Path Data In Marketing: An Integrative Framework And Prospectus For Model-Building

Many datasets, from different and seemingly unrelated marketing domains, all involve "Paths" - records of consumers' movements in a spatial configuration. Path data contain valuable information for marketing researchers because they describe how consumers interact with their environment and make dynamic choices. The main objective of this paper is to motivate and clarify research issues related to path data in marketing. Understanding the interaction between a consumer's behavior and his spatial environment allows us to extract vital insights about how and why consumers engage in certain behaviors.