Abstract: A virtual shopping mall contains virtual shop fronts that operate as gateways into virtual rooms containing a graphic user interface (GUI). The GUI supports an online homepage of a vendor previously associated with the virtual shop front. An avatar window in the GUI contains the virtual room and presents discount codes available from the specific vendor. A second window in the GUI presents a vendor's real-time online homepage. A personalised avatar is managed by a marketing affiliate that promotes vendor discount codes. Registration ties the avatar to a unique IP address of a user's computer. Entrance of registered avatars into a specific virtual room via a specific gateway triggers a cookie being sent to the user's computer and automatic opening of the vendor's homepage. Retrieval of the cookie by the vendor's sever correlates the marketing affiliate to the IP address at the user's point of interest at the vendor's website.