Assortment Optimization with Visibility Constraints

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Barre, Theo, Housni, Omar El, Brahim, Marouane Ibn, Lodi, Andrea, Segev, Danny
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2023
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author Barre, Theo
Housni, Omar El
Brahim, Marouane Ibn
Lodi, Andrea
Segev, Danny
author_facet Barre, Theo
Housni, Omar El
Brahim, Marouane Ibn
Lodi, Andrea
Segev, Danny
contents Motivated by applications in e-retail and online advertising, we study the problem of assortment optimization under visibility constraints, that we refer to as APV. Here, we are given a universe of substitutable products and a stream of customers. The objective is to determine the optimal assortment of products to offer to each customer in order to maximize the total expected revenue, subject to exogenously-given visibility constraints, stating that each product should be shown to a minimum number of customers. We assume that customer choices follow a Multinomial Logit model (MNL). We provide a structural characterization of optimal assortments and present a linear time algorithm for solving APV. To this end, we introduce a novel function called the ``expanded revenue" of an assortment and establish its supermodularity; our algorithm takes advantage of this structural property. Additionally, we prove that APV can be formulated as a compact linear program. Next, we consider APV with cardinality constraints, which limit the maximum number of products that can be included in an assortment. We prove this problem to be strongly NP-hard and not admitting a Fully Polynomial Time Approximation Scheme (FPTAS), even when all products have identical prices. Subsequently, we devise a Polynomial Time Approximation Scheme (PTAS) for APV under cardinality constraints with identical prices. We also examine the revenue loss resulting from the enforcement of visibility constraints, comparing it to the unconstrained problem. To offset this loss, we propose a novel strategy to distribute the loss incurred among the products subject to visibility constraints, charging each vendor an amount proportional to their product's contribution to the revenue loss.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2307_13656
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Assortment Optimization with Visibility Constraints
Barre, Theo
Housni, Omar El
Brahim, Marouane Ibn
Lodi, Andrea
Segev, Danny
Optimization and Control
Motivated by applications in e-retail and online advertising, we study the problem of assortment optimization under visibility constraints, that we refer to as APV. Here, we are given a universe of substitutable products and a stream of customers. The objective is to determine the optimal assortment of products to offer to each customer in order to maximize the total expected revenue, subject to exogenously-given visibility constraints, stating that each product should be shown to a minimum number of customers. We assume that customer choices follow a Multinomial Logit model (MNL). We provide a structural characterization of optimal assortments and present a linear time algorithm for solving APV. To this end, we introduce a novel function called the ``expanded revenue" of an assortment and establish its supermodularity; our algorithm takes advantage of this structural property. Additionally, we prove that APV can be formulated as a compact linear program. Next, we consider APV with cardinality constraints, which limit the maximum number of products that can be included in an assortment. We prove this problem to be strongly NP-hard and not admitting a Fully Polynomial Time Approximation Scheme (FPTAS), even when all products have identical prices. Subsequently, we devise a Polynomial Time Approximation Scheme (PTAS) for APV under cardinality constraints with identical prices. We also examine the revenue loss resulting from the enforcement of visibility constraints, comparing it to the unconstrained problem. To offset this loss, we propose a novel strategy to distribute the loss incurred among the products subject to visibility constraints, charging each vendor an amount proportional to their product's contribution to the revenue loss.
title Assortment Optimization with Visibility Constraints
topic Optimization and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.13656