Click Stream Analysis in E-Commerce Websites-a Framework

Abstract

The growth and proliferation of Internet has generated a revolution in retail practice. People nowadays prefer virtual shopping over Brick and mortar. So “Customer Retention” is a vital issue in today's e-commerce market. In order to boost customer loyalty, it is crucial for any e-commerce company to have an extensive understanding of online user behavior to strengthen the bond with their “e-customers”. Though click stream analysis has been solving e-business problems, still recommendation system and digital marketing are far from perfect. In this article, different pattern discovery methods are addressed to identify various navigation patterns from weblogs to better understand users' behavior in e-commerce websites. The integrated approach of cognitive science and data mining on click stream could provide deeper insights about customer's thinking patterns, perceptions and their decision-making styles which could be utilized for effective customer retention.