Recommender applications address a variety of E-commerce business needs. They allow businesses to practice mass customization
(Pine 1993) by creating a customized experience through a set of standard products and by allowing product components to be
assembled into customized products. As businesses focus on long-term customer value (Peppers & Rogers, 1997), they need
advantages that help them retain customers. In E-commerce, the advantage of location is gone, and businesses must depend more
heavily on information advantages. Recommender systems allow businesses to leverage their customer history to create more
personalized experiences for their customers. Those customers will quickly discover that the business that "knows them best" is the
one that can serve them most effectively, recommending the right products rather than treating them like strangers.