Product Variety, Consumer Preferences, and Web Technology: Can the Web of Data Reduce Price Competition and Increase Customer Satisfaction? - Presentation Transcript
Product Variety, Consumer
Preferences, and Web Technology:
Can the Web of Data Reduce Price
Competition and Increase Customer
Satisfaction?
September 2, 2009, Linz, Austria
Martin Hepp
http://www.unibw.de/ebusiness/
Part I: Diversity in Markets
The specificity of exchanged
goods has kept on growing...
Specificity
How much you loose when you can‘t
use a good for what it was designed.
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Growth in Specificity
Reason # 1: Division of Labor
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Range of Production on the Level of the Overall Economy
Parts = N * c x
Similarity of components
weakens the effect.
N = Number of Commodities
c = Number of Components per Level of
Division of Labor
x = Depth of the Division of Labor
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Growth in Specificity
Reason # 2: Technical Advancement
and Innovation
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1920: 5168 Types of Goods
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Growth in Specificity
Reason # 3: Logistics
Temporal Constraints etc.
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Growth in Specificity
Reason # 4: Wealth
Abraham H. Maslow (1908-1970)
A Theory of Human Motivation (1943)
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Examples
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Examples
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Examples
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Specificity Increases the
Search Space
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Multi-Dimensional Trade-Off Problems
• Product Features
• Price
• Services
• Logistics
• Preferences regarding business partners
• Etc.
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Part II: E-Commerce on the Web
History Lesson: Search for Suppliers
1992: 1 Week 2009: 1 Minute
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But: Search for Suppliers, 2009
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Limitations of the Web, 2009
No Unified View: Jumping Back and Forth
Across Data Silos
Site Page Page
Search Engine Results
Search Engine Results
1 1 2
Search Engine Results
Search Engine Results
Page Page
3 4
Site Page
2 5
Site Page Page Page
3 6 7 8
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We know the best hits only when done.
Site Page Page
1 1 2
Search Engine Results
Page Page
3 4
Site Page
2 5
Site Page Page Page
3 6 7 8
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Specificity vs. Keyword-based Search
• Synonyms
• Homonyms
• Multiple languages
• No parametric
search
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Limited Ability to Reuse Data
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The Web: A Bottleneck for Sharing
Product Data
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Challenge: Web-wide Product Search
• Find all MP3 players
that have a USB
interface and a color
display, and sort them
by weight (lightest
first).
...on a Web Scale!
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Today: Loss of Variety and Detail
Many Different Variety in
Products Preferences
Web Search
Manufacturers & Consumers
Retailers
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What’s the
Consequence?
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Effect: Overly Price Competition
Only 1 – 2 Product Models Considered
Comparison Shopping on the Small Subset
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This will change soon.
Actually, very soon.
Deep Comparison Shopping
Search Engine Results
Site
Site
Site
3
1
2
Page
Page
Page
6
5
1
Page
Page
7
3
Page
2
Page
Page
8
4
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Part III: The Web of Linked Data
The World Wide Web, Essentially:
Turn References in Documents from
Road Signs into Roads
Click!
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The Web of Linked Data, Essentially:
1. Cluster Web links by what they mean
2. Use URIs to indicate the type of links
3. Use HTTP URIs so that it is quick and easy to explore
what this URI means.
4. Make clear whether you are referring to something or
its representation.
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The Web of Linked Data, Essentially:
1. Cluster Web links by what they mean
2. Use URIs to indicate the type of links
3. Use HTTP URIs so that it is quick and easy to explore
what this URI means.
4. Make clear whether you are referring to something or
its representation.
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The Web of Linked Data, Essentially:
1. Cluster Web links by what they mean
2. Use URIs to indicate the type of links
3. Use HTTP URIs so that it is quick and easy to explore
what this URI means.
4. Make clear whether you are referring to something or
its representation.
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Technical Effects & Working Assumption
• This will reduce the
computational
complexity of
processing,
combining, reusing
data on a Web scale
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Core Web of Linked Data Technology Pillars
• URIs for everything
• RDF: A data model for exchanging conceptual graphs based on
triples
– Triple: (Subject, Predicate, Object)
– Exchange syntax: RDF/XML, N3, etc.
• RDFS and OWL: Formal languages for that help reduce ambiguity
and codify implicit facts
– foo:human rdfs:subClassOf foo:mammal
• SPARQL: Standardized query language and endpoint interface for
RDF data
• LOD Principles: Best practices for keeping the current Web and the
Web of Data compatible
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Part IV: E-Commerce on the Web of
Linked Data
E-Commerce on the Web of Linked Data
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Discovery Effort
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Both Sides Can Help Build a Bridge
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What Do We Need?
• Vocabularies • Tools
– Product or service • Applications
types
– Businesses
– Offerings
• Data Sets
– Product model data
– Businesses, contact
details, opening hours
– Offering data
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Part V: The GoodRelations
Vocabulary and Data Space
GoodRelations: A Unified View on
Commerce Data on the Web
Extraction
Arbitrary Query and Reuse
Manufacturers
Retailers
Payment
Delivery
Product Model Warranty
Master Data Shop Spare Parts &
Offerings Auctions Consumables
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On the Shoulders of Giants
A Unified View of Commerce Data
on the Web
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The GoodRelations Vocabulary
• A universal and free Web
vocabulary for adding
product and offering data
to your Web pages.
• Compatible with all relevant
W3C standards and
recommendations
– RDF
– OWL
http://purl.org/goodrelations/
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GoodRelations Design Principles
• Keep simple things Lightweight Heavyweight
simple and make Web of Data Web of Data
complex things
possible LOD OWL DL
• Cater for LOD and OWL RDF + a little bit
DL worlds
• Academically sound
• Industry-strength
engineering
• Practically relevant
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Albert Einstein on Schema Design
"Make everything as simple as possible, but
not simpler.“
Albert Einstein
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Basic Structure of Offers
Object or
Agent 1 Promise
Happening
Compensation Transfer of
Rights
Agent 2
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Data, Standards, Ontologies
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GoodRelations: License
• Permanent,
royalty-free access
for commercial and
non-commercial use.
http://purl.org/goodrelations/
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Domain Structure and Use Cases
The Minimal Scenario
• Scope
– Business entity
– Points-of-sale
– Opening hours
– Payment options
• Suitable for
– Every business
– E-commerce and
brick-and-mortar
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The Simple Scenario
• Scope: Minimal scenario plus
– Range of products or services
– Business functions
– Eligible regions or customer
types
– Delivery options
• Suitable for
– Any business: E-Commerce and
brick-and-mortar
– Specific products or services
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GoodRelations Annotator
http://www.ebusiness-unibw.org/tools/goodrelations-annotator/
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The Comprehensive Scenario
• Scope: Simple scenario plus
– Individual products or services
– Product features
– Pricing, rebates, etc.
– Availability
• Suitable for
– Any business: E-commerce and
brick-and-mortar
– Specific products or services
– Structured product database
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osCommerce Extension
http://code.google.com/p/goodrelations-for-oscommerce/
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Joomla/VirtueMart Extension
http://code.google.com/p/goodrelations-for-joomla/
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Google Product Feed Converter
http://tr.im/sLcX
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Product Model Data Scenario
• Scope
– Individual product
models
– Quantitative and
qualitative features
• Suitable for
– Manufacturers of
commodities
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Others Do Care: Pick-up in Industry
• BestBuy
• Smart Information Systems
• ebSemantics
• Yahoo! SearchMonkey
• Virtuoso Sponger Cartridges for Amazon, eBay, and
• Major German mail order companies
• etc.
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Yahoo Enhanced by SearchMonkey
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Yahoo Enhanced SearchMonkey
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Linked Open Commerce Dataspace
http://loc.openlinksw.com/sparql
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Linked Open Commerce Dataspace
http://loc.openlinksw.com/sparql
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Conclusion
Today: Loss of Variety and Detail
Many Different Variety in
Products Preferences
Web Search
Manufacturers & Consumers
Retailers
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2010: Point-to-Point Commerce
Many Different Variety in
Products Preferences
Manufacturers & Consumers
Retailers
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Why Should I Bother?
• Web Shops: Better visibility in latest generation
search engines (e.g. Yahoo)
– Same holds for any business that has a Web page,
from A as in Amusement Park to Z as in Zoo.
• Manufacturers: Allow your retailers to reuse
product feature data with minimal overhead at
both ends.
• Software Developers: Help your customers to
use and generate Semantic Web data. It’s easy!
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What Should I Do?
• Web Shops: Create a GoodRelations data dump of
your range of offers (rather simple)
• Vendors of Web Shop Software: Create
GoodRelations import and export interfaces (we can
help you with that)
• Every Business: Ask your webmaster to create at
least a basic description of your range of products or
services
• Entrepreneurs: Invent new business models based
on GoodRelations data
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Part VII: The Sky Is the Limit
Semantics in Affiliate Models,
Serendipity, Matchmaking
Thank you!
http://purl.org/goodrelations/
Prof. Dr. Martin Hepp
Chair of General Management and E-Business
Universitaet der Bundeswehr University Muenchen
Werner-Heisenberg-Weg 39
D-85579 Neubiberg, Germany
Phone: +49 89 6004-4217
Fax: +49 89 6004-4620
http://www.unibw.de/ebusiness/
http://purl.org/goodrelations/
mhepp@computer.org
Martin Hepp, 71
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Bonus Track: Tools and Resources
Additional Information
• Web Page
– Ontology
– Language Reference
– Primer
– Recipes
– Wiki
http://purl.org/goodrelations/
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GoodRelations Cookbook:
Recipes & Examples
http://www.ebusiness-unibw.org/wiki/GoodRelations#Recipes_and_Examples
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GoodRelations Annotator
http://www.ebusiness-unibw.org/tools/goodrelations-annotator/
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GoodRelations Validator
http://www.ebusiness-unibw.org/tools/goodrelations-validator/
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RDF2dataRSS Tool
http://www.ebusiness-unibw.org/tools/rdf2datarss/
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osCommerce Extension
http://code.google.com/p/goodrelations-for-oscommerce/
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Joomla/VirtueMart Extension
http://code.google.com/p/goodrelations-for-joomla/
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Thank you!
http://purl.org/goodrelations/
Prof. Dr. Martin Hepp
Chair of General Management and E-Business
Universitaet der Bundeswehr University Muenchen
Werner-Heisenberg-Weg 39
D-85579 Neubiberg, Germany
Phone: +49 89 6004-4217
Fax: +49 89 6004-4620
http://www.unibw.de/ebusiness/
http://purl.org/goodrelations/
mhepp@computer.org
Martin Hepp, 81
mhepp@computer.org
E-Commerce on the basis of current Web technology h more
E-Commerce on the basis of current Web technology has created fierce competition with a strong focus on price. Despite a huge variety of offerings and diversity in the individual preferences of consumers, current Web search fosters a very early reduction of the search space to just a few commodity makes and models. As soon as this reduction has taken place, search is reduced to flat price comparison. This is unfortunate for the manufacturers and vendors, because their individual value proposition for a particular customer may get lost in the course of communication over the Web, and it is unfortunate for the customer, because he/she may not get the most utility for the money based on her/his preference function. A key limitation is that consumers cannot search using a consolidated view on all alternative offers across the Web.
In this talk, I will (1) analyze the technical effects of products and services search on the Web that cause this mismatch between supply and demand, (2) evaluate how the GoodRelations vocabulary and the current Web of Data movement can improve the situation, (3) give a brief hands-on demonstration, and (4) sketch business models for the various market participants. less
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