Empathy (EmpathyBroker)
Spanish e-commerce search company providing search technology to European retailers. Now trading as Empathy.co.
Notable Work
TF-IDF in E-commerce — demonstrated how standard TF-IDF relevance assumptions break in product catalog search:
- iPad accessories outrank actual iPads (term frequency inflates accessory scores)
- “Polo Ralph Lauren” brand items outrank polo shirts (IDF favors rare brand-field matches)
Fix: Disable TF-IDF similarity (similarity: boolean) for structured product data. Field weights then behave predictably. Multiple merchandising rules become unnecessary.
Contextualize — behavioral data product that uses click/purchase signals to improve ranking models.