11. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining of the product category to associate with the search request includes determining one or more associated product categories for the search request, wherein the search request includes one or more search terms, and wherein the method further comprises obtaining information about multiple prior searches by the user that each includes at least one of the one or more search terms and that are associated with the determined one or more associated product categories, and storing, by the configured computing system, mapping information that associates the user with the determined one or more associated product categories based on the search request and on the multiple prior searches, to enable subsequent actions to be taken for the user corresponding to the determined one or more associated product categories.
12. The method of claim 11 wherein the method further comprises adding, by the configured computing system, the user to a group of multiple users that is associated with the determined one or more associated product categories, and electronically providing, by the configured computing system, information about the group of users to an external entity to enable the external entity to take one or more further actions involving the users of the group and corresponding to the determined one or more associated product categories.