User segmentation of online music services using fuzzy clustering

Given the rapid growth of the Internet, companies are trying to take advant age of its offerings, differentiate themselves from their competitors and b e more competitive. These objectives can be achieved by providing personali zed and enhanced customer service. As different people can use an online se rvice for different reasons, fuzzy clustering can be useful to identify hom ogenous groups of potential users and to develop customized strategies for each group, thus enabling companies to increase the personalization of thei r services and to improve their customer service. This study focuses on the online music industry and presents an application of fuzzy clustering. The results show that there exist homogeneous groups among the potential users of an online music service and that there are differences among the groups with respect to their attitudes, interests, and opinions about the service and computers. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.