Identifying and exposing item purchase tendencies of users that browse particular items

Abstract

A data mining system generates data values reflecting purchase tendencies of users who browse particular items in an electronic catalog. The data values may include conditional probability values representing, for example, a probability that, if a user makes a purchase after browsing a first particular item, the user will purchase a second particular item. The data values may be used to provide notifications on product pages of an electronic catalog. For example, an item detail page for a first item may be supplemented with a notification of one or more other items that tend to be purchased by those who browse the first item.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A data mining method, comprising:
 recording item browsing events and item purchase events of each of a plurality of users of an electronic catalog of items, each item browsing event representing a user access to a description of a catalog item in the electronic catalog, each item purchase event representing a purchase by a user of a catalog item;   for an item pair consisting of a first catalog item and a second catalog item, generating a conditional probability value based on the recorded item browsing events and item purchase events, said conditional probability value at least approximately representing a probability that, if a user makes a purchase after browsing the first catalog item, the user will purchase the second catalog item, said conditional probability value generated programmatically by a computer; and   generating a notification for presentation on an electronic catalog page corresponding to the first catalog item, said notification identifying the second item, and being based at least partly on the conditional probability value.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein generating the conditional probability value comprises calculating a ratio of (a) a number of users who purchased the second catalog item after browsing the first catalog item, to (b) a number of users who made a purchase of a catalog item after browsing the first catalog item. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein calculating said ratio comprises excluding from consideration at least one of the following types of purchases: (1) purchases of items falling outside an item category of the first catalog item; (2) purchases that occur outside a browsing session in which the first catalog item is viewed; (3) purchases that occur after an intervening purchase. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein generating the conditional probability value comprises calculating a ratio of (a) a number of users who both browsed the first catalog item and purchased the second catalog item, to (b) a number of users who both browsed the first catalog item and made a purchase of any of a plurality of catalog items. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the notification includes a representation of the conditional probability value. 
     
     
         6 . A computing system, comprising:
 a computer data repository that stores item browsing event data and item purchase event data, said item browsing event data reflecting item browsing events of users of an electronic catalog, said item purchase event data reflecting item purchases of users of the electronic catalog; and   a computer system comprising computer hardware, said computer system programmed to use the item browsing event data and item purchase event data in combination to generate conditional probability values for respective pairs of catalog items, each pair consisting of a first catalog item and a second catalog item, each conditional probability value at least approximately representing a probability that, if a user who browses the first catalog item makes a purchase, the user will purchase the second catalog item.   
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the computer system is programmed to generate the conditional probability values by a process that comprises calculating a ratio of (a) a number of users who purchased the second catalog item after browsing the first catalog item, to (b) a number of users who made a purchase of a catalog item after browsing the first catalog item. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the computer system is programmed to generate the conditional probability values by a process that comprises calculating a ratio of (a) a number of users who both browsed the first catalog item and purchased the second catalog item, to (b) a number of users who both browsed the first catalog item and made a purchase of a catalog item. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the computer system is programmed to use the conditional probability values to generate notifications for display on catalog pages of the electronic catalog. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the computer system is configured to
 generate, based at least partly on the conditional probability values, a notification that a particular second catalog item is purchased by users who browse a particular first catalog item; and   output the notification for display on a catalog page associated with the particular first catalog item.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the notification includes a representation of a corresponding conditional probability value. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the computer system is configured to use the conditional probability values to select particular second catalog items to list on catalog pages corresponding to particular first catalog items. 
     
     
         13 . A computer system, comprising:
 a computer data repository that stores conditional probability values for respective pairs of catalog items, each of said conditional probability values at least approximately representing a probability that, if a user who browses a first particular catalog item makes a purchase, the user will purchase a second particular catalog item, said conditional probability values based on recorded item browsing events and item purchase events of a plurality of users; and   a server that uses the conditional probability values to supplement pages of an electronic catalog with notifications regarding purchase tendencies of users who browse particular catalog items, said server comprising computer hardware.   
     
     
         14 . The computer system of  claim 13 , wherein the notifications include representations of the conditional probability values. 
     
     
         15 . The computer system of  claim 13 , wherein the computer data repository additionally stores conditional probability values for individual items, each conditional probability value for an individual item at least approximately representing a probability that, if a user who views a particular item user makes a purchase, the user will purchase the particular item, wherein the server additionally uses the conditional probability values for individual items to supplement the pages of the electronic catalog with said notifications. 
     
     
         16 . The computer system of  claim 13 , wherein the conditional probability values are based solely on purchases made after corresponding item browsing events. 
     
     
         17 . A computer system comprising computer hardware, said computer system configured to implement a process that comprises:
 generating, based on recorded item browsing events and item purchase events of a plurality of users, a probability value for a pair of catalog items consisting of a first catalog item and a second catalog item, said probability value representing a probability that, if a user who browses the first catalog item makes a purchase, the user will purchase the second catalog item; and   providing a representation of the probability value on an electronic catalog page corresponding to the first catalog item to assist users in making item selection decisions.   
     
     
         18 . The computer system of  claim 17 , wherein generating the probability value comprises calculating a ratio of (a) a number of users who both browsed the first catalog item and purchased the second catalog item, to (b) a number of users who both browsed the first catalog item and made a purchase of a catalog item. 
     
     
         19 . The computer system of  claim 17 , wherein the computer system is additionally configured to:
 generate a second probability value representing a likelihood that, if the user who browses the first catalog item makes a purchase, the user will purchase the first catalog item; and   provide a representation of the second probability value on the electronic catalog page.