Online Comparison System with Certain and Uncertain Criteria Based on Multi-criteria Decision Analysis Method

Abstract

The Internet makes it possible to find and analyse information about goods and services which can be purchased online. An abundance of e-commerce services and available products makes customers disorientated. Shoppers usually devote a great deal of time to browse offers and select their optimal products and they often are in need of advisers who could share their expert knowledge on products customers know very little about. That is why, on the Internet the comparison services, such as Google shopping, Shopzilla, PriceGrabber are being developed. The applications support customers in decision-making by letting them compare many similar products and offers of online shops. This article is focused on the issue related to the support of product evaluation in comparison services. Presently applied comparison algorithms include only the product price but do not concentrate on other criteria of evaluation. In relation to the above-mentioned problem, it is suggested that the number of evaluation criteria should be increased and an adequate multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) method ought to be applied. The comparison system proposed in the paper is based on MCDA method and is able to use certain and uncertain criteria. As a result, it increases the functionality of this type of Internet service.