Title: Using decision trees to analyse the customers' shopping location preferences

Authors: Azarnoush Ansari; Arash Riasi

Addresses: Department of Management, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran ' Institute for Financial Services Analytics, University of Delaware, Purnell Hall, Amstel Ave., Newark, DE, USA

Abstract: Customers' shopping location preferences were analysed by implementing J48 decision tree algorithm. Findings revealed that the existence of discounts at shopping centres and customers' awareness of these discounts is the most important socioeconomic factor that affects customers' behaviour in the context of shopping location preferences. The findings also revealed that the majority of high-income households prefer shopping centres, whereas households in low- or middle-income groups are more inclined toward shopping at individual scattered stores. Finally, the results indicated that J48 decision tree algorithm can be used as a reliable tool for analysing the consumer behaviour due to its high accuracy.

Keywords: decision tree; data mining; customer behaviour; shopping centres; J48; consumer buying behaviour.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBEX.2019.099557

International Journal of Business Excellence, 2019 Vol.18 No.2, pp.174 - 202

Received: 21 Nov 2017
Accepted: 12 Mar 2018
Published online: 09 May 2019 *

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