I think the key question is what is the desired outcome? If you don't have users (customers) for which you'd like to generate recommendations that really handcuffs you from a recommendation standpoint.
I'd recommend starting with a read through this: http://mahout.apache.org/users/recommender/recommender-first-timer-faq.html to get a feel for what Mahout does in the recommendation space. -----Original Message----- From: Tim Smith [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, January 10, 2014 8:27 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Item recommendation w/o users or preferences Say I have a retail organization that doesn't sell a diverse set of products, eg 2000, but has many small transactions. Also say that I don't have any user or preference information. Is it reasonable to use pattern mining (market baskets) and recommend items based on a set of thresholds for support, confidence, and lift? If not, what are my options?
