| 摘要 |
A method of operating a server computer system (104), to assist a consumer in the selection of a product from a plurality of competing product offerings, comprises providing a database (406) configured to contain records (300) of the competing product offerings, each record including product feature information (308), a product price (310), and a sales commission amount (312). The server receives (402) from the consumer one or more product selection criteria, and retrieves (404) from the database a plurality of records of the competing product offerings relevant to the product selection criteria. It then computes (408) a ranking of the retrieved records according to an algorithm which takes account of at least the product price, the sales commission amount, and the consumer's product selection criteria. The server presents (410) the product offerings corresponding with the retrieved records to the consumer in accordance with the computed ranking, and facilitates selection (412) and purchase (416) by the consumer of a product from the presented product offerings. Upon purchase of a product by the consumer a predetermined proportion of the corresponding sales commission amount is subsequently remitted (418) to the consumer. Embodiments of the invention provide an automated online system for assisting consumer selection between competing products with improved transparency and enhanced benefits to vendors and consumers. |
