Using autonomous agents in Internet marketing; A discussion on subjective product characteristics in agent assisted trade

An important issue in Internet marketing is the possibility of designing autonomous agents that are able to interpret subjective values in goods and services. From the customers’ point of view, it is important to evaluate all aspects linked to the product before purchasing, not only easily identified objective parameters such as the price. From a marketing perspective, the building of brand is probably the most efficient way to distinguish a product from those of competitors. It is therefore important for both customers and marketers to design agents that are able to interpret certain subjective product characteristics when searching for products or services on the Internet. This paper outlines a generic model of an autonomous agent internet marketing system with a discussion on the possibilities of handling subjective characteristics.