Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that ranks commercial offers for a user in a set of users. During operation, the system receives financial data for the set of users, wherein the financial data includes spending data for the set of users across a set of categories. Next, for a given user, the system computes an individual-strength vector based on financial data specific to the given user, wherein each entry in the individual-strength vector represents an amount of spending in a respective category for the given user. The system additionally computes a relative-strength vector for the given user based on the financial data for the set of users, wherein the relative-strength vector represents a relative-spending strength across the set of categories for the given user relative to the set of users. The system then ranks the commercial offers for a user based on both the set of individual-strength vectors and the set of relative-strength vectors for the set of users.

Abstract: A method of generating clothing recommendations for a potential purchaser uses user-specific information to generate a list of suggested garments for the user and displays a graphical representation of the garments. The user-specific information may include recommendations from one or more friends, fashion experts, or other purchasers, optionally including information based on purchasing history or shopping history of other purchasers. The graphical representation may include a three-dimensional representation. Recommendations may be prioritized based on ranking.