A WEB-BASED METHODOLOGY FOR PRODUCT DESIGN EVALUATION AND OPTIMIZATION

The authors have developed a methodology that takes advantages of the World Wide Web to analyse and develop optimal new product designs. Thi s paper describes the methodology and illustrates its application to a case study involving the design of an actual Web site where music CDs are sold. The proposed methodology has the following features: (a) it is based on a design inspired by conjoint analysis; (b) it involves u nobtrusive electronic measurement of the actual behavior of Web users who remain undisturbed by experimental factors; and (c) it utilises an integer programming approach to seek optimal Web site configurations. The methodology uses limited dependent variable methods to develop re sponse models that provide the basis for the development of objective functions for an optimisation model. The optimisation model can consid er either single or multiple objective functions by using a Pareto opt imum approach.