EASY Shopping: A Value-Added Service for Electronic Malls

With the commercialization of the Internet, a great many electronic shopping malls have been established. Their initial purpose was to provide the necessary infrastructure for participating suppliers to open on-line shops, and for consumers to more easily trace goods and services. Recent shutdowns of big electronic malls (e-malls) and press reports about unsatisfactory turnover, however, suggest that e-malls need some kind of added value. A product advisory system for electronic malls is proposed that follows the example of traditional system-or cross-selling to solve complex customer problems. By automatically compiling bundles of products coming from different suppliers, the Event Advisory System (EASY) can increase the benefits for participating sellers as well as for customers.