Ontology acquisition and exchange of evolutionary product-brokering agents

Agent-based electronic commerce (e-commerce) has been booming with the development of the Internet and agent technologies. However, little effort has been devoted to exploring the learning and evolving capabilities of software agents. This paper addresses issues of evolving software agents in e-commerce applications. An agent structure with evolution features is proposed with a focus on internal hierarchical knowledge. We argue that knowledge base of agents should be the cornerstone for their evolution capabilities, and agents can enhance their knowledge bases by exchanging knowledge with other agents. In this paper, product ontology is chosen as an instance of knowledge base. We propose a new approach to facilitate ontology exchange among e-commerce agents. The ontology exchange model and its formalities are elaborated. Product-brokering agents have been designed and implemented, which accomplish the ontology exchange process from request to integration

Consequences of personalized product recommendations and price promotions in online grocery shopping

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SERVICE-PROCESS CONFIGURATIONS IN ELECTRONIC RETAILING: A TAXONOMIC ANALYSIS OF ELECTRONIC FOOD RETAILERS

Service-processes of electronic retailers are founded on electronic technologies that provide flexibility to sense and respond online to the dynamic and complex needs of customers. In this paper, we develop a taxonomy of service-processes in electronic retailing and demonstrate their linkage to customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The taxonomy is grounded in a conceptual classification scheme that differentiates service-process stages on a continuum of flexibility. Using data on electronic service-processes collected from 255 electronic food retailers, we identified eight configurations for the taxonomy. We also collected and analyzed publicly reported customer satisfaction survey data that were available for 52 electronic food retailers in the study sample. The results of this analysis indicate positive and significant correlation of the ordering of the taxonomy configurations with (i) customer satisfaction with product information, product selection, web site aesthetics, web site navigation, customer support, and ease of return, and (ii) customer loyalty. Taken together, the results of our empirical analyses demonstrate that the taxonomy captures information and variety within and across the electronic service-process configurations in ways that can be related to customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.Marketing, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

The Role of the Mangement Sciences in Research on Personalization

We present a review of research studies that deal with personalization. We synthesize current knowledge about these areas, and identify issues that we envision will be of interest to researchers working in the management sciences. We take an interdisciplinary approach that spans the areas of economics, marketing, information technology, and operations. We present an overarching framework for personalization that allows us to identify key players in the personalization process, as well as, the key stages of personalization. The framework enables us to examine the strategic role of personalization in the interactions between a firm and other key players in the firm's value system. We review extant literature in the strategic behavior of firms, and discuss opportunities for analytical and empirical research in this regard. Next, we examine how a firm can learn a customer's preferences, which is one of the key components of the personalization process. We use a utility-based approach to formalize such preference functions, and to understand how these preference functions could be learnt based on a customer's interactions with a firm. We identify well-established techniques in management sciences that can be gainfully employed in future research on personalization.CRM, Persoanlization, Marketing, e-commerce,

ABC Analysis in an Internet Shop: A New Set of Criteria

This article presents a model of ABC analysis tailored for internet shops. The standard set of criteria is expanded to cover e-commerce specific characteristics, such as the number of product views, search engine rankings and product links via a recommendation system..The proposed new methodology is applied to real data from an internet bookstore in Poland. A comparison with the results of a standard, not internet-oriented ABC analysis shows the advantage of using the new set of criteria.ABC analysis, internet shop, inventory control

New Economic Analysis of Law: Beyond Technocracy and Market Design

This special issue on New Economic Analysis of Law features illuminating syntheses of social science and law. What would law and economics look like if macroeconomics were a concern of scholars now focused entirely on microeconomics? Do emerging online phenomena, such as algorithmic pricing and platform capitalism, promise to perfect economic theories of market equilibrium, or challenge their foundations? How did simplified economic models gain ideological power in policy circles, and how can they be improved or replaced? This issue highlights scholars whose work has made the legal academy more than an “importer” of ideas from other disciplines—and who have, instead, shown that rigorous legal analysis is fundamental to understanding economic affairs.The essays in this issue should help ensure that policymakers’ turn to new economic thinking promotes inclusive prosperity. Listokin, Bayern, and Kwak have identified major aporias in popular applications of law and economics methods. Ranchordás, Stucke, and Ezrachi have demonstrated that technological fixes, ranging from digital ranking and rating systems to artificial intelligence-driven personal assistants, are unlikely to improve matters unless they are wisely regulated. McCluskey and Rahman offer a blueprint for democratic regulation, which shapes the economy in productive ways and alleviates structural inequalities. Taken as a whole, this issue of Critical Analysis of Law shows that legal thinkers are not merely importers of ideas and models from economics, but also active participants, with a great deal to contribute to social science research

Consumer attitudes toward personalization features and intention to purchase online

In this study, a model of attitude toward personalization and purchase intention is developed to investigate how consumer attitudes and intention to purchase using personalization features are influenced by privacy and security concerns and by previous online purchase experiences. The behavioral intention model (Fishbein, 197 5) has been adopted for theoretical model building. To collect data, an e-mail survey was distributed to 7,000 online consumers who had at least online shopping experience and a sample of 1140 usable responses were used for data analysis. The results indicated that 1) attitudes toward personalization features were important determinants of consumer intentions to purchase online, 2) consumer concerns about privacy and security had a significant influence on consumer attitudes toward personalization features, and 3) previous online purchase experience had no influence on consumer attitudes toward personalization features. Implications and directions for future research are discussed

Values of Silent Commerce: A Study Using Value-Focused Thinking Approach

Silent commerce is a special type of u-commerce that uses RFID and sensor technologies to make objects intelligent and interactive. The unique features available in silent commerce will provide benefits and added values to users. This study aims to uncover the values of silent commerce from the customers’ perspectives and understand what customers desire and expect from silent commerce. The scenario-based method was adopted to provide subjects with the necessary background information and knowledge about the emerging silent commerce phenomenon. The Value-Focused Thinking approach, which provides a systematic way to articulate and organize values, was used to identify the values of silent commerce to users. The result of this study is a means-ends objective network that depicts the fundamental objectives of using silent commerce and how the fundamental objectives can be achieved through means objectives. The findings can serve as a conceptual foundation for future research in the u-commerce area and provide useful guidelines to practitioners in developing and implementing silent commerce applications