Which cloud service is best suited for an IBM retail client seeking to analyze customer buying patterns?

For an IBM retail client aiming to analyze customer buying patterns, selecting the analytics service is the most appropriate choice. Analytics services are specifically designed to process and interpret data, providing insights that can drive business decisions.

By utilizing analytics, the client can apply various statistical methods and machine learning techniques to understand customer behaviors and preferences based on their purchasing history. This insight is crucial for tailoring marketing strategies, improving customer experience, and ultimately increasing sales.

In the context of the other options, while Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) provide foundational capabilities for building and deploying applications, they do not directly address the specific need for analyzing data. Data Storage is necessary to hold the information, but by itself, it lacks the analytical tools required to extract meaningful insights from that data. Therefore, focusing on analytics is essential for fulfilling the client’s objective of understanding customer buying patterns effectively.