Focusing on research at Target and Procter & Gamble, on 2/19 the New York Times Magazine had an article, How Companies Learn Your Secrets, by Charles Duhigg on habits and Marketing:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html
Instead of “habits,” the better term is automaticity:
http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~kihlstrm/Juggernaut.htm