E-Commerce Recommender applications Page 6 of 24 3面的3,已,司· Rernrmrnendaticns vmot is the gating Earnrmanratinne Rate Your purchases The buttons numbered t-5 BankE Ratng your past purchases heps us improve your represent the fulvene commendations. To dude a titi from be used for you fat MIE de ltam"option G1食合DD数 Tre.AMrag onEsE pest purses RAted Dont Hu r kat angie it temo IhgsgiKInD SILEnkuDriR-nihs ::: Purchases by Abart Mamin ML DE soWs nn, Che van Allsburg out et the Duat (Newhec MedaLBcck g in cheftAtrhan Lincoln are :: by Esther Forbes, Lyman ward (lustrator) azon.comratingspagepromptsthecustomertorateitemsrecentlypurchasedTheseratingsareusedasinputtoarecommendationengine her find other items that she is likely to like. Customers are asked to invest effort in rating, in exchange for which they get more useful Eyes: The Eyes feature allows customers to be notified via email of new items that have been added to the amazon. com catalog Customers enter requests based upon author, title, subject, isBN, or publication date information. Customers can use both simple and more complex Boolean-based criteria(AND/OR) for notification queries. One of the interest ing variations of the Eyes system allows requests to be directly entered from any search results screen, creating a persistent request based on the search of specific categories/genres(Oprah books, biographies, cooking. Periodically the editors at Amazon. com send their later a list Amazon. com Delivers: Amazon. com Delivers is a variation on the eyes feature. Customers select checkboxes to choose from a list Bookstore Gift Ideas: The Gift Ideas feature allows customers to receive recommendations from editors. Customers pick a category of books for which they would like some suggestions. By navigating to that section of the "Gift Department, they can view a general list of recommendations created by the editors of Amazon. com. They also can select to view recommendations in one of a predefined list of categories including Globetrotter, Entrepreneur, and Teens. In many ways this serves as an online version of the Amazon.comDeliversfeaturediscussedearlierHowever,customerscanbeprovidedwithrecommendationsanonymouslysince there is no need to register with the site as there is with delivers. Customer Comments: The Customer Comments feature allows customers to receive text recommendations based on the opinions of other customers. Located on the information page for each book is a list of 1-5 star ratings and written comments provided by customers who have read the book in question and submitted a review. Customers have the option of incorporating these recommendations into their purchase decision. Furthermore, customers can "rate the comments. With each comment is the question"Did this comment help you. Customers may indicate yes or no. Results are tabulated and reported such as"5 of 7 peopl found the following review helpful
E-Commerce Recommender Applications Page 6 of 24 Figure 1: The Amazon.com ratings page prompts the customer to rate items recently purchased. These ratings are used as input to a recommendation engine to help the customer find other items that she is likely to like. Customers are asked to invest effort in rating, in exchange for which they get more useful recommendations. Eyes: The Eyes feature allows customers to be notified via email of new items that have been added to the Amazon.com catalog. Customers enter requests based upon author, title, subject, ISBN, or publication date information. Customers can use both simple and more complex Boolean-based criteria (AND/OR) for notification queries. One of the interesting variations of the Eyes system allows requests to be directly entered from any search results screen, creating a persistent request based on the search. Amazon.com Delivers: Amazon.com Delivers is a variation on the Eyes feature. Customers select checkboxes to choose from a list of specific categories/genres (Oprah books, biographies, cooking). Periodically the editors at Amazon.com send their latest recommendations by email to subscribers in each category. Bookstore Gift Ideas: The Gift Ideas feature allows customers to receive recommendations from editors. Customers pick a category of books for which they would like some suggestions. By navigating to that section of the “Gift Department,” they can view a general list of recommendations created by the editors of Amazon.com. They also can select to view recommendations in one of a predefined list of categories including Globetrotter, Entrepreneur, and Teens. In many ways this serves as an online version of the Amazon.com Delivers feature discussed earlier. However, customers can be provided with recommendations anonymously since there is no need to register with the site as there is with Delivers. Customer Comments: The Customer Comments feature allows customers to receive text recommendations based on the opinions of other customers. Located on the information page for each book is a list of 1-5 star ratings and written comments provided by customers who have read the book in question and submitted a review. Customers have the option of incorporating these recommendations into their purchase decision. Furthermore, customers can “rate the comments.” With each comment is the question “Did this comment help you.” Customers may indicate yes or no. Results are tabulated and reported such as “5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
E-Commerce Recommender applications Page 7 of 24 Purchase Circles: The Purchase Circles feature allows customers to view the"top 10"list for a given geographic region, company, ducational institution, government or other organization. For example, a customer could request to see what books are the best ellers for customers at Oracle, MIT, or residents of New York City. Purchase Circles provide another"fellow customer" form of allowing them to select a"domain"with which they associate themselves. Customers can view Purchase Circles by nal ons by commendations by allowing customers not only to see what others are reading but also to personalize the recommendations by Circle that interests them 3.2 CDNOW Album Advisor The Album Advisor feature of CdnoWtm (Www.cDnow. Com)woRkS in three different modes The first two are similartotheCustomersWhoBoughtfeatureofAmazon.com.Customerslocatetheinformationpageforagivenalbumorartist The system then recommends ten other albums related to the album or artist in question. Results are presented as "Customers who bought X also bought set s or"Customers who bought items by y also bought set T." The third mode works as a"gift advisor. Customers type in the names of up to three artists, and the system returns a list of ten albums Cdnow considers similar to the artists in question. Related Artists: The Related Artists feature of CDNOW works on the assumption that if a customer likes a certain performer, there is a group of artists with similar styles that she will also like. Customers locate an artist and select the related Artists link. Upon doing so, they are provided with a list of these artists who are considered to be"similar artists" and a list of artists who are considered to be among the"roots and influences"for the selected artist. of music. Customers browse a list of genres provided by the site, including categories such as British Invasion, Big Chilling, any a Buyers Guides: The Buyers Guide feature at CDNOW allows customers to receive recommendations based on a particular genr Parent Pop. Selecting one of the links from this list takes customers to a new list of albums the editors consider the essential part of Artist Picks: In the Similar Artist feature at CDNOW one of the categories of recommendations is "roots and influences Presumably editors create this list. The Artist Picks feature provides similar recommendations, directly from the artists. Each week a different artist is featured, who lists the albums that shaped his or her taste as well as what is currently in their CD player Top 100: Traditionally, hype and"bestseller" status have been used by commerce sites to make recommendations to their customers After all, if an album is on the Billboard Top 10, then it must be a good album. The Top 100 feature allows customers of CDNOW to receive this type of recommendation, but the 100 are drawn from the sales figures of the site and can theoretically be continuously upgraded to reflect actual sales My CDNOW: My CDNoW enables customers to set own music store, based on albums and artists they like. Custo indicate which albums they own, and which artists ar vorites. Purchases from CDNOW are entered automatically an indication of positive likes, customers can go back and d distinguish between"own it and like it and"own it but dislike it. "When customers request recommendations, the system predicts six albums the customer might like based on what is already owned. Feedback is provided by customers selecting"own it, "move to wish list or"not for me' for any of the albums in this prediction list. The albums recommended change based on the feedback. Figure 2 ows a sample screen from My CdNow 出··A,它点三 CDNOW , XEDM09 Sum mary for John Riedl 位式 a 0comeenrod for yo Start ynr lnt tody
E-Commerce Recommender Applications Page 7 of 24 Purchase Circles: The Purchase Circles feature allows customers to view the "top 10" list for a given geographic region, company, educational institution, government or other organization. For example, a customer could request to see what books are the best sellers for customers at Oracle, MIT, or residents of New York City. Purchase Circles provide another “fellow customer” form of recommendations by allowing customers not only to see what others are reading but also to personalize the recommendations by allowing them to select a “domain” with which they associate themselves. Customers can view Purchase Circles by navigating to the Circle that interests them. 3.2 CDNOW Album Advisor: The Album Advisor feature of CDNOW™ (www.cdnow.com) works in three different modes. The first two are similar to the Customers Who Bought feature of Amazon.com. Customers locate the information page for a given album or artist. The system then recommends ten other albums related to the album or artist in question. Results are presented as “Customers who bought X also bought set S” or “Customers who bought items by Y also bought set T.” The third mode works as a “gift advisor.” Customers type in the names of up to three artists, and the system returns a list of ten albums CDNOW considers similar to the artists in question. Related Artists: The Related Artists feature of CDNOW works on the assumption that if a customer likes a certain performer, there is a group of artists with similar styles that she will also like. Customers locate an artist and select the Related Artists link. Upon doing so, they are provided with a list of these artists who are considered to be "similar artists" and a list of artists who are considered to be among the "roots and influences" for the selected artist. Buyer’s Guides: The Buyer’s Guide feature at CDNOW allows customers to receive recommendations based on a particular genre of music. Customers browse a list of genres provided by the site, including categories such as British Invasion, Big Chilling, and Parent Pop. Selecting one of the links from this list takes customers to a new list of albums the editors consider the essential part of this genre. Artist Picks: In the Similar Artist feature at CDNOW one of the categories of recommendations is “roots and influences.” Presumably editors create this list. The Artist Picks feature provides similar recommendations, directly from the artists. Each week a different artist is featured, who lists the albums that shaped his or her taste as well as what is currently in their CD player. Top 100: Traditionally, hype and “bestseller” status have been used by commerce sites to make recommendations to their customers. After all, if an album is on the Billboard Top 10, then it must be a good album. The Top 100 feature allows customers of CDNOW to receive this type of recommendation, but the 100 are drawn from the sales figures of the site and can theoretically be continuously upgraded to reflect actual sales. My CDNOW: My CDNOW enables customers to set up their own music store, based on albums and artists they like. Customers indicate which albums they own, and which artists are their favorites. Purchases from CDNOW are entered automatically into the “own it” list. Although “own it” ratings are initially treated as an indication of positive likes, customers can go back and distinguish between “own it and like it” and “own it but dislike it.” When customers request recommendations, the system predicts six albums the customer might like based on what is already owned. Feedback is provided by customers selecting “own it,” “move to wish list” or “not for me” for any of the albums in this prediction list. The albums recommended change based on the feedback. Figure 2 shows a sample screen from My CDNOW
E-Commerce Recommender applications Page 8 of 24 Medf, yaw npeent a4 eneck far /c nce odo ad wa Raleseoe from al Medify yRr Accunt afomaiar, chan?a ou ll you has a tans that you havant rated yat. and ha ul Figure 2 The My CDNOW page nendations, prompts to rate past purchases, updates on favorite artists, and a wish List, to communicate gift wishes to family or friends. Th ntry point for a frequent CDNOW customer, as well as serving for an integrated access point to commendations 3.3 Drugstore. com Advisor: The Advisor feature at drus customers to indicate their preferer hen pure oduct from a category such as"suncare " or"cold a For example, in the latter, custome s they wish to elieve(runny nose and sneezing) the he fomi y want the relief (caplets) and the of patient nt to won m they want to administer the product(adult). Upon being ith this information the Advisor returns a list of products recommended to meet the conditions Test Drives: In the Test Drives feature, a team of volunteers, made up of customers from the site, is sent a new product. These fellow customers'" provide reviews of the product including a star rating and text comments 3.4 eBay FeedbackProfileTheFeedbackProfilefeatureatebay.comtm(www.ebAy.com)allowsbothbuyersandsellerstocontributeto feedback profiles of other customers with whom they have done business. The feedback consists of a satisfaction rating (satisfied/neutral/dissatisfied) as well as a specific comment about the other customer. Feedback is used to provide a recommender system for purchasers, who are able to view the profile of sellers. This profile consists of a table of the number of each rating in the past 7 days, past month, and past 6 months, as well as an overall summary(e.g, 867 positives from 776 unique customers). Upon further request, customers can browse the individual ratings and comments for the seller Personal Shopper: The personal shopper feature of e Bay allows customers to indicate items they are interested in purchasing Customers input a"short term"(30/60/90 days) and search on a set of keywords of their choosing, including their price limit. On a periodic basis(one or three day intervals) the site performs the customer's search over all auctions at the site and sends the customer an email with the results of this search 3.5 Movie finder. com Movie Finder. com is the movie site maintained by E! Online Users Grade/Our Grade: Both the Users grade and the Our grade features report a letter grade recommendation to the customer The Users grade feature allows customers to register with the site and give letter grades(A-F) to the movies they have seen. These rades are then averaged over all customers and reported as the Users Grade. The Our Grade feature provides customers with a grade from the editors of E! Online. Thus, customers viewing the information page for Toy Story 2 might find that it gets a grade of A from the editors with a grade of A- from the customers who have rated it. Top 10: The Top 10 feature at E! Online allows the customers to get recommendations from the editors in a category of their choice Customers select a category from a list of previously defined categories such as chick flicks, sex scenes, and movies from books Selecting a list takes the customer through descriptions of the top ten movies in that category as defined by one of the editors of E Online 3.6 Reel com Matches: Similar to Amazon coms Customers who Bought Reel coms Movie eel. com) provides endations on the information page for each movie. These recommendatio hes" and/or“ creative Each set contains up to a dozen hyperlinks to the information pages fo films. The hyperlinks are annotated with one-sentence descriptions of how the new movie is similar to the novie in question(e.g. Darker thriller raises similarly disturbing questions. ) Figure 3 shows a sample screen from Movie Matche
E-Commerce Recommender Applications Page 8 of 24 Figure 2 The My CDNOW page includes recommendations, prompts to rate past purchases, updates on favorite artists, and a Wish List, to communicate gift wishes to family or friends. This page serves as an entry point for a frequent CDNOW customer, as well as serving for an integrated access point to recommendations. 3.3 Drugstore.com Advisor: The Advisor feature at Drugstore.com allows customers to indicate their preferences when purchasing a product from a category such as “suncare” or “cold and flu remedies.” For example, in the latter, customers indicate the symptoms they wish to relieve (runny nose and sneezing), the form in which they want the relief (caplets) and the "age” of patient to whom they want to administer the product (adult). Upon being provided with this information the Advisor returns a list of products recommended to meet the conditions. Test Drives: In the Test Drives feature, a team of volunteers, made up of customers from the site, is sent a new product. These “fellow customers” provide reviews of the product including a star rating and text comments. 3.4 eBay Feedback Profile: The Feedback Profile feature at eBay.com™ (www.ebay.com) allows both buyers and sellers to contribute to feedback profiles of other customers with whom they have done business. The feedback consists of a satisfaction rating (satisfied/neutral/dissatisfied) as well as a specific comment about the other customer. Feedback is used to provide a recommender system for purchasers, who are able to view the profile of sellers. This profile consists of a table of the number of each rating in the past 7 days, past month, and past 6 months, as well as an overall summary (e.g., 867 positives from 776 unique customers). Upon further request, customers can browse the individual ratings and comments for the sellers. Personal Shopper: The personal shopper feature of eBay allows customers to indicate items they are interested in purchasing. Customers input a “short term” (30/60/90 days) and search on a set of keywords of their choosing, including their price limit. On a periodic basis (one or three day intervals) the site performs the customer’s search over all auctions at the site and sends the customer an email with the results of this search. 3.5 MovieFinder.com MovieFinder.com is the movie site maintained by E! Online. Users Grade/Our Grade: Both the Users Grade and the Our Grade features report a letter grade recommendation to the customer. The Users Grade feature allows customers to register with the site and give letter grades (A-F) to the movies they have seen. These grades are then averaged over all customers and reported as the Users Grade. The Our Grade feature provides customers with a grade from the editors of E! Online. Thus, customers viewing the information page for Toy Story 2 might find that it gets a grade of A from the editors with a grade of A- from the customers who have rated it. Top 10: The Top 10 feature at E! Online allows the customers to get recommendations from the editors in a category of their choice. Customers select a category from a list of previously defined categories such as chick flicks, sex scenes, and movies from books. Selecting a list takes the customer through descriptions of the top ten movies in that category as defined by one of the editors of E! Online. 3.6 Reel.com Movie Matches: Similar to Amazon.com’s Customers Who Bought, Reel.com’s Movie Matches (www.reel.com) provides recommendations on the information page for each movie. These recommendations consist of “close matches” and/or “creative matches.” Each set contains up to a dozen hyperlinks to the information pages for each of these “matched” films. The hyperlinks are annotated with one-sentence descriptions of how the new movie is similar to the original movie in question (e.g. “Darker thriller raises similarly disturbing questions… ”). Figure 3 shows a sample screen from Movie Matches