Cluster Validity Index to Determine the Optimal Number Clusters of Fuzzy Clustering for Classify Customer Buying Behavior

Abstract

One of the strategies in order to compete in Batik  MSMEs  is to look at the characteristics of the customer. To make it easier to see the characteristics of  customer buying behavior, it is necessary to classify customers based on similarity of characteristics using fuzzy clustering. One of the parameters that must be determined at the beginning of the fuzzy clustering method is the number of clusters. Increasing the number of clusters does not guarantee the best performance, but the right number of clusters greatly affects the performance of fuzzy clustering. So to get optimal number cluster, we can measured the result of clustering in each number cluster using the cluster validity index. From several types of cluster validity index,  NPC give the best value. Optimal number cluster that obtained by the validity index is 2 and this number cluster give classify result with small variance value