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Explore versus repeat: insights from an online supermarket

Published: 08 October 2024 Publication History

Abstract

At online supermarket Picnic, we implemented both traditional collaborative filtering and a hybrid method to provide recipe recommendations at scale. This case study presents findings from the online evaluation of these algorithms, focusing on the repeat-explore trade-off. Our findings allow other online retailers to gain insights into the importance of thoughtful model design in navigating this important balance. We argue that even when exploiting known preferences proves highly beneficial in the short term, prioritizing exploratory content is essential for long-term customer satisfaction and sustained growth. Our research lays the groundwork for a compelling discussion on defining success in balancing the familiar and the novel in online grocery shopping.

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cover image ACM Conferences
RecSys '24: Proceedings of the 18th ACM Conference on Recommender Systems
October 2024
1438 pages
Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.

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Published: 08 October 2024

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  1. online grocery shopping
  2. recipe recommendations
  3. repeat-explore trade-off

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