Evaluating E-commerce and Marketplace Search: User Perception vs. Business Metrics

Precision and recall have long been recognized as a fundamental trade-off in search. Especially in e-commerce and marketplaces, search optimization often involves finding the right balance between these two concepts. This talk will explore how user perception of search quality (UX metrics) and business performance metrics (e.g conversions) correlate with precision and recall, making it challenging for search practitioners to optimally tune search relevance. In particular, we will illustrate this problem using the concept of query specificity and examine how different modern techniques, such as vector search and sparse expansions, compare to traditional lexical search. Finally, we will explore possible solutions to tackle this issue, such as simple UI changes, demonstrating that search is not solely about having the best retrieval or ranking algorithms.

Julien Meynet

Wallapop

Julien has over 15 years of experience in Data Science, Machine Learning, and Engineering, building innovative Search solutions. He began his Search journey at Yahoo in 2008 and has spent the last 7 years tackling unique Search challenges in 2nd-hand marketplaces. Now at Wallapop, he focuses on creating impactful, user-centric Search experiences by aligning product, ML, and engineering efforts.