A diversity-based method for infrequent purchase decision support in e-commerce

In this paper we propose a method for supporting consumer buying decisions in e-commerce. We are advocating the diversity-driven approach to generating alternatives for infrequently purchased products (i.e., computers, vehicles, etc.). Our method is based upon the well-known divergence/convergence principle of problem solving. The paper discusses the method based on fuzzy weighted-sum model and cluster analysis, the architecture and the operation of the decision support system for generating product alternatives. The preliminary experiments with the prototype for notebook selection provide some support in favor of our approach over the catalog-based systems. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.