The DFG Middle East Collaboration is funding the project "Designing and Understanding Profit-Maximizing Recommender Systems for Online Retailing" by Prof. Dr. Oliver Hinz and Prof. Dr. Shachar Reichman (Tel Aviv University). At Goethe University, Maximilian Lowin and Moritz von Zahn are involved in the project.
Recommender Systems are an essential part of today’s e-commerce environment and are used by websites such as Amazon, eBay, iTunes, Netflix, Facebook, and the New York Times to increase sales and profits. While previous research on Recommender Systems focused on improving the accuracy of consumers’ preference predictions, scholars and practitioners have recently directed their attention to the study of additional value factors and their role in Recommender Systems design.
The research project follows this emerging topic and aims to understand and design a Profit-Maximizing Recommender System (PMRS), as well as examine its impact on online consumer behaviour, the firm’s profit and network structure.