An Agent-Based Simulation of Payment Behavior in E-Commerce

The optimal configuration of an online store is a challenging task. Nowadays store managers decide on basis of their expert knowledge. This decision making is insufficient because their choices are often nontransparent and the effects of their decisions are difficult to predict. An example of this problem is the optimal configuration of payment methods that should be offered in an online store. In this paper, we focus on the problem of payment method configuration. We present an agent-based simulation that enables the simulation of the customer’s payment behavior in order to support the decision-making process of store managers. We validate this simulation model by using data from real online stores and discuss the simulation results.