User interface and methods for recommending items to users

Abstract

Improved user interfaces and methods are provided for presenting item recommendations to a user when the user selects an item to add to an electronic shopping cart. In response to the user's selection, a page generation process generates and returns a page that includes a condensed shopping cart portion and a recommendations portion. The condensed shopping cart portion may include a link to an additional page that includes controls for editing the shopping cart and/or includes additional information regarding contents of the shopping cart. The recommendations portion may include multiple recommendations sections that are populated using different respective item selection methods.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of recommending items to users of a system that provides electronic shopping carts, the method comprising:
 receiving a request from a user computing device to add a selected item to an electronic shopping cart; and   responding to the request by generating and returning a first page that includes a shopping cart section and at least one recommendations section;   said shopping cart section including an indication that the selected item has been added to the electronic shopping cart, and including a link to a second page that includes shopping cart editing functionality that is not included on the first page;   said recommendations section providing recommendations of additional items, and including controls for selectively adding one or more of the additional items to the electronic shopping cart.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second page, but not the first page, provides an option to modify a quantity of the selected item in the electronic shopping cart. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second page, but not the first page, provides an option to delete the selected item from the electronic shopping cart. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second page includes, for the selected item, catalog content that is not included on the first page. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second page, but not the first page, identifies at least one other item represented in the electronic shopping cart. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second page includes shopping cart contents information that is not included on the first page. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first page includes a plurality of recommendations sections, at least one of which contains item recommendations that are based on contents of the electronic shopping cart, and at least one of which contains item recommendations that are not based on contents of the electronic shopping cart. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first page includes a plurality of recommendations sections, and the method further comprises:
 selecting a first plurality of additional items to recommend to the user based on one or more items in the electronic shopping cart, and populating a first recommendations section of the first page with descriptions of the first plurality of additional items; and   selecting a second plurality of additional items to recommend to the user based on item preference information other than contents of the electronic shopping cart, and populating a second recommendations section of the first page with descriptions of the second plurality of additional items.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first page includes a plurality of recommendations sections, and the method further comprises:
 automatically selecting, from a set of candidate item selection methods, a subset of item selection methods to use to select the additional items to recommend to the user, such that a different respective item selection method is selected for each recommendations section;   automatically selecting additional items to recommend in the recommendation sections using the selected item selection methods; and   populating each recommendations section of the first page with at least (1) catalog data associated with the additional items selected to recommend in the respective recommendations section, and (2) information reflective of the respective item selection method used to select the additional items.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein automatically selecting the item selection methods comprises, for a candidate item selection method, determining whether sufficient data regarding the user exists to use the candidate item selection method. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein automatically selecting the item selection methods comprises predicting, based on data regarding the user and historical data regarding actions of prior users, which of the candidate item selection methods will be the most effective for the user. 
     
     
         12 . A system, comprising:
 a server system comprising one or more physical servers that respond to requests from user computing devices, said server system configured to implement shopping carts for enabling users to select items from an electronic catalog for prospective purchase, said server system programmed to respond to a request from a user computing device to add a selected item to a shopping cart by at least:
 generating a first page that includes a shopping cart portion and a recommendations portion, said shopping cart portion providing information regarding contents of the shopping cart, the recommendations portion providing recommendations of a plurality of additional items that are not in the shopping cart, said first page including a link to a second page that includes at least (1) additional information regarding the contents of the shopping cart and (2) shopping cart editing functionality that is not included on the first page; and 
 transmitting the first page to the user computing device for presentation to a user. 
   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the server system is configured to provide on the second page, for the selected item, at least one of the following shopping cart editing functions that are not provided on the first page: an option to delete the selected item from the shopping cart, an option to update a quantity of the selected item, and an option to save the selected item for later consideration. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the server system is configured to provide on the second page, for the selected item, at least one type of product information that is not included on the first page. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein server system is configured to generate the shopping cart portion as a column on the first page, and is configured to position the recommendations portion horizontally adjacent to said column such that the user need not scroll down from the shopping cart portion to view item recommendations. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the recommendations portion includes a plurality of recommendation sections, each of which displays a different respective plurality of recommended items selected based on a different respective item selection method. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the server system is programmed to select, from a master set of item selection methods, based at least partly on data associated with the user, a subset of item selection methods to use to populate the plurality of recommendation sections. 
     
     
         18 . Non-transitory computer storage that stores executable instructions that direct a computing system to at least:
 retrieve profile data associated with a user;   select, from a set of candidate item selection methods, based at least partly on the retrieved profile data, a plurality of item selection methods to use to select items to recommend to the user;   use each selected item selection method to select a respective plurality of items to recommend to the user; and   generate, for presentation to the user in response to a selection by the user of an item to add to an electronic shopping cart, a page that includes multiple recommendations sections and a shopping cart section, each recommendation section corresponding to, and recommending the plurality of items selected with, a respective one of the selected item selection methods, said shopping cart section identifying the item selected by the user to add to the electronic shopping cart.   
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer storage of  claim 18 , wherein the page includes a link to a second page that includes shopping cart editing functionality not included on said page. 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer storage of  claim 18 , wherein the page includes a link to a second page that includes shopping cart contents information not included on said page. 
     
     
         21 . The non-transitory computer storage of  claim 18 , wherein the executable instructions instruct the computing system to select the item selection methods based additionally on session state data. 
     
     
         22 . The non-transitory computer storage of  claim 18 , wherein the executable instructions instruct the computing system to select the item selection methods based additionally on data regarding effectiveness levels of particular candidate item selection methods for particular classes of users. 
     
     
         23 . The non-transitory computer storage of  claim 18 , wherein the executable instructions instruct the computing system to select the item selection methods according to a hierarchy that gives preference to some item selection methods over others, and based additionally on determinations of whether sufficient user data exists for using particular candidate item selection methods.