A trilateral influence model for online shopping

Abstract

Application of social influence toward E-commerce has brought a significant benefit for the stakeholders. Consequently, it has enhanced the consumer satisfaction as well as spread of experiences. However, even with the collaboration of social influence there are some visible short comings potentially appearing in such systems. In fact, the contribution of social influence is still in an evolving state. The reliability of products is such recognized key issue that still appears in exiting social E-commerce systems. In this context we introduce a social influence model combined with a built in social network which further improves the customer reliability and satisfaction on available products. Thus, it can propagate reliable knowledge among community and optimize product recommendation process. The implemented model considers the personal preferences of respective consumers, their social influences in social network and external social influences to the system for the execution. Furthermore, it operates as a multi-agent system. The model has been validated by two sample data sets of consumers and products. As the results, majority have picked products suggested by combining external influences, internal social influences, and personal preferences. Therefore it has concluded that recommendation of products considering above three combinations is more effective.