Recommendation generation for infrequently accessed items

A computer-implemented method of determining a set of items to recommend in association with behaviorally-deficient items, the computer-implemented method comprising:

• as implemented by a computing system including one or more hardware processors,
• identifying a first item for which item-level association data is deficient, wherein the item-level association data identifies items that are related to each other based on a determined relationship between a first item facet and a second item facet and based on selections by users of catalog items in an electronic catalog, wherein a first plurality of the catalog items have the first item facet and a second plurality of the catalog items have the second item facet, the first item facet comprising a first attribute shared among a first plurality of items, and the second item facet comprising a second attribute shared among a second plurality of items, the second attribute differing from the first attribute, and wherein the first item is determined to be associated with a set of items based on a history of transactions that include the first item and an item from the set of items;
• extracting an attribute for the first item;
• determining an item category for the first item;
• accessing a set of recommendation rules associated with the item category, the set of recommendation rules generated based on attribute pairs comprising the first attribute and the second attribute and based on a determination that users who access an item having the first attribute access an item having the second attribute at a threshold rate, wherein the first attribute is associated with at least some items of the item category and the second attribute is associated with at least some items of another item category, wherein performance of different recommendation rules of the set of recommendation rules results in identification of different sets of items for recommendation to users who access the first item;
• scoring each of the set of recommendation rules to obtain a score for each recommendation rule, the score generated based at least in part on a ratio of posterior odds to prior odds determined from historical item-access data associated with the recommendation rule;
• classifying at least one recommendation rule from the set of recommendation rules as a positive recommendation rule based at least in part on a determination that the score associated with the at least one recommendation rule satisfies a score threshold;
• receiving additional item-access data associated with the at least one recommendation rule from the set of recommendation rules;
• rescoring the at least one recommendation rule based on the additional item-access data to obtain an updated score;
• reclassifying the at least one recommendation rule as a negative recommendation rule based at least in part on a determination that the updated score does not satisfy the score threshold, wherein reclassifying the at least one recommendation rule comprises removing the at least one recommendation rule from the set of recommendation rules to obtain a reduced set of recommendation rules;
• selecting a first recommendation rule from the reduced set of recommendation rules based at least in part on the attribute for the first item and the score associated with the first recommendation rule;
• generating a recommendation for a second item based at least in part on using the first recommendation rule;
• and
• outputting the recommendation for presentation to a user who accesses the first item.

A system for determining a set of items to recommend in association with behaviorally-deficient items, the system comprising:

• a recommendation system comprising computing hardware comprising one or more computer processor, the recommendation system configured to:
• identify a first item from an electronic catalog without recommendation data, wherein at least some items in the electronic catalog are related to each other based on a determined relationship between a first item facet and a second item facet and based on selections by users of catalog items in the electronic catalog, wherein a first plurality of the catalog items have the first item facet and a second plurality of the catalog items have the second item facet, the first item facet comprising a first attribute shared among a first plurality of items, and the second item facet comprising a second attribute shared among a second plurality of items, the second attribute differing from the first attribute;
• extract at least one attribute for the first item;
• determine an item category for the first item;
• access a set of recommendation rules associated with the item category, the set of recommendation rules generated based at least in part on sets of attributes, each set of attributes comprising at least one attribute associated with at least some items of the item category and at least one attribute associated with at least some items of another item category, and wherein the recommendation rules are generated based at least in part on a determination that users who access items having the at least one attribute associated with the at least some items of the item category access items having the at least one attribute associated with the at least some items of another item category at a threshold rate;
• score each of the set of recommendation rules to obtain a score for each recommendation rule, the score generated based at least in part on a ratio of posterior odds to prior odds determined from historical item-access data associated with the recommendation rule;
• remove a recommendation rule from the set of recommendation rules based at least in part on a determination that the score associated with the recommendation rule does not satisfy a score threshold;
• receive additional item-access data associated with the recommendation rule removed from the set of recommendation rules;
• rescore the recommendation rule based on the additional item-access data to obtain an updated score;
• restore the recommendation rule to the set of recommendation rules based at least in part on a determination that the updated score does satisfy the score threshold;
• select a first recommendation rule from the set of recommendation rules based at least in part on the at least one attribute for the first item and the score associated with the first recommendation rule;
• generate a recommendation for a second item based at least in part on the first recommendation rule;
• and
• outputting the recommendation for presentation to a user who accesses the first item.

Non-transitory physical computer storage comprising instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, are configured to implement a system for determining a set of items to recommend, the system comprising:

• a recommendation system configured to:
• identify a first item from an electronic catalog associated with less than a threshold amount of access history, wherein at least some items in the electronic catalog are related to each other based on a determined relationship between a first item facet and a second item facet and based on selections by users of catalog items in the electronic catalog, wherein a first plurality of the catalog items have the first item facet and a second plurality of the catalog items have the second item facet, the first item facet comprising a first attribute shared among a first plurality of items, and the second item facet comprising a second attribute shared among a second plurality of items, the second attribute differing from the first attribute;
• determine at least one attribute for the first item;
• access a set of recommendation rules associated with the first item, the set of recommendation rules generated based on sets of attributes;
• score each of the set of recommendation rules to obtain a score for each recommendation rule, the score generated based at least in part on a ratio of posterior odds to prior odds determined from historical item-access data associated with the recommendation rule;
• remove a recommendation rule from the set of recommendation rules based at least in part on a determination that the score associated with the recommendation rule does not satisfy a score threshold;
• receive additional item-access data associated with the recommendation rule removed from the set of recommendation rules;
• rescore the recommendation rule based on the additional item-access data to obtain an updated score;
• restore the recommendation rule to the set of recommendation rules based at least in part on a determination that the updated score does satisfy the score threshold
• select a first recommendation rule from the set of recommendation rules based at least in part on the at least one attribute for the first item and the score associated with the first recommendation rule;
• generate a recommendation for a second item based at least in part on the first recommendation rule and
• output the recommendation for presentation to a user who accesses the first item.