2022 Volume 73 Issue 1 Pages 1-14
In the recent world of diverse products, it is important to identify the consumer segments that should be targeted for each product. In order to identify the consumer segments to be targeted from among all consumers, it is common practice to use target attributes such as “male office workers in their 30s.” If data including attributes, hobbies and preferences of all consumers are available, target attributes can be identified using an analytical process. However, it is not realistic for each company to collect such data from all consumers for their products because of the huge cost involved. It is therefore, common to ask a consulting company that have the web browsing and purchasing histories of various sample consumers to analyze the sample data to identify the target. In particular, clustering behavioral data such as web browsing histories of sample consumers and discovering appropriate attributes that characterize target clusters (i.e. cluster attributes) is one of the most commonly used approaches. In real situations, cluster attributes are often assigned by the analyst based on the attribute statistics of the sample consumers belonging to the cluster, and multiple cluster attributes are often assumed for each cluster. When such qualitative analysis and judgment are involved, the selection of cluster attributes strongly depends on the experience and skills of the analyst. In this study, we formulate a model for clustering sample consumers based on their web browsing history, including various interests and preferences, and assigning effective cluster attributes as targets to each cluster. In addition, we propose a method to search for the best target attributes for a given objective function. By demonstrating an analysis of an actual data set, the effectiveness of the proposed method using real data is clarified.
