Systems and methods for designing and operating an electronic store are
described. Various embodiments (1) permit a merchant to organize and
advertise descriptions of product inventory over the Internet, (2) permit
Web page information to be extracted on-demand from a product inventory
database, and (3) permit Web pages to be automatically customized to
shopping behaviors of individual consumers. In some embodiments, a
graphical store design user interface of a Web browser displays a
hierarchical representation of products and product groups on an
electronic store. A user manipulates icons of the Web browser store
design user interface to cause a Web server to modify relationships
between products and product groups stored in a product information
database. A store designer creates HTML template files, embeds database
and customized references within the template files, and assigns template
files to groups or products of the electronic store.