Comparison-Shopping Services and Agent Designs (Premier Reference Source)
By Yun Wan
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Publisher: IGI Global
Number Of Pages: 336
Publication Date: 2009-03-20
ISBN-10 / ASIN: 1599049783
ISBN-13 / EAN: 9781599049786
Product Description: www.booko.org—freebook and password
Popular among online shoppers, comparison-shopping provides a new sales channel for small to medium enterprises to contend with brand name vendors. my booko.org,my favourite website
Comparison-Shopping Services and Agent Designs provides a collection of comprehensive research articles on the latest technologies involved with online consumer services. This Premier Reference Source provides e-commerce and agent technology researchers, academicians, and practitioners with a useful overview as well as references to the latest advancements in the field. www.booko.org
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Table of Contents:
Chapter I: Comparison-Shopping Services and Agent Design: An Overview
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This chapter provides an overview of comparison-shopping services. Four research topics are covered: How to design a good shopbot? How Shoppers using the comparison-shopping services? What is the strategic use of comparison-shopping as a new channel by online vendors? And what is the impact of comparison-shopping on existing price equilibrium and electronic market structures? Emerging research topics like mobile comparison as well as comparison in health information are also discussed. copyright by www.booko.org
Chapter II: The Next Generation of Shopbots: Semantic Interoperability and Personalization
The huge growth of e-commerce has had a profound impact on users who can now choose from a vast number of options online. Inevitably, as the number of choices has increased, so has the need for tools to help users organize, manage and utilize information on these for better decision-making. Comparison shopping agents or shopbots can help users decide what to buy and enhance their online shopping experience. However, despite the high expectations, the immense potential of shopbots has not been fully realized. In this chapter, the authors identify the limitations and drawbacks of current shopbots, in particular, with regard to the underlying technology for building such systems. They then discuss how these technical limitations can be overcome by making use of the Semantic Web and Web Services. They also consider how shopbots can truly serve the user by providing personalized, impartial and flexible services. booko.org my favourite website
Chapter III: A Mediation Architecture for Global Comparison Services
Global comparison services facilitate easy comparison of product offerings around the world. To offer such services, one has to address the semantic heterogeneity problems that often arise when data is collected from sources around the world. In this chapter, we use examples to illustrate three types of semantic heterogeneity problems that a global comparison service may encounter. Then we present a mediation architecture as a solution to addressing these problems. The feasibility of using the architecture to enable global comparison is demonstrated with a prototype application. An evaluation of the solution shows that it is scalable due to its capability of automatically generating necessary conversions from a small set of predefined ones. www.booko.org
Chapter IV: The Efficiency of Different Search Patterns in Electronic Market
This chapter examines how product price, product complexity and product durability influence consumers’ comparison shopping process. Frequently comparison shopping is equated only to price comparisons. However, comparison shopping is becoming far broader than finding the cheapest price over the internet. Nowadays a vast variety of products are sold over the internet. Some are relatively simple products such as books and movie DVDs. Others are more complex such as computer related products, travel reservations and real-estate properties. As the number of key product attributes increases, consumers apply different kinds of decision making rather than just looking for the cheapest price. Consumers also use different decision making tactics between durable and non-durable products. This chapter looks into the implications of such differences for consumers and product sellers. It concludes with managerial implications and future research agendas.
Chapter V: Price, Product Complexity and Durability in Comparison Shopping copyright by www.booko.org
The aim of this chapter is to analyse antecedents of search engines use as prepurchase information tools. Firstly, there is a literature review of the factors influencing search engines use in online purchases. Then, there is an empirical analysis of a sample of 650 Spanish E-shoppers. Logistical regression is used to analyse the influence of demographics, surfing behaviour and purchase motivations on willingness to use search engines for E-shopping. Data analysis shows that experience as Internet user and as Internet shopper are negative key drivers of search engine use. Most of the utilitarian shopping motivations analyzed predict comparison shopping behaviour. Demographics are not determinant variables in the use of search engines in online purchases. This research enables companies to know the factors that potentially affect search engine use in E-shopping decisions and the importance of using search engines in their communication campaigns.