ELECTRONIC BUSINESS: A DATA MINING APPROACHAPPROACH TO UNRAVELING CONSUMER PROFILES

In the era of the internet and communication, e-commerce is a major trend in world trade, and is quickly ceasing to be a novelty and becoming a strategic tool for companies to distinguish themselves in the market in which they operate. In the perspective of great expansion and growth of e-commerce and in a market of fierce competition from increasingly demanding consumers, profiling the consumer to adopt better negotiation strategies can make all the difference as it increases customer satisfaction. In this context, the objective of this study is to trace the profile of the E-commerce consumer, using the city of Quixadá/CE as the object of study. The intention is that, based on this study, companies and entrepreneurs may become interested in opening electronic businesses. To this end, a market research was carried out through a questionnaire with the population of Quixadá/CE, obtaining two hundred and sixty-one (261) answers. Data analysis employed Data Mining (DM) techniques to trace the profiles of the city's consumers.