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This article aims to achieve an in-depth understanding of customers’ responses to personalization and mass customization, two major facets of customer-centric marketing. Its objective is to compare the perceptions and assessments of personalization and customization held by theorists and practitioners on the one hand, and consumers in an e-commerce context on the other. A conceptual framework as well as a qualitative study are presented. The latter shows a huge discrepancy between the claims of theorists and especially professionals with regard to personalization and customization and the actual expectations and perceptions of customers.