Recommending Composite Items Using Multi-Level Preference Information: A Joint Interaction Modeling Approach

TL;DR

This paper introduces JIMA, a joint interaction modeling approach that leverages multi-level user preference data to improve composite item recommendations, demonstrating superior performance over existing methods.

Contribution

The paper proposes a novel unified model that captures complex interactions across multiple preference levels for composite item recommendation.

Findings

JIMA outperforms baseline methods in simulations.

JIMA achieves higher accuracy in real-world offline tests.

JIMA improves online recommendation engagement.

Abstract

With the advancement of machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies, recommender systems have been increasingly used across a vast variety of platforms to efficiently and effectively match users with items. As application contexts become more diverse and complex, there is a growing need for more sophisticated recommendation techniques. One example is the composite item (for example, fashion outfit) recommendation where multiple levels of user preference information might be available and relevant. In this study, we propose JIMA, a joint interaction modeling approach that uses a single model to take advantage of all data from different levels of granularity and incorporate interactions to learn the complex relationships among lower-order (atomic item) and higher-order (composite item) user preferences as well as domain expertise (e.g., on the stylistic fit). We comprehensively evaluate the proposed method and compare it with advanced baselines through multiple simulation studies as well as with real data in both offline and online settings. The results consistently demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed approach.