Method and system for analyzing the performance of affiliate sites
First Claim
1. A method of analyzing the performance of affiliate sites that refer users to an electronic commerce site that hosts an electronic catalog of items that are available for purchase, the method comprising:
- by a computer system comprising one or more computers;
storing transaction data descriptive of purchases made by users referred to the electronic commerce site by a plurality of affiliate sites, said transaction data reflective of item-specific links provided on the affiliate sites, each item-specific link being specific to a particular item represented in the electronic catalog of the electronic commerce site, said item-specific links being selectable by users to access corresponding item descriptions in the electronic catalog;
applying an association-rule mining algorithm to the transaction data to generate a set of association rules, said association rules identifying items that tend to be purchased in combination by said users;
analyzing performance of a particular affiliate site by using the association rules, in combination with transaction data associated with the particular affiliate site, to identify one or more disparities between expected and actual quantities of specific items purchased by users referred by the particular affiliate site; and
generating, for presentation to an operator of the affiliate site, a recommendation of at least one item for which to provide an item-specific link on the affiliate site to improve the performance of the affiliate site, said at least one item identified based on the one or more identified disparities.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A performance analysis engine analyzes the performance of affiliate web sites that provide links to specific items in an electronic catalog, and identifies catalog items that can be listed by such affiliate web sites to improve performance. An association mining component analyzes transaction data attributable to specific categories or types of affiliate web sites to identify items that are frequently purchased in combination by users of such sites. The detected item associations are used to evaluate, for a given affiliate site, whether significant disparities exist between the expected and actual sales quantities of specific items. The results of the analysis are incorporated into affiliate-specific performance reports, which may include specific recommendations for improving performance. The disclosed methods may also be used to analyze the performance of, and provide recommendations to, online sellers within an online mall, online marketplace, or online auction system.
47 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A method of analyzing the performance of affiliate sites that refer users to an electronic commerce site that hosts an electronic catalog of items that are available for purchase, the method comprising:
by a computer system comprising one or more computers; storing transaction data descriptive of purchases made by users referred to the electronic commerce site by a plurality of affiliate sites, said transaction data reflective of item-specific links provided on the affiliate sites, each item-specific link being specific to a particular item represented in the electronic catalog of the electronic commerce site, said item-specific links being selectable by users to access corresponding item descriptions in the electronic catalog; applying an association-rule mining algorithm to the transaction data to generate a set of association rules, said association rules identifying items that tend to be purchased in combination by said users; analyzing performance of a particular affiliate site by using the association rules, in combination with transaction data associated with the particular affiliate site, to identify one or more disparities between expected and actual quantities of specific items purchased by users referred by the particular affiliate site; and generating, for presentation to an operator of the affiliate site, a recommendation of at least one item for which to provide an item-specific link on the affiliate site to improve the performance of the affiliate site, said at least one item identified based on the one or more identified disparities. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 21)
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11. Computer storage that stores executable code which, when executed by a computer system comprising one or more computers, causes the computer system to:
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store transaction data descriptive of purchases made by users referred to the electronic commerce site by a plurality of affiliate sites, said transaction data reflective of item-specific links provided on the affiliate sites, each item-specific link being specific to a particular item represented in the electronic catalog of the electronic commerce site, said item-specific links being selectable by users to access corresponding item descriptions in the electronic catalog; programmatically apply an association-rule mining algorithm to the transaction data to generate a set of association rules, said association rules identifying items that tend to be purchased in combination by said users; programmatically analyze performance of a particular affiliate site by using the association rules, in combination with transaction data associated with the particular affiliate site, to identify one or more disparities between expected and actual quantities of specific items purchased by users referred by the particular affiliate site; and generate, for presentation to an operator of the affiliate site, a recommendation of at least one item for which to provide an item-specific link on the affiliate site to improve the performance of the affiliate site, said at least one item identified based on the one or more identified disparities. - View Dependent Claims (22)
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12. A system for analyzing the performance of affiliate sites that provide item-specific links to an electronic catalog of an electronic commerce site each item-specific link being specific to a particular item represented in the electronic catalog, and being selectable by users to access corresponding item information in the electronic catalog, the system comprising computer hardware configured to implement:
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a data repository that stores transaction data descriptive of item purchases made from the electronic catalog by users referred by the affiliate sites, said transaction data reflective of an effectiveness of the item-specific links provided on the affiliate sites; an association mining component that analyzes, and generates association rules reflective of, the transaction data stored in the data repository, said association rules identifying items that are associated based on purchase activities of referred users; a disparity detection module that uses the association rules generated by the association mining component, in combination with transaction data descriptive of item purchases made by users referred by a particular affiliate site, to evaluate whether disparities exist between expected and actual performance of the particular affiliate site; and a report generation component that uses the disparities detected by the disparity detection module to generate affiliate-specific recommendations regarding items for which to provide item-specific links, said report generation component thereby providing information for improving affiliate site performance. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification