Hierarchical Query Classification in E-commerce Search
Bing He, Sreyashi Nag, Limeng Cui, Suhang Wang, Zheng Li, Rahul Goutam, Zhen Li, Haiyang Zhang · 2024
E-commerce platforms typically store and structure product information and search data in a hierarchy. Efficiently categorizing user search queries into a similar hierarchical structure is paramount in enhancing user experience on e-commerce platforms as well as news curation and academic research. The significance of this task is amplified when dealing with sensitive query categorization or critical information dissemination, where inaccuracies can lead to considerable negative impacts. The inherent complexity of hierarchical query classification is compounded by two primary challenges: (1) the pronounced class imbalance that skews towards dominant categories, and (2) the inherent brevity and ambiguity of search queries that hinder accurate classification.