Evaluation of sales areas in supermarket by Markov chain model

Shopping-path data show the movement of a customer in a store and the point of sales (POS) data show the results of the purchase behavior of a customer. In this study, we collect shopping-path data using radio frequency identification and POS data through a store experiment. We model customer behavior between sales areas using the Markov chain model. In addition, we calculate the limiting distribution probability and evaluate the sales areas based on it. We further discuss the business implication of the value of limiting distribution probability in conjunction with POS data.