A customer-oriented decision agent for product selection in web-based services

Abstract

This paper describes a web-based Decision Agent (DA) that provides a customer-oriented approach for selecting products in online orders. The proposed approach is focused on enhancing the front-end of company's business portal by segmenting prospective online customers and directing them to use decision modules that improve user perception in terms of effort, accuracy, and acceptance. The user's Consistency Ratio (CR) in evaluating the attributes of online products is used to categorize prospected users and to direct them to proceed with one of three decision modules, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), Simple Multi-Attribute Rating Technique (SMART), and Direct Scaling Method (DSM). The proposed approach is applied to an online cellular phone selection case study. Experimental results showed the fit of assigned decision modules to customer classes where users made smart phone selections with less effort and higher reported convenience and satisfaction. The approach can be tailored for other online products and can be integrated into the websites of producers and online stores in a wide range of business applications.