E-commerce bargain-hunting with an unBun model

First-generation comparison-shopping software tools in general have limitations in dealing with bundled products. A new generic model for e-commerce comparison-shopping, based on a logical unBundling of sellers' offerings, is presented. The model captures dominance relationship between offerings and consumer requirements and may serve as a foundation for a variety of shopping decision support software tools. The model provides a basis for defining notions of bargains and designing algorithms for searching for them. Various implications and remaining challenges are outlined.