System and method providing personalized recommendations

A system comprising:

• a computer system comprising one or more processors, memory, and a network interface, wherein the one or more processors operable to, at least:
• store, in the memory of the computer system, a first recommendation algorithm for generating product or service recommendations based on personal context information, and a second recommendation algorithm for generating product or service recommendations based on personal context information, wherein the first recommendation algorithm is provided by a first source and the second recommendation algorithm is provided by a second source;
• test the first recommendation algorithm with respect to each personal context of the plurality of test personal contexts;
• associate particular personal contexts that are part of a first subset of the plurality of test personal contexts with the first recommendation algorithm in which the first recommendation algorithm exhibits an optimal outcome based on one or both of a business metric and a financial metric and the particular personal contexts that are part of the first subset of the plurality of test personal contexts;
• test the second recommendation algorithm with respect to each personal context of the plurality of test personal contexts with the second recommendation algorithm;
• associate other particular personal contexts that are part of a second subset of the plurality of test personal contexts with the second recommendation algorithm in which the second recommendation algorithm exhibits an optimal outcome based on one or both of the business metric and the financial metric and the other particular personal contexts that are part of the second subset of the plurality of test personal contexts;
• store, in the memory of the computer system, personal context information for a particular consumer;
• receive, via the network interface, a request for a product or service recommendation for the particular consumer based on an online search query by the particular consumer;
• in response to the request, associate the request with a particular one of the plurality of test personal contexts, wherein the association is based on the stored personal context information for the user;
• select the first recommendation algorithm for responding to the request, wherein the selection is based on the first recommendation algorithm being better optimized for the particular one of the plurality of test personal contexts;
• generate a product or service recommendation using the selected first recommendation algorithm and the personal contextual information of the particular consumer;
• deliver, via the network interface of the computer system, the generated product or service recommendation to a user device;
• customize a webpage displayed on the user device that includes the delivered product or service recommendation, wherein the webpage is customized based on the personal contextual information of the particular consumer;
• and
• update the personal contextual information in the memory to reflect interaction of the computer system and the particular consumer, interaction of the particular consumer with an online social network, online search history and online browsing history of the particular consumer, and online and in-store purchase history of the particular consumer.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a plurality of code sections, wherein each code section comprises a plurality of instructions executable by one or more processors of a computer system to cause the one or more processors to perform a method comprising:

• storing, in memory of a computer system, a first recommendation algorithm for generating product or service recommendations based on personal context information, and a second recommendation algorithm for generating product or service recommendations based on personal context information, wherein the first recommendation algorithm is provided by a first source and the second recommendation algorithm is provided by a second source;
• testing, via a processor of the computer system, the first recommendation algorithm with respect to each personal context of the plurality of test personal contexts;
• associating, via the processor of the computer, particular personal contexts that are part of a first subset of the plurality of test personal contexts with the first recommendation algorithm in which the first recommendation algorithm exhibits an optimal outcome based on one or both of a business metric and a financial metric and the particular personal contexts that are part of the first subset of the plurality of test personal contexts;
• testing, via the processor the computer system, the second recommendation algorithm with respect to each personal context of the plurality of test personal contexts;
• associating, via the processor of the computer system, other particular personal contexts that are part of a second subset of the plurality of test personal contexts with the second recommendation algorithm in which the second recommendation algorithm exhibits an optimal outcome based on one or both of the business metric and the financial metric and the particular personal contexts that are part of the second subset of the plurality of test personal contexts;
• storing, in the memory of the computer system, personal context information for a particular consumer;
• receiving, via a network interface of the computer system, a request for a product or service recommendation for the particular consumer based on an online search query by the particular consumer;
• in response to the request, associating, via the processor of the computer system, the request with a particular one of the plurality of test personal contexts, wherein the association is based on the stored personal context information for the user;
• selecting, via the processor of the computer system, the first recommendation algorithm for responding to the request, wherein the selecting is based on the first recommendation algorithm being better optimized for the particular one of the plurality of test personal contexts;
• generating, via the processor of the computer system, a product or service recommendation using the selected first recommendation algorithm and the personal contextual information of the particular consumer;
• delivering, via the network interface of the computer system, the generated product or service recommendation to a user device;
• customizing a webpage displayed on the user device that includes the delivered product or service recommendation, wherein the webpage is customized based on the personal contextual information of the particular consumer;
• and
• updating, via the processor of the computer system, the personal contextual information in the memory of the computer system to reflect interaction of the computer system and the particular consumer, interaction of the particular consumer with an online social network, online search history and online browsing history of the particular consumer, and online and in-store purchase history of the particular consumer.