An Optimal Combinational Coalition Formation Based On Genetic Algorithm

Abstract

In electronic commerce, the purchasing power of an individual buyer is limited. Sellers' discount policies are often based on the cost of a single transaction. A profitable purchasing strategy for buyers is to form buyer coalition in order to lower their cost. The key problem is how to form combinational coalitions among buyers in order to minimize the total cost of all buyers. In this paper, we formally analyze the problem and solve it by using the genetic algorithm. Our method can optimally allocate buyers in an efficient time. The experimental results show that the algorithm is feasible and effective.