Extracting attribute-value pairs from product specifications on the web

Comparison shopping portals integrate product offers from large numbers of e-shops in order to support consumers in their buying decisions. Product offers often consist of a title and a free-text product description, both describing product attributes that are considered relevant by the specific vendor. In addition, product offers might contain structured or semi-structured product specifications in the form of HTML tables and HTML lists. As product specifications often cover more product attributes than free-text descriptions, being able to extract attribute-value pairs from these specifications is a critical prerequisite for achieving good results in tasks such as product matching, product categorisation, faceted product search, and product recommendation.