Title: A product retrieval system robust to subjective queries

Authors: Kenji Sugiki, Shigeki Matsubara

Addresses: Graduate School of Information Science, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464 8601, Japan. ' Information Technology Center, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464 8601, Japan

Abstract: In this article, we propose a method for retrieving products that match users| search queries written in natural language. We use a large amount of product reviews written by consumers, in order to match those queries with products. Since reviews include a lot of valuable information which commerce service providers do not supply, by using these reviews our system can respond to a wide variety of users| requests, especially to subjective requests. If a review includes a description that coincides with the condition described in a user|s query, the product to which the review refers is considered matching the query and is shown to the user. Using our proposed method, we implemented an accommodation retrieval system named |Yado-tan|. The result of our search experiments using natural language queries confirmed the retrieval capability of using our method.

Keywords: consumer product reviews; natural language query; product retrieval systems; subjective queries; Japan.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPLM.2008.021439

International Journal of Product Lifecycle Management, 2008 Vol.3 No.2/3, pp.151 - 164

Published online: 27 Nov 2008 *

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