Use cases¶
There are different areas where recommendations can prove valuable from a business point of view. The most common ones are eCommerce and content publishing.
eCommerce¶
In eCommerce, recommendations can help customers find the exact product that fulfills their expectations. When a user is not sure about what to purchase, recommendations can suggest similar, alternative or complementary products. Some typical use cases are:
- The bestseller list shown on a home page
- The "What other customers bought" and "Frequently bought together" lists on a product detail page
- The "Related to your shopping cart" list on the shopping cart page
- The "Bestsellers in the current category" list shown on the category's landing page
- A recommendation bar with recommendations based on the current user's profile
Each recommendation box in the graphics above and below represents a scenario. Scenarios are configurations that define what kind of recommendations should be delivered.
Content publishing¶
In publishing, recommendations bring indirect value by keeping users on the website. Unlike in eCommerce, publishers often provide content for free and are financed from advertisements. Increasing the click-through (or conversion) rate to increase profits from advertisements is one of the drivers here. Use cases in publishing can be the following:
- A list of the most popular content shown on the home page
- The "Bestsellers in the current category" list shown on the category's landing page
- Related content shown on the content detail page
