US20070288330A1 - Initial product offering system and method - Google Patents

Abstract

A system and method for making an initial product offering of tangible products and services. A price for a product may be determined by calculating an aggregate customer history factor by aggregating customer history factors of potential purchasers in a buying group, calculating a cumulative demand for a product as a function of (i) expected purchase quantities of the product indicated by the potential purchasers in the buying group and (ii) the aggregate customer history factor, and setting a price of the product as a function of the cumulative demand for the buying group. The tangible products and services may be offered at the determined price.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
• This application claims the benefit of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/649,224 filed on Aug. 25, 2000, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/150,993, filed on Aug. 27, 1999, the entire contents of both applications are incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
• 1. Field of the Invention
• The invention relates generally to digital commerce and specifically to the pricing and sale of products and services through a network based product offering using demand packets.
• 2. Description of Related Art
• Individual buyers of both consumer and business related products and services (identified hereinafter as “singular customer”) are at a disadvantage when making purchases because there is little negotiating leverage for a single sale. Large volume purchasers, on the other hand, have substantial leverage, such as when a retailer purchases goods from a wholesale supplier. There is a continuing need for a purchasing system that provides the leverage of large volume purchasing interest to singular customers, while disintermediating the sales chain of the product.
• One approach to providing a solution for volume and pre-determined pricing curve based system for the aggregation of purchasing interest is outlined in U.S. Pat. No. 6,047,266 entitled “Demand Aggregation through Online Buying Groups.” This patent describes a method wherein an online buying group, referred to as a “co-op” is formed for the specific purpose of purchasing a particular product based on a predetermined pricing curve that is modified by the market data from the co-op. However, as significant disadvantages, (i) the seller has to disclose to the demand aggregation system its pricing curve which may be trade secret information instead of dynamically providing the pricing for the product, (ii) the system targets the co-op information to “a” particular vendor or manufacturer of the product, (iii) the system does not provide existing market-wide price transparency, and (iv) the system does not allow potential buyers to create their own said co-ops as the co-ops tend to be driven by the system and effectively by the pricing curve information provided by the vendor or the manufacturer.
• Another approach to effectuating bilateral buyer-driven commerce through allowing prospective buyers to communicate a- binding purchase offer globally to potential sellers, for sellers to conveniently search for potential buyer purchase offers, and for sellers to bind a buyer to its offer is outlined in U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,207, entitled “Method and Apparatus for a Cryptographically Assisted Commercial Network System Designed to Facilitate Buyer-Driven Conditional Purchase Offers.” This patent describes a method and system whereby buyers can negotiate a purchase price of a product or service with a seller through an online bid-offer system. However, as a significant disadvantage, the patent does not create buying groups that have the ability of large volume discounts.
• There remains the need for a digital commerce system that allows singular customers to create their own demand or purchasing interest pools, and routes these packets of demand (“demand packets”) to a plurality of hosts comprising (i) multiple suppliers, vendors, manufacturers and distributors of the particular product or service, (ii) auction networks where these demand packets may represent both sell and buy-side entries, (iii) vertical exchanges where similar category of products and services are sold and brokered, and (iv) horizontal marketplaces where similar categories of products and services are sold and brokered. There also remains the need for this system to be available over a plurality of network access devices comprising mobile phones, mobile computers, personal computers, laptop computers, handheld computers, personal digital assistants, and handheld computers. The system should further provide optimal pricing for the products coupled with market-wide price transparency.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
• To overcome the problems of conventional demand and supply aggregation systems, the principles of the present invention provide for a method and for determining a price for a product. The method may include calculating an aggregate customer history factor by aggregating customer history factors of potential purchasers in a buying group. The customer history factors may include at least one of the following customer related parameters: customer rating parameter, customer transaction parameter, customer demographics parameter, customer geographics parameter, customer psychographic parameter, and customer behavioral parameter. The method further calculates a cumulative demand for a product as a function of (i) expected purchase quantities of the product indicated by the potential purchasers in the buying group and (ii) the aggregate customer history factor. A price of the product may be set as a function of the cumulative demand for the buying group.
• The system and method of the invention will be more readily understood and apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and from the claims, which are appended at the end of the detailed description.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• The foregoing will be appreciated more fully from the following further description thereof, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
• FIG. 1 is an abstract diagram of a system for group buying according to the invention;
• FIG. 2 illustrates records in a product database;
• FIG. 3 illustrates records in a conditions of indications of interest database;
• FIG. 4 illustrates records in a demand packet database;
• FIG. 5 illustrates records in a product pricing database;
• FIG. 6 illustrates records in a customer sales database;
• FIG. 7 illustrates records in a product network. database;
• FIG. 8 shows the description of the demand packet;
• FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a network system server;
• FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a demand packet server;
• FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a transaction server;
• FIGS. 12A-12B are a flow chart of a customer process in the product offering for group buying according to the invention;
• FIGS. 13A-13E are a flow chart of a system process in the product offering for group buying according to the invention;
• FIG. 14 is a block diagram of anexemplary system1400 for determining a customer history factor from various input variables or parameters; and
• FIG. 15 is a block diagram of an exemplary neural network diagram that may be used to predict whether a potential buyer will become an actual buyer after submitting an indication of interest based on customer and economic related variables.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
• To provide an overall understanding of the invention, certain illustrative embodiments will now be described, including demand packets and a system and method for group buying using same demand packets. However, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the demand packet may be adapted to other forms, physical and virtual, provided they are capable of including the necessary demand packet parameters described below. It will also be understood that the methods and systems described herein can be suitably adapted to any other sales model where a customer can make an indication of interest while reconfirming based on trigger events, such as, for example, reconfirm automatically if the price of the product is in the given range. The terms “product” and “item” are used interchangeably herein to denote products of all kinds comprising products, services, consumer products, and solutions in all physical and abstract forms. The terms “customer”, “purchaser”, and “operator” are used interchangeably herein to denote a potential buyer, which places an indication of interest to purchase the given product.
• Overview of System
• FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of a system100 in accordance with the present invention, where amobile computer user105,wireless device user110,personal computer user115,personal computer user120,laptop computer user125,handheld device user130, and personal digital assistant user135 (collectively, the “User”) through anetwork140 such as the Internet connects to anetwork system server145, which is in direct communications with ademand packet server150. Thedemand packet server150 is further in direct communications with atransaction server155 comprising four servers: asupplier server160, anauction server165, avertical exchange server170, and ahorizontal marketplace server175. Thesupplier server160 is further in direct communications with a plurality of suppliers for theproduct comprising manufacturers180 anddistributors182. Theauction server165 is further in direct communications with a plurality of auction venues, where the demand packet may be auctioned, comprisingauction site #1184 and auctionsite #N186. Thevertical exchange server170 is further in direct communications with a plurality of vertical exchanges for the product comprisingvertical exchange #1188 and verticalexchange #N190. Thehorizontal marketplace server170 is further in direct communications with a plurality of horizontal marketplaces for the product comprisinghorizontal marketplace #1192 and horizontalmarketplace #N194. Generally, the configuration of the system100 allows thenetwork system server145 to present the User with product information on a specific product offering in a computer searchable form and the ability for the User to create a new product offering through the system.
• As will be discussed in more detail below, the User can select a product offering through thenetwork system server145 and place an indication of interest. Thenetwork system server145 collects additional indications of interest in the same product offering while pre-determined conditions are fulfilled (e.g., time frame for the product offering). After suspension of the collections of the indications of interest for the product offering, thenetwork system server145 transmits the indications of interest to thedemand packet server150. Thedemand packet server150 processes the received information and communicates with thetransaction server155. Based on the indications of interest transmitted by thedemand packet server150 in the form of demand packets and certain pre-determined conditions of the product offering, thetransaction server155 presents to the User via thedemand packet server150 and thenetwork system server145, offers from one or more product fulfillment destinations for the specific product offering.
• In the communicating relationship, thenetwork system server145 collects reconfirmation at the offer price for all the Users that had previously placed an indication of interest in the specific product offering. Upon receiving the reconfirmations, the system100 negotiates the offer price with the plurality of fulfillment destinations that had presented the offer, selects the final offer price, thetransaction server155 reaffirms the offer price and notifies the User via thedemand packet server150 and thenetwork system server145, regarding parameters for consummating the purchase transaction (e.g., physical shipping of the product, electronic delivery of the service).
• Software Databases
• Aproduct database200 stores product parameters for a plurality of product offerings. As shown inFIG. 2, theproduct database200 stores a plurality ofrecords250, each record including a plurality of fields, the plurality of fields comprising: aproduct identifier205 uniquely identifying the product in the product offering, thevendor name210 identifying the manufacturer of the product, theproduct name215 identifying the name of the product, theproduct description220 identifying the description of the product, therelease date225 identifying the date on which the product will be released into the market, theavailable date230 identifying the date on which the product will be available through the system100, theMSRP235 identifying the manufacturer's retail price for the product, thepricing range max240 identifying the maximum price of the product for the product offering, and thepricing range min245 identifying the minimum price of the product for the product offering. For example, referring torecord255, theproduct101, which is an automobile is manufactured by Ford and termedToy 2000. Furthermore, thisrecord255 indicates that the release date of the product is December 1999 and its available date on the system100 is December 1999 as well. The manufacturers retail price for the product is $20,000, its maximum range is $20,000 and its minimum pricing range is $14,000.
• A conditions of indications ofinterest database300 stores the conditions upon which the product offering shall be conducted for the product. As shown inFIG. 3, the conditions of indications ofinterest database300 stores a plurality ofrecords330, each record including a plurality of fields, the plurality of fields comprising: aproduct identifier205 uniquely identifying the product in the product offering, the conditions of indications ofinterest305 comprising: thepricing date310 identifying the date on which the product offering will be priced, themin # indications315 identifying the minimum number of indications of interest that will be received to conduct the product offering, andother conditions320 and325 as may be deemed appropriate by the creator of the product offering. For example. referring to record335, theproduct101 will be priced on Dec. 1, 1999 if at least 10 indications of interest to purchase the product are received by the system100.
• Ademand packet database400 stores the parameters that form a demand packet for each product offering. As shown inFIG. 4, the demand-packet database400 stores a plurality ofrecords415, each record including a plurality of fields, the plurality of fields comprising: a demand-packet identifier405 uniquely identifying the demand packet, the demandpacket destination identifier705 uniquely identifying the pre-determined fulfillment destinations where the demand packet is to be routed, theproduct identifier205 identifying the product for which the demand packet has been created, thecustomer identifier605 identifying the customer indicating the demand for the given demand packet, theindication date615 identifying the date on which the demand was indicated by the customer into the demand packet database, thequantity620 identifying the number of items of the product which are sought, thecumulative demand size410 identifying the cumulative size of the demand, thecustomer history factor635 identifying the average purchase rate of the customer, and thepricing date310 identifying the date on which the product offering will be priced. For example, referring torecord420, the demand packet A2004 has a demand destination of DD20 and the packet is being created for aproduct123 where an indication of interest is placed on Apr. 15, 2000 by customer C002 with a customer history factor of 68% for a quantity of 2 items. At thisrecord420, the cumulative demand size for the product offering is 2 and the offering will be priced on Jun. 22, 2000.
• Aproduct pricing database500 stores, for each product offering, the pricing date along with the final offer from the fulfillment destination on the pricing date. As shown inFIG. 5, theproduct pricing database500 stores a plurality ofrecords510, each record including a plurality of fields, the plurality of fields comprising: aproduct identifier205 uniquely identifying the product in the product offering, therelease date225 identifying the date on which the product will be released into the market, theavailable date230 identifying the date on which the product will be available through the system100, theMSRP235 identifying the manufacturer's retail price for the product, thevendor price505 identifying the final offer price from the fulfillment destination that is selected in conjunction with fulfilling the purchase transaction for the product offering, and thepricing date310 identifying the date on which the product offering will be priced. For example, referring torecord515, theproduct101 will be priced on Dec. 28, 1999 at a vendor price of $16,000.
• Acustomer sales database600 stores, for each customer, the details of interaction with the system100 for specific product offerings. As shown inFIG. 6, thecustomer sales database600 stores a plurality ofrecords655, each record including a plurality of fields, the plurality of fields comprising: a customer identifier uniquely identifying the customer, the customer name, theproduct identifier205 uniquely identifying the product in the product offering, the date ofindication615 identifying the date on which the customer placed the indication of interest for the product offering, thequantity620 identifying the number of items the indication of interest is being placed for, the date ofreconfirmation625 identifying the date on which the customer reconfirmed its indication of interest, theshipping info630 identifying the address the product is being shipped, thebilling info635 identifying the method of payment for the product, the customer history factor identifying the average purchase rate of the customer for past product offerings, the date shipped645 identifying the date on which the product was shipped to the customer, and thecomments650 on interactions with the customer. For example, referring torecord660, the customer c001 identified as Joe Schmoe placed an indication of interest of 2 items forproduct101 on Nov. 28, 1999 and reconfirmed the indication of interest on Dec. 28, 1999. Referring further to record660, the customer c001 asked for the product to be sent to 11 Walker Drive, New York, N.Y. 10000, provided a credit card # as his preferred method of payment where the product was shipped on Jan. 7, 2000. Referring further to record660, the customer c001 has a customer history factor of 54%, and there have been interactions with the customer.
• Aproduct network database700 stores, for each product, the network of preferred and pre-determined fulfillment destinations for specific product offerings. As shown inFIG. 7, the product network database700 stores a plurality of records730, each record including a plurality of fields, the plurality of fields comprising: a product identifier205 uniquely identifying the product in the product offering, the vendor name210, the product name215, the demand destination identifier705 uniquely identifying the preferred and pre-determined fulfillment destinations for the product in the product offering, the supplier table710 that stores a plurality of records755, each record including a plurality of fields, the plurality of fields comprising: S102735 identifying the electronic addresses of the preferred and pre-determined fulfillment destinations in the supplier category, the auction table715 that stores a plurality of records755, each record including a plurality of fields, the plurality of fields comprising: A102740 identifying the electronic addresses of the preferred and pre-determined fulfillment destinations in the auction category, the vertical exchange table720 that stores a plurality of records755, each record including a plurality of fields, the plurality of fields comprising: V102745 identifying the electronic addresses of the preferred and pre-determined fulfillment destinations in the vertical exchange category, and the horizontal marketplace table725 that stores a plurality of records755, each record including a plurality of fields, the plurality of fields comprising: H102735 identifying the electronic addresses of the preferred and pre-determined fulfillment destinations in the horizontal marketplace category. For example, referring torecord760, forproduct101 with thename Toy 2000 to be supplied by Ford, the demand destination identifier is DD01 which is sent to pre-determined fulfillment destinations S102 for the supplier category, A102 for the auction category, V102 for the vertical exchange category, and H102 for the horizontal marketplace category.
• The Demand Packet
• FIG. 8 shows a preferred embodiment of thedemand packet800, which is created by thedemand packet server150 from the network based aggregated information collected by thenetwork system server145. Thedemand packet800 is utilized by thedemand packet server150 to communicate with thetransaction server155 and its sub servers in order to consummate the purchase transaction. Eachdemand packet800 stores a plurality of relevant records comprising: thedemand packet identifier405, thedemand destination identifier705, theproduct identifier102, thepricing date310, thedemand size805 uniquely identifying the cumulative size of the demand collected through all the indications of interest times thequantity620 in thedemand packet database400, thecustomer history factor810 identifying the average purchase rate of all the customers that placed indications of interest for the product offering, the expecteddemand815 identifying the multiplication of thedemand size805, and thecustomer history factor810, thevendor name210, theproduct description215, theproduct MSRP235, theproduct pricing max240, theproduct pricing min245, theproduct vendor price505, and the conditions of indication ofinterest305 based upon which the potential customers had placed their indication of interest further comprising: thepricing date310, themin # indications315, thecondition3320, and thecondition4325.
• Hardware Servers
• FIG. 9 is a block diagram of anetwork system server145. Thenetwork system server145 includes aprocessor920, and connected thereto, arandom access memory910, a read-only memory905, anetwork card915, asystem clock930, and astorage device935. Thenetwork card915 can be any network card capable of handling numerouslogical connections925 to anetwork945, as required by the number of customers, fulfillment destinations, financial transaction processors, andlogical connections950 to the demand packet server requiring resources from thenetwork system server145. Thestorage device935 can be any storage device capable of maintaining aproduct database200, acustomer sales database600, and financial andcredit processor940, such as a hard drive, storage area network, redundant array of inexpensive disks, or other mass storage device. If thedatabases200,600 on thestorage device935 are particularly large, a separate transaction processor may be provided to off-load database management from theprocessor920. Theprocessor920 andmemories910,905 may be any processor and memories known in the art that are consistent with the volume of traffic handled by thenetwork card915, including any associated security protocols, and the volume of data stored in thestorage device935. Suitable network servers are manufactured by Compaq Computers, Dell, IBM, and Sun MicroSystems. Such servers may employ a processor with multiple central processing units, and will operate under control of an operating system such as Unix, Linux, other Unix variants, DOS, Windows or its variants, VMS, and Solaris. Thenetwork system server145 will also run additional programs or software modules from the operating system to control server operations, web server operations, authentication functions, network security, and database management, many alternatives for which are known in the art and commercially available. The invention may be usefully practiced with any of these computers, operating systems, and other programs. The software modules will also provide and operate a web site provided by thenetwork system server145 for the customers, according to information stored on thestorage device935.
• FIG. 10 is a block diagram of ademand packet server150. Thedemand packet server150 includes aprocessor1020, and connected thereto, arandom access memory1010, a read-only memory1005, anetwork card1015, asystem clock1025, and astorage device1045. Thenetwork card1015 can be any network card capable of handling numerouslogical connections1035 to anetwork1055, as required by the number of customers, fulfillment destinations, demand packet processors,logical connections1030 to thenetwork system server145, andlogical connections1040 to thetransaction server155 requiring resources from thedemand packet server150. Thestorage device1045 can be any storage device capable of maintaining aproduct pricing database500, a conditions of indications ofinterest database300, ademand packet database400, and ademand packet processor1050, such as a hard drive, storage area network, redundant array of inexpensive disks, or other mass storage device. If thedatabases300,400,500 on thestorage device1045 are particularly large, a separate transaction processor may be provided to off-load database management from theprocessor1020. Theprocessor1020 andmemories1010,1005 may be any processor and memories known in the art that are consistent with the volume of traffic handled by thenetwork card1015, including any associated security protocols, and the volume of data stored in thestorage device1045.
• Suitable network servers are manufactured by Compaq Computers, Dell, IBM, and Sun MicroSystems. Such servers may employ a processor with multiple central processing units, and will operate under control of an operating system such as Unix, Linux, other Unix variants, DOS, Windows or its variants, VMS, and Solaris. Thedemand packet server150 will also run additional programs or software modules from the operating system to control server operations, web server operations, authentication functions, network security, demand packet processing and database management, many alternatives for which are known in the art and commercially available. The invention may be usefully practiced with any of these computers, operating systems, and other programs.
• FIG. 11 is a block diagram of atransaction server155. Thetransaction server155 includes aprocessor1120, and connected thereto, arandom access memory1110, a read-only memory1105, anetwork card1115, asystem clock1125, and astorage device1145. Thenetwork card1115 can be any network card capable of handling numerouslogical connections1130 to anetwork1175, as required by the number of customers, fulfillment destinations, andtransaction processors1155,1160,1165,1170,logical connections1135 to thenetwork system server145, andlogical connections1140 to thedemand packet server150 requiring resources from thetransaction server155. Thestorage device1145 can be any storage device capable of maintaining aproduct network database700, a supplier processor/server1155, an auction processor/server1160, a vertical exchange processor/server1165, and a horizontal marketplace processor/server1170, such as a hard drive, storage area network, redundant array of inexpensive disks, or other mass storage device. If thedatabase700 on thestorage device1145 are particularly large, a separate transaction processor may be provided to off-load database management from theprocessor1120. Theprocessor1120 andmemories1110,1105 may be any processor and memories known in the art that are consistent with the volume of traffic handled by thenetwork card1115, including any associated security protocols, and the volume of data stored in thestorage device1145. Suitable network servers are manufactured by Compaq Computers, Dell, IBM, and Sun MicroSystems. Such servers may employ a processor with multiple central processing units, and will operate under control of an operating system such as Unix, Linux, other Unix variants, DOS, Windows or its variants, VMS, and Solaris. Thetransaction server155 will also run additional programs or software modules from the operating system to control server operations, web server operations, authentication functions, network security, fulfillment processing, and database management, many alternatives for which are known in the art and commercially available. The invention may be usefully practiced with any of these computers, operating systems, and other programs.
• Method of Operation
• An embodiment of the process for the system100 described above will now be described in detail by reference toFIGS. 12A-12B andFIGS. 13A-13E.
• Customer Process
• FIGS. 12A-12B are flow charts showing a customer'sinteraction process1200 with the system100 for group buying according to the invention, which also shows the resources used for each step. Thecustomer process1200 begins when the customer logs on to asecure web site1205 that is provided by thenetwork system server145. Once the customer is logged on to thesystem1205, the customer interactively browses lists ofavailable product categories1210, each product category identifying an offering for that product from the associatedproduct database200, for product offerings that may be of interest to the customer. The network,system server145 maintains communication with theproduct database200, which is periodically updated to add and remove product offerings. All web server communications are secure, such as through the secure socket layer (SSL) communications through digital encryption identifications through commercially available services such as Verisign. After the customer has had a chance to view the product categories and select a desiredproduct1210, the customer is asked if there is an interest in placing a conditional indication of interest in purchasing the product as part of anoffering group1215. This entails two options1215: (1) no interest in placing an indication of interest wherein the customer has an option to create their own product offering for aspecific product1220 and then view product categories to select theproduct1210, or view product categories once again to select a desiredproduct1210, and (2) place indication of interest for the desiredproduct1225 which is entered into the10 securedemand packet database400, and, if the offering is still open, the customer receives e-mail confirmation of the accepted indication of interest. Indications of interest to purchase an item are aggregated into a group, along with available information about customers, such as their histories of purchasing through the demand packet server. This group information is then used to negotiate a group purchase price with potential fulfillment destinations. The negotiation may occur through human interaction between the web provider and the fulfillment destinations, or may occur using a pre-determined protocol between the web server and a remote server operated by the fulfillment destinations. During the entire negotiation process, the customer waits for receiving the offer from one fulfillment destination or multiple offers from a plurality offulfillment destinations1230. Once a price is negotiated, each customer who indicated an interest to purchase receives an e-mail detailing theoffer1230. The offer is sent to the customer in accordance with the offer entry in theproduct pricing database500. At this point, the customer may accept the offer and proceed with a purchase transaction, or the customer may reject the offer. If the customer chooses to accept the offer(s), the customer is required to reconfirm the offer(s) within a specified amount of time as indicated in the customer'soffer e-mail1235. Thereconfirmation process1235 is conducted in accordance with information exchange between thenetwork system server145, thedemand packet server150, and thedemand packet database400. Where an offer is rejected by one or more customers, this information may optionally be stored and used to attempt another round of price negotiation. After the specified time frame, the reconfirmations are updated in thedemand packet database400 for the entire group that had previously placed an indication of interest. The reconfirmations may be of multiple nature meaning that one customer may reconfirm for multiple offers that he may have received from a plurality of fulfillment destinations. The aggregate reconfirmation group information is re-presented to the fulfillment destinations that had provided the offer, and the final offer price from one or more fulfillment destinations is provided to thecustomers1240. At this point, if the customer desirescredit processing1245, the customer is required to entercredit processing information1250 that is exchanged with acredit processor940 for the purposes of providing a credit solution to the customer. In the following step, the customer is required to enter product delivery information such as theshipping information1260 which is updated into thecustomer sales database600 which marks the completion of thepurchase transaction1265 on the system100.
• FIGS. 13A-13E are flow charts showing asystem process1300 for group buying according to the invention, which also shows the resources used for each step. Thesystem process1300 begins when a user, comprising a customer or one of the plurality of fulfillment providers, logs on the system. If the user is one of the plurality of fulfillment providers, the web site offers two options: (1) to view an existing demand packet, as will be discussed later, and (2) create a new product offering. To create a new product offering. the fulfillment destination selectsproducts1305 and provides productspecific information1310 including a manufacturer suggested retail price (MSRP), a range of offering prices, conditions for the offering, and a time period for the offer. Once an interested user has provided the required information, a product listing may be added1315 to theproduct database200, and the conditions of indication of interest to be added to the conditions of indication ofinterest database300. The system100 then interacts with customers and collects the indications ofinterest1320 as described above until any conditions of indication of interest set forth by the fulfillment destination have been satisfied1325. Instep1320, the system100 exchanges the customer specific information with thedemand packet database400. Instep1325, the system100 exchanges the indication of interest information with the conditions of indication ofinterest database300. If the fulfillment destination's conditions have not been satisfied by the pricing date, the fulfillment destination may change the conditions. At this point, the system100, in accordance with thedemand packet database400, creates ademand packet1330. Depending on the preferred and pre-determined fulfillment destinations for the demand packet, the demand packet may be routed to one or more of fulfillment processes including: a supplier process for a plurality ofsupplier destinations1335, an auction process for a plurality ofauction destinations1340, a vertical exchange process for a plurality ofvertical exchange destinations1345, and a horizontal marketplace process for a plurality ofhorizontal marketplace destinations1350.
• In thesupplier process1335, thesupplier server1155 receives the demand packet1335.05 and routes the demand packet to a plurality of supplier category fulfillment destinations1335.10 prior to which thesupplier server1155 secures routing information from theproduct network database700 and vice versa. Based on the information contained in the demand packet and the aggregated indications of interest obtained through thedemand packet database400, one or more supplier category fulfillment destinations announce the offers which includes the pricing1335.15. The offers are entered into aproduct pricing database500, and the pricing information is e-mailed to participating customers for reconfirmation1335.20. In a finite time frame, the system100 collects reconfirmations from the customers that had placed an indication of interest1335.25, and this information is provided for in thedemand packet database400 and thecustomer sales database600. It should be noted that one customer may, for one previously entered indication of interest, submit multiple reconfirmations to one or more of the offers received from the system100. Upon transmitting the reconfirmations to all the supplier category fulfillment destinations that had made an offer based on the demand packet, the pricing is confirmed by the system100, and, following that, the system100 negotiates the best price with one or more supplier category fulfillment destinations. This set of final offers is compared against offers received from theauction process1340, avertical exchange process1345, and ahorizontal marketplace process1350 to determine the final best price offer1335.30, which if accepted by the system100, will prompt the customers for entering credit information1335.35 and, if required1335.40, connect the customers to acredit processor940 for credit solutions. As shown in step1335.45, the system collects final shipping information and payment from the customer and stores it into thecustomer sales database600. After shipping and payment information acquisition, the system100 completes the purchase transaction and confirms via e-mail the closing of the purchase transaction with the customers1335.50.
• In theauction process1340, theauction server1160 receives the demand packet1340.05 and routes the demand packet to a plurality of auction category fulfillment destinations1340.10 prior to which theauction server1160 secures routing information from theproduct network database700 and vice versa. Based on the information contained in the demand packet and the aggregated indications of interest obtained through thedemand packet database400, one or more auction category fulfillment destinations announce the offers which includes the pricing1340.15. The offers are entered into aproduct pricing database500, and the pricing information is e-mailed to participating customers for reconfirmation1340.20. In a finite time frame, the system100 collects reconfirmations from the customers that had placed an indication of interest1340.25, and this information is provided for in thedemand packet database400 and thecustomer sales database600. It be noted that one customer may for one previously entered indication of interest submit multiple reconfirmations to one or more of the offers received from the system100. Upon transmitting the reconfirmations to all the auction category fulfillment destinations that had made an offer based on the demand packet, the pricing is confirmed by the system100, and following that the system100 negotiates the best price with one or more auction category fulfillment destinations. This set of final offers are compared against offers received from thesupplier process1335, avertical exchange process1345, and ahorizontal marketplace process1350 to determine the final best price offer1340.30, which, if accepted by the system100, will prompt the customers for entering credit information1340.35 and, if required,1340.40 connect the customers to acredit processor940 for credit solutions. As shown in step1340.45, the system collects final shipping information and payment from the customer and stores it into thecustomer sales database600. After shipping and payment information acquisition, the system100 completes the purchase transaction and confirms via e-mail the closing of the purchase transaction with the customers1340.50.
• In thevertical exchange process1345, thevertical exchange server1165 receives the demand packet1345.05 and routes the demand packet to a plurality of vertical exchange category fulfillment destinations1345.10 prior to which thevertical exchange server1165 secures routing information from theproduct network database700 and vice versa. Based on the information contained in the demand packet and the aggregated indications of interest obtained through thedemand packet database400, one or more vertical exchange category fulfillment destinations announce the offers which includes the pricing1345.15. The offers are entered into aproduct pricing database500, and the pricing information is e-mailed to participating customers for reconfirmation1345.20. In a finite time frame, the system100 collects reconfirmations from the customers that had placed an indication of interest1345.25, and this information is provided for in thedemand packet database400 and thecustomer sales database600. It should be noted that one customer may, for one previously entered indication of interest, submit multiple reconfirmations to one or more of the offers received from the system100. Upon transmitting the reconfirmations to all the vertical exchange category fulfillment destinations that had made an offer based on the demand packet, the pricing is confirmed by the system100, and following that, the system100 negotiates the best price with one or more vertical exchange category fulfillment destinations. This set of final offers is compared against offers received from thesupplier process1335, theauction process1340, and thehorizontal marketplace process1350 to determine the final best price offer1345.30 which, if accepted by the system100, will prompt the customers for entering credit information1345.35 and, if required,1345.40 connect the customers to acredit processor940 for credit solutions. As shown in step1345.45, the system collects final shipping information and payment from the customer and stores it into thecustomer sales database600. After shipping and payment information acquisition, the system100 completes the purchase transaction and confirms via e-mail the closing of the purchase transaction with the customers1345.50.
• In thehorizontal marketplace process1350, thehorizontal marketplace server1170 receives the demand packet1350.05 and routes the demand packet to a plurality of horizontal marketplace category fulfillment destinations1350.10 prior to which thehorizontal marketplace server1170 secures routing information from theproduct network database700 and vice versa. Based on the information contained in the demand packet and the aggregated indications of interest obtained through thedemand packet database400, one or more horizontal marketplace category fulfillment destinations announce the offers which includes the pricing1350.15. The offers are entered into aproduct pricing database500, and the pricing information is e-mailed to participating customers for reconfirmation1350.20. In a finite time frame, the system100 collects reconfirmations from the customers that had placed an indication of interest1350.25, and this information is provided for in thedemand packet database400 and thecustomer sales database600. It should be noted that one customer may, for one previously entered indication of interest, submit multiple reconfirmations to one or more of the offers received from the system100. Upon transmitting the reconfirmations to all the horizontal marketplace category fulfillment destinations that had made an offer based on the demand packet, the pricing is confirmed by the system100, and, following that, the system100 negotiates the best price with one or more horizontal marketplace category fulfillment destinations. This set of final offers are compared against offers received from thesupplier process1335, theauction process1340, and thevertical exchange process1350 to determine the final best price offer1350.30 which, if accepted by the system100, will prompt the customers for entering credit information1350.35 and, if required.1350.40 connect the customers to acredit processor940 for credit solutions. As shown in step1350.45, the system collects final shipping information and payment from the customer and stores it into thecustomer sales database600. After shipping and payment information acquisition, the system100 completes the purchase transaction and confirms via e-mail the closing of the purchase transaction with the customers1350.50.
• The customer history factor can be determined in a number of ways. As previously described, a customer's actual buying history may be used for determining the customer history factor. As an example, if a customer submits an indication of interest indicating that he or she will purchase a product, but actually purchases the product 20% of the time, that person's actual buying history (i.e., customer history factor in one embodiment) is 20%. However, such a simplistic model for determining a customer history factor can be expanded to include an unlimited number of variables or parameters and calculated using a variety of mathematical functions and statistical models.
• The customer related variables (CRV) may be used in determining a customer history factor:
• Rating variables: rating variables may include customer feedback score, customer rating, customer ranking, customer score, customer feedback rating, and so on. Feedback, such as feedback ratings, may be used to determine each member's feedback score. A positive rating may add a value, such as +1, to the customer's score, a negative rating may decrease a value, such as −1, from the customer's score, and a neutral rating may have no impact. The higher the feedback score, the more positive ratings the customer has received from members. In one embodiment, a member can increase or decrease another member's score by only ±1 no matter how many transactions they share.
• Customer transaction variables: customer transaction variables may include most recent purchases, highest monetary transactions, average monetary transactions, buy rate, sell rate, return rate, indication rate, indication-to-buy rate, transaction frequency, transaction initiation rate, transaction close rate, and so on.
• Demographic variables: demographic variables may include age, gender, race, education, occupation, income, religion, marital status, family size, number of children, home ownership status, socio-economic status, and so on.
• Geographic variables: geographic variables may include various classifications of geographic areas. For example, the classifications of geographic areas may include zip code, state, country, region, climate, population, and other geographical census data. In one embodiment, this information can come from national census data. Alternatively, maps, mapping databases, and other databases as understood in the art may be utilized to determine the geographic variables. A value may be assigned to the geographic variables depending on past, current, or future events affecting the location that a customer lives. For example, if a location is affected by a natural disaster, such as a hurricane or flood, the likelihood that the customer will purchase a product after submitting an indication of interest may be lower or higher depending on the particular product.
• Psychographic variables: psychographic variables may include life style, personality, values, attitudes, and so on. These variables may be useful in predicting whether a customer will purchase a product after submitting an indication of interest at a later date. For example, if a customer's life style includes business travel, then the customer history factor may be decreased because there is a potential that the customer will be traveling when the product begins to sell and the customer will be unable to purchase the product or forget about the product.
• Behavioral variables: behavioral variables may include product usage rate, brand loyalty, benefit sought, decision making units, ready-to-buy stage, consistent high-end product purchaser, and so on. A value may be assigned to the behavioral variables depending on a number of factors. For example, if a customer routinely purchases high-end products, then the customer may have a higher score for the high-end product purchaser variable than someone who does not routinely purchase high-end products.
• Each of the customer related variables used for determining a customer history factor may be assigned a value. The values of the variables may be assigned numeric or alphanumeric values. The variables may be assigned values manually, semi-automatically, or automatically based on a variety of factors. The customer related variables may be used in mathematical functions in computing a customer history factor.
• In addition to customer related variables, economic related variables (ERV) may be utilized in accordance with the principles of the present invention. Economic related variables may be related to macroeconomic or microeconomic factors. For example, macroeconomic variables may include household debt service burden, unemployment, consumer confidence index, producer price index, productivity report, retail sales index, durable goods orders, employment cost index, personal bankruptcy filings, inflation rate, GDP growth rate,S&P500 stock market index, and so on. Microeconomic variables may be related to supply and demand related as to individual consumers and businesses in a local region, for example. Microeconomic variables may include supply of current certain products, current demand of certain products, local economy growth rate, consumer job status, consumer disposable income, and so forth. Applying microeconomic theory, if a particular region of the country is predicted to have a hurricane, certain products may be more important than others, such as flashlights, wood, and water. If a consumer has indicated that he or she wants to purchase a bedroom set, a value of a variable related to the purchase on a microeconomic level may be lowered.
• FIG. 14 is a block diagram of anexemplary system1400 for determining a customer history factor from various input variables or parameters. The input parameters may be stored in one or more databases stored on a storage system (e.g., hard drive of a server). In one embodiment, the parameters may includerating parameters1402,transaction parameters1404,demographic parameters1406,geographic parameters1408,psychographic parameters1410, andbehavioral parameters1412. Other and/or different parameters may be utilized in accordance with the principles of the present invention. One or more estimation engine(s)1414 may be utilized to determine acustomer history factor1416 based on one or more parameters1402-1412. The estimation engine(s)1414 may be simple algebraic formulas (e.g., multiplication and addition) or more extensive logic and/or formulaic approaches, as described hereinbelow.
• A customer history factor may be computed in an unlimited number of ways using the consumer related variables and economic related variables. Some mathematical computations and modeling approaches are provided below. It should be understood that these computations and approaches are exemplary and that other computations and approaches may be used to compute the customer history factor in accordance with the principles of the present invention. Furthermore, the customer related variables and economic related variables may be used in the computations and models in any combination that is helpful in determining the customer history factor to provide a more accurate estimate of how many units of a product to produce based on the indications of interest received from a new product offering. Below are exemplary mathematical models and formulas that may be used to compute the customer history factor using the consumer and/or economic related variables:
• Linear Approach:
• The linear models may be structured in the form of a cumulative model using customer and/or economic related variables or selective data models. Industry selective data models, such as recency, frequency, monetary (RFM) models and chi-squared automatic interaction detection (CHAID) analysis may be used wherever appropriate. The CHAID analysis can incorporate recency, frequency and monetary variables, but can also examine other variables to increase predictive power. One embodiment may compute a customer history (CHF) as:
  CHF %=CRV % * ERV %
  where
  CRV %=Σ{CRV(1) . . . CRV(n)}/n
  or
  CRV %=Σ{CRV(1)/x . . . CRV(n)/z}
  ERV %=Σ{ERV(1) . . . ERV(n)}/n
  or
  ERV %=Σ{ERV(1)/x . . . ERV(n)/z}
• Predictive neural network modeling is a very powerful predictive modeling technique. It is derived from nerve systems (e.g., human brains). The heart of the technique is a neural net (or network for short). A typical network includes layers of nodes and links between neighboring layers' nodes. The first layer is an input layer. Nodes of an input layer represent induction fields or values of nominal induction fields. The last layer is an output layer. Nodes of the output layer represent prediction values (or class names), i.e., values of a target field. The rest of layers are called hidden layers (or middle or internal layers). There is typically a single hidden layer, but there may be zero or more hidden layers. For example, the figure shown at the left-hand side contains a network that determines credit risk levels based on gender, age and salary. It includes an input layer of 15 nodes, one hidden layer of 15 nodes and an output layer of 3 nodes.
• As understood in the art of neural networks, each link is assigned with a different weight. The weights provide for predictions from the neural network model, as understood in the art. As shown inFIG. 15, induction fields, in this case customer related variables and economic related variables, may be presented to the nodes of input layer. The values are propagated through the neural network to the output layer. In this process, the input values are multiplied with weights, summed, and applied to a non-linear function. The weights are set such that for given inputs, values of output layer reflect predictions, i.e., large values (e.g. 0.9) for positive predictions and small values (e.g., 0.1) for negative predictions. Output values are typically in the range of 0 and 1. For example, the network ofFIG. 15 may output 0.6 for the “certain buyer” output node, 0.2 for the “likely buyer” output node, which predicts as a probable purchaser, and 0.2 for the “unlikely buyer” output node, which predicts as a non-purchaser. It is noted that combined output may not be equal to 1. Neural networks are “trained” to produce certain responses or predictions by an iterative process, and the weights applied to each input are adjusted to optimize a desired output.
• Binary categorical input data for neural networks can be handled by using 0/1 (off/on) inputs, but categorical variables with multiple classes (for example, marital status or the state in which a person resides) are awkward to handle. Classifying a result into multiple categories usually is done by setting arbitrary value thresholds for discriminating one category from another. It would be difficult to devise a neural network to classify the location of residence into the 50 U.S. states. Classification trees, on the other hand, handle this type of problem naturally. Neural networks, unfortunately, do not present an model that is readily understandable as compared to a decision tree, which is easy to identify initial variables that divide the data into two categories and then other variables split the resulting child groups.
• While a neural network is one potential predictive model that may be utilized to predict whether a potential purchaser of a product who submits an indication of interest, it should be understood that other predictive and non-predictive logical and mathematical models as understood in the art may be utilized to determine whether a potential purchaser who submits an indication of interest will ultimately purchase a product. For example, decision trees, stochastic gradient boosting, linear regression and non-linear regression may be utilized. Each of these models may enable the various consumer and economic related variables to be processed in making a determination. The result of the determination may be a percentage that can be used to determine if or how many products should be produced for a single potential purchaser or a group of potential purchasers. For example, if a potential purchaser submits an indication of interest indicating that he or she (or a business) is interested in purchasing 100 items of a product and the predictive model predicts, based on consumer and economic related variables associated with the potential purchaser, that the likelihood of that potential purchaser is 25%, then the manufacturer can determine that 25 of the 100 products should be produced for that person, thereby producing a more accurate demand or supply to minimizing production and demand overrun.
• The previous description is of example embodiments for implementing the principles of the present invention, and the scope of the invention should not necessarily be limited by this description. The scope of the present invention is instead defined by the following claims.

Claims (13)

1-21. (canceled)

22. A system for providing group buying comprising:

means for storing a plurality of product parameters, each product parameter comprising product features;

means for searching through a plurality of products;

means for aggregating, at a network server, a plurality of indications of interest to purchase a product;

means for suspending aggregation of the plurality of indications of interest;

means for preparing a demand packet, each demand packet comprising aggregated purchasing information from the plurality of indications of interest;

means for routing the demand packet, each recipient pre-determined in a product network database as fulfillment destinations;

means of receiving offers from pre-determined fulfillment destinations, the offer consisting of a price;

means for negotiating a price for the item with the plurality of fulfillment destinations for the item, based on the demand-packet database;

means for selecting one or more of fulfillment destinations based on the offer, the offer including the price;

means for generating a confirmed purchaser list, the confirmed purchaser list including an amount of the item equal to a number of items for which an indication of interest was confirmed; and

means for executing a purchase transaction from the supplier to the user at the price of the offer.

23. The system ofclaim 22 wherein the group buying means comprises a means for interactively performing group buying over a network, such as the Internet.

24. The system ofclaim 22 wherein the group buying means further comprises a means for interactively performing group buying through a plurality of network devices, such as personal computer, mobile computer, wearable computer, laptop computer, mobile phone, wireless computer, personal digital assistant, and handheld device.

25. The system ofclaim 22 further comprising means of routing the demand packet to pre-determined fulfillment destinations.

26. The system ofclaim 22 further comprising a means for periodically updating the routing details for the pre-determined fulfillment destinations.

27. The system ofclaim 22 further comprising a means for securely communicating with a credit processor to provide credit solutions for the purchase transaction.

28. The system ofclaim 22 further comprising a means for securely communicating with a credit authorization system to consummate the purchase transaction.

29. A group buying method comprising:

aggregating, at a network server, a plurality of indications of interest to purchase an item, storing and creating a demand packet from the plurality of indications of interest;

suspending aggregation of the plurality of indications of interest;

preparing a demand-packet database including each one of the plurality of indications of interest received prior to suspending aggregation;

routing the demand packet from the demand-packet database to a plurality of pre-determined fulfillment destinations;

negotiating a price for the item with the plurality of fulfillment destinations for the item;

receiving an offer from the plurality of fulfillment destinations for the item, the offer including a price;

selecting one or more fulfillment destinations based on the offer, the offer including the price;

confirming each one of the indications of interest with the user that supplied the indications of interest at the price of the offer from the fulfillment destinations;

selecting one or more fulfillment destinations to fulfill the demand packet transaction based on the re-confirmation of the indications of interest;

generating a confirmed purchaser list, the confirmed purchaser list including an amount of the item equal to a number of items for which an indication of interest was re-confirmed; and

executing a purchase transaction from one or more of the selected fulfillment destinations to the user at the price of the offer.

30. The method ofclaim 29 wherein the step of conducting group buying further comprises the option for credit processing through a credit processor.

31. The method ofclaim 29 wherein the step of executing a purchase transaction comprises credit authorization, shipping processing, and transaction confirmation.

32. The method ofclaim 29 further comprising the option to create a group buying offering for a product by storing product parameters in the product database.

33. The method ofclaim 29 further comprising the option to search through stored parameters of products and associated offerings in the product database.

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