In The Online Customer, Yinghui Yang details how data mining and marketing approaches can be used to study marketing problems. The book uses a vast dataset of web transactions from the largest internet retailers, including Amazon.com.

In particular, she deftly shows how to integrate and compare statistical methods from marketing and data mining research.

The book comprises two parts. The first part focuses on using behavior patterns for customer segmentation. It advances data mining theory by presenting a novel pattern-based clustering approach to customer segmentation and valuation.

The second part of the book explores how free shipping impacts purchase behavior online. It illuminates the importance of shipping policies in a competitive setting.

With complete documentation and methodology, this book is a valuable reference that business and Internet Studies scholars can build upon.