Evaluating Brand Retrieval and Ranking in Large Language Model Recommendations

๐Ÿ“… 2026-09-14
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๐Ÿค– AI Summary
ๆœฌๆ–‡ๆๅ‡บไธ€็งๆก†ๆžถ๏ผŒ้€š่ฟ‡้‡ๅค้‡‡ๆ ท่ฏ„ไผฐๅคงๅž‹่ฏญ่จ€ๆจกๅž‹ๅœจๆ— ๆ˜Ž็กฎๅ€™้€‰้›†ๆƒ…ๅ†ตไธ‹็š„ๅ“็‰ŒๆŽจ่ๅ’ŒๆŽ’ๅ้—ฎ้ข˜๏ผŒไฝฟ็”จBRP@kๅ’ŒMRR@k่กก้‡ใ€‚
๐Ÿ“ Abstract
Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly used for product recommendation, but evaluating their recommendations presents challenges that differ from conventional information retrieval and recommender systems. LLMs can generate recommendations without an explicit candidate set, and repeated responses to the same query can produce different brands and rankings. We introduce a framework for evaluating open-ended LLM brand recommendations that defines the competitive set independently of model outputs and estimates recommendation prevalence and prominence through repeated sampling. We operationalize these constructs using Brand Recommendation Probability (BRP@$k$) and Mean Reciprocal Rank (MRR@$k$), and apply the framework to six LLMs across five product categories. Category-only queries reveal substantial omission of established brands and limited evidence that recommendation prominence follows conventional brand popularity. Instead, prominence is associated with broader marketplace-visibility signals, particularly search interest and online brand conversation. Needs-based queries show that contextualizing users' goals and constraints changes which brands are retrieved, while diagnostic positioning probes demonstrate that brands omitted from ordinary recommendations can remain conditionally retrievable when distinctive cues are supplied. These findings highlight the need to evaluate LLM recommendation as a stochastic retrieval-and-ranking process rather than from individual generated lists. We provide open-source software and data to support reproducible evaluation of LLM-generated brand recommendations.
Problem

Research questions and friction points this paper is trying to address.

Large Language Models
Brand Recommendations
Evaluation Framework
Stochastic Retrieval-and-Ranking
Innovation

Methods, ideas, or system contributions that make the work stand out.

Brand Recommendation Probability (BRP@k)
Mean Reciprocal Rank (MRR@k)
Stochastic Retrieval-and-Ranking Process
Marketplace-Visibility Signals
Contextualizing User Goals
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