The Intelligent E-Sales Clerk: the Basic Ideas

E-commerce is one of the most active and important Internet application areas, yet selecting a product to buy is normally quite a frustrating experience. We identify the principal user tasks: the thinning-game and the end game. The thinning-game is used to find a suitably small set of candidate items on the basis of personal requirements. The end game is used to compare the features of a set of candidate items in order to find a single “right” item to purchase. We propose effective solutions for both tasks. The thinning game is solved by dynamic taxonomies, a recently introduced knowledge management model. For the end game, which is inherently an information presentation problem, a color-coding scheme is used.