COMMA: A Result-Oriented Composite Autocompletion Method for E-marketplaces

Autocompletion systems support users in the formulation of queries in different computer systems, from development environments to the web. In this paper we describe Composite Match Autocompletion (COMMA), a lightweight approach to the introduction of semantics in the realization of a semi-structured data auto completion matching algorithm. The approach is formally described, then it is applied and evaluated with specific reference to the e-commerce context. The semantic extension to the matching algorithm exploits available information about product categories and distinguishing features of products to enhance the elaboration of exploratory queries. COMMA supports a seamless management of both targeted/precise queries and exploratory/vague ones, combining different filtering and scoring techniques. The algorithm is evaluated with respect both to effectiveness and efficiency in a real-world scenario: the achieved improvement is significant and not associated to a sensible increase of computational costs.