A conceptual introduction to recommender systems
Businesses have a long-standing history of recommending their products or services to customers. For instance, walk into a bookshop and you are likely to see a list of popular books bought by other customers. This is a simple kind of recommendation system, as it gives buyers a snapshot of potential products to purchase.
In a bid to win in the digital economy, businesses are becoming increasingly customer-centric. Customer centricity implies that companies aim to put the needs of the customer first. Still, with the needs of customers being as diverse as the customers themselves, businesses need to take a unique approach in putting forward their products. This explains, in part, the failings of popularity-based recommendation systems, as they fail to consider the unique profiles of buyers. As such, with growing digitalization, increased business offerings, and a growing diversity of customers' needs, this approach is unlikely to...
