Abstract
In this article the author explained some of the common artificial intelligence techniques used in e-commerce web sites and how these techniques are implemented in auctions, intermediaries and e-marketplaces to increase customer’s satisfaction, minimize the look up time, reduce costs and improve the usability of e-commerce Web sites so that visitors can quickly access the required information or perform required transactions without being overwhelmed or confused with the large amount of data.
TopBackground
In B2C e-commerce business models important AI techniques are:
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Intelligent agents: they are personalized software, member of the bot family and use machine-learning algorithms to accommodate user's preferences without extensive rewriting of code and rules. Intelligent agents can be used in information gathering, prediction purposes, searching e-marketplaces on behalf of their owners enabling one-stop shopping on the web, reducing shopping costs, give the customer the opportunity to set his preferences, choose what to buy and from whom to buy, they also help a customer to enter negotiations and participate in auctions. According to (Nwana, 1996), the most important characteristics of intelligent agents are:
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Autonomy: means that agents process their work independently and proactively without any intervention from their owners.
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Cooperation: means that agents are able to communicate with one another, negotiating on certain issues.
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Learning: means that agents are able to learn as they react or interact with their environment and other agents.
Sellers use intelligent agents to track demand and market share changes, engage in competitive knowledge mining, negotiate and even learn through collaboration from buyer agents. Buyers may need decision agents to comparison shop, while sellers may need a broker, provider, and merchant agent to sell a product (Sinmao, 1999).
Key Terms in this Chapter
E-market places: Is an electronic exchange where sellers and buyers communicate to conduct business over the Internet.
E-auctions: is an electronic process where buyers use internet-based software to bid against each other online for the goods to be sold.
Automated collaborative filtering: is a technique for providing recommendations and based on statistical matches of peoples’ tastes.
Case Base reasoning: is the process of solving new problems based on the solutions of similar past problems.
E-procurement: is a process that is useful in streamlining an organization’s purchases in a timely fashion with the best price.
Intermediary: can be a person or organization that facilitates a contract or services between two other parties
Mobile Agent: is software that characterizes with autonomy, learning and mobility.