irish company has recently worked with Ryanair on building a system where customers create a list of their favourite destinations crossed with times of the year when they are interested in flying to them.

When Ryanair then announces one of their frequent seat sales, these customers are notified of the bargains on offer for their chosen destinations. Only when the prices come down will customers be notified, so the bargains get delivered to the bargain hunters, saving them the hassle of scurrying to the site to check the prices of their favourite destinations. It means instead of sending one notification to 10 million customers, the system can send 10 million individually tailored emails, saving time and effort for customers and ensuring an easier sale for Ryanair.

The Ryanair example is a very basic version of vendor relationship marketing. It still means you have to input your needs to Ryanair and only get Ryanair bargains.

Vendor relationship management (VRM) is an idea that comes from Doc Searls, one of the co-authors of the seminal book The Cluetrain Manifesto. The Cluetrain Manifesto laid out the current trend in marketing and communications where you don't advertise to people, you converse one on one with them. 'Markets are conversations' was the main take-away message from this book.

VRM takes this idea and puts the consumer in the driving seat. With VRM every consumer records a list of intentions or wants and sets it free online. Only when retailers can match exactly what the customer wants, will they be able to send their offer to the customer.

VRM is your personal shopper and your bouncer . . .

stopping anyone from offering you something you don't want.

Nooked is developing a portable 'wish list' application so your criteria for Ryanair flights can also be plugged into the Aer Lingus website or British Airways or any other travel website.

These wish lists though don't have to be just for flights.

They can work for anything that a customer is looking for. Imagine being able to take your Amazon wish list and use it to find the cheapest versions of those books and DVDs on other websites? Burns says Nooked will soon release an application like this, which can be used on Facebook or Google OpenSocial profiles.

While VRM might start in the area of retailing, it has massive implications for every other aspect of society. With it you could find a politician who shares your ideals or an employer or a potential business partner. Then they'll be brought to your computer. But stripped of the marketing paraphernalia. That's certainly visionary.