Customer-side market segmentation

A method for customer-side market segmentation, said method comprising steps of:

• receiving a business-specific decision procedure by a non-merchant-controlled device;
• executing a categorizer on the non-merchant-controlled device, the categorizer using the received business-specific decision procedure and a set of stored customer-specific information, the executing resulting in an identified customer category;
• and
• providing the identified customer category.

A computer readable medium containing code sections for categorizing a customer, said medium comprising:

• a first code section for receiving a business-specific rule set from a business;
• a second code section for inputting customer-specific information and storing said information in memory;
• a third code section for categorizing a customer, wherein the categorizing code section uses the business-specific rule set received by the receiving code section and customer-specific information stored in memory, said categorization resulting in a customer category;
• and
• a fourth code section for sending the customer category to the business, wherein the sending guards the customer-specific information stored in memory from being sent to the business.

A computer readable medium containing code sections for use in a promotional device utilizing customer categories, said medium comprising:

• a first code section for detecting a customer-controlled categorization device;
• a second code section for sending a business-specific rule set to the customer-controlled categorization device;
• and
• a third code section for receiving a customer category from the customer-controlled categorization device, wherein the categorization uses the business-specific rule set sent by the business and customer-specific information stored in memory in the customer-controlled categorization device.