US20110178889A1 - A method, medium, and system for allocating a transaction discount during a collaborative shopping session - Google Patents

Abstract

A collaborative shopping group can be established within a social networking web site. This initially established group can consist of individuals with whom the establishing user has a social networking affiliation. After an initial establishment of the collaborative shopping group, each individual within the group is able to add additional individuals to the collaborative shopping group. A shared shopping cart can be established for the collaborative shopping group. A set of different members of the collaborative shopping group can individually and independently add items from a set of different e-commerce sites to the shared shopping cart. An e-commerce purchase of items in the shared shopping cart can be completed. The completed e-commerce purchase can receive a transaction discount greater than or equal to a sum of discounts that would have resulted from discrete purchases of the items of the shared shopping cart by the individuals of the collaborative shopping group.

Description

BACKGROUND
• The present invention relates to the field of online shopping systems and, more particularly, to a collaborative online shopping system.
• Shopping has been a social experience for centuries—from ancient marketplaces to today's outlet malls. However, much of this social interaction has been lost in the shift to Web-based or online shopping systems. In the attempt to interject more social interaction, many online shopping systems have introduced features such as wish lists, recommendation lists, user-submitted product feedback, shopping carts that are viewable by others, and universal shopping carts that aggregate products from a defined group of retailers. While these attempts provide their own benefit to online shopping, the online shopping systems lack the automated social communication aspect popularized by social networking Websites such as FACEBOOK, MYSPACE, and ORKUT, where information is automatically made available from one account holder to other account holders based on established relationships
• For example, two friends, Shopper A and Shopper B, both have accounts for shopping at the same online retailer. Both shoppers have a stored shopping cart with a couple of product items, intending to make their purchases when the value of their respective shopping carts qualifies for a discounted shipping rate. Unless Shopper A and Shopper B explicitly share information about their stored shopping carts, which must occur outside of the shopping Website (e.g., lists the contents in an email or telephone call), neither will be aware that the combination of their two shopping carts qualifies for discounted shipping. Simply, the online shopping system does not “know” that Shopper A knows Shopper B or that either shopper may be interested in combining their purchases.
• Newer attempts, such as that described in Great Britain Patent No. 2458388A, have focused on simulating the shopping experience in virtual marketplaces. Three-dimensional (3D) models of the shoppers are able to communicate and perform many typical shopping actions in a virtual representation of a store. However, such a graphics-intensive system incurs additional overhead for both the host system and the shopper's system to support the 3D modeling of the shoppers and virtual environment.
• Although this system allows multiple users to aggregate selected product items into a single purchase with a single vendor and even split costs, it does not support a social network structure between the shoppers or the use of a universal shopping cart. Nor does this system support the ability for one shopper to apply a coupon or promotion code to the purchase to be shared among the shoppers, a very common reason shoppers combine purchases or purchase additional items. Further, a shopper viewing another shopper's shopping cart, any actions that the viewing shopper may want to take such as creating a copy of the shopping cart for their own purposes must be reiterated manually.
BRIEF SUMMARY
• One aspect of the invention, a collaborative shopping group can be established within a social networking web site. This initially established group can consist of individuals with whom the establishing user has a social networking affiliation. After an initial establishment of the collaborative shopping group, each individual within the group is able to add additional individuals to the collaborative shopping group. A shared shopping cart can be established for the collaborative shopping group. A set of different members of the collaborative shopping group can individually and independently add items from a set of different e-commerce sites to the shared shopping cart. Each of the different e-commerce sites can have a unique URL and can be independently owned and operated from the social networking site and from each other. An e-commerce purchase of items in the shared shopping cart can be completed. The completed e-commerce purchase can receive a transaction discount greater than or equal to a sum of discounts that would have resulted from discrete purchases of the items of the shared shopping cart by the individuals of the collaborative shopping group. Thus, use of the collaborative shopping group saves group members money, which may be due to bulk discounts, shipping discounts, combination purchasing discounts, reward program discounts, and the like. Outside of the collaborative shopping group, none of the individual members or individual purchases may have quantified for the discounts received by the group.
• In one aspect of the disclosure, a shared shopping cart can be established for use by a set of different collaborative shoppers. Each of the collaborative shoppers can individually and independently add items from at least one e-commerce site via a shopper-specific browser interface to the collaborative shared shopping cart. Any of the collaborative shoppers can select a sale finalization action via their browser interface. Responsive to the selection of the finalization action, each of the collaborative shoppers of the plurality can confirm whether that shopper elects to finalize a sale of the items in the collaborative shared shopping cart. Only when each of the collaborative shoppers has finalized the sale of items in the collaborative shopping cart, will a purchasing transaction commence. This action can purchase the items in the collaborative shared shopping cart from the e-commerce sites. A shared cart transactional discount can be provided for the purchase of the collaborative shared shopping cart items. This discount can be greater than or equal to a sum of transactional discounts that would have been granted where the collaborative shared shopping cart items purchased separately as individual specific discrete transactions. For the purchase, each of the different collaborative shoppers can pay a shopper specific amount for the items which that shopper placed in the collaborative shopping cart. The shopper specific amount will not exceed an amount that would have been paid where the items purchased separately by the shopper as an individual specific discrete transaction. Each of the purchased items can be shipped to postal/mail/other addresses specified by the different collaborative shoppers.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
• FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a system that enables shoppers to make collaborative purchases from multiple online retailers participating in a socially collaborative shopping system in accordance with embodiments of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein.
• FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the basic data flows involving the SSC controller in accordance with an embodiment of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein.
• FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method describing the initial aggregation of data for presentation to a shopper within the social shopping interface of a socially collaborative shopping system in accordance with an embodiment of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein.
• FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a method describing the creation of a shared SSC within socially collaborative shopping system in accordance with embodiments of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein.
• FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a method describing the handling of promotions by a socially collaborative shopping system in accordance with embodiments of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein.
• FIG. 6 is a flow chart of a method describing performance of a collaborative purchase by a socially collaborative shopping system in accordance with embodiments of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein.
• FIG. 7 is a flow chart of a method describing the handling of incentives within a socially collaborative shopping system in accordance with embodiments of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein.
• FIG. 8 is a collection of examples illustrating the interaction of the socially collaborative shopping system with a social networking site in accordance with embodiments of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
• The present invention discloses a solution that incorporates social relationships within the shopping experience provided by an online shopping system. A shopper can define a network of social relationships to other shoppers that the socially collaborative shopping system can utilize when providing the shopper with shopping-related information, such as recommendations and alert notifications. Multiple shoppers can create a shared social shopping cart (SSC) to make a collaborative purchase of their product items. The collaborative purchase of the SSC can be treated as a single logical transaction with the socially collaborative shopping system disseminating the purchase information to the specific online retailers involved. Further, online retailers can establish incentive models within the socially collaborative shopping system for rewarding shoppers who positively affect their sales.
• As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the present invention may be embodied as a system, method or computer program product. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer readable medium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.
• Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may be utilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readable storage medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction handling system, apparatus, or device.
• A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal with computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may take any of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction handling system, apparatus, or device.
• Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may run entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).
• Aspects of the present invention are described below with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which runs via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
• These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
• The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other devices to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which run on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
• FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating asystem100 that enablesshoppers104,109, and114 to make collaborative purchases from multipleonline retailers175 participating in a sociallycollaborative shopping system120 in accordance with embodiments of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein. Insystem100,shoppers104,109, and114 can utilize asocial shopping interface107,112, and117 to share social shopping cart (SSC)data170 over anetwork195 to collectively make purchases fromonline retailers175 associated with the sociallycollaborative shopping system120.
• Shoppers104,109, and114 can access thesocial shopping interface107,112, and117 from aclient device105,110, and115. Theclient device105,110, and115 can represent a variety of computing devices, such as a personal computer or a network-enabled mobile phone. Thesocial shopping interface107,112, and117 can correspond to a software application that allowsshoppers104,109, and114 to perform a variety of operations within the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 vianetwork195. Thesocial shopping interface107,112, and117 can utilize a variety of technologies capable of interacting with a service-oriented architecture (SOA)environment102.
• Examples of operations that can be performed by theshoppers104,109, and114 can include, but are not limited to, asingle shopper104,109, or114 making purchases from one or moreonline retailers175,multiple shoppers104,109, and114 making a single collaborative purchase from one or moreonline retailers175, defining asocial shopping network164 ofother shoppers104,109, or114, creating shopping alerts based on theirsocial shopping network164, and the like.
• Use of the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 can require ashopper104,109, and114 to be registered. Registration of ashopper104,109, and114 can include the collection and storage ofshopper data160.Shopper data160 can represent information entered by ashopper104,109, and/or114 that supports functions of the sociallycollaborative shopping system120. Aside from standard identifying information (i.e., username and password), theshopper data160 can also includealert definitions162,user preferences163, and asocial shopping network164.
• Alert definitions162 can represent a set of conditions that, when met, prompt the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 to send a notification to theshoppers104,109, or114. Theuser preferences163 can represent user-configurable settings affecting how the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 performs specific functions either for or in reference to theshoppers104,109, or114.
• In one embodiment, thealert definitions162 can provide an ability to set up a passive mode listening for alerts from other shopping carts. For example, ashopper104 may set up an alert (definitions162) to buy a designated item, but thisshopper104 may not want to research for a good deal for that item.Shopper104 can set up an alert on the item, where he/she receives an alert whenever someone else in his/her social shopping network164 (e.g.,shopper109, shopper114) finds a shopping deal for the designated item. Thus, one type of alert permits a deal to come to theshopper104 rather than forcing theshopper104 to find the deal.
• Thesocial shopping network164 can represent a listing of other registeredshoppers104,109, and/or114 that ashopper104,109, or114 has identified a relationship to, similar to a “friends” or “buddy” list. Thesocial shopping network164 can be configured to support a variety of information and/or relationships per the implementation of the sociallycollaborative shopping system120.
• The sociallycollaborative shopping system120 can represent the hardware and/or software for a computing system capable of supporting the operations initiated within thesocial shopping interfaces107,112, and117 by theshoppers104,109, and114, and interacting with one or moreonline retailers175,social networking systems185, and/ornon-retailer services190 within a service-oriented architecture (SOA)environment102. Using theSOA environment102, the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 can access onlineretail services177 of its participatingonline retailers175, interact with aSSC widget187 supported bysocial networking systems185, and exchange data with othernon-retailer services190.
• Theonline retailers175 can represent entities having Web-based systems for selling product items. Anonline retailer175 can be a business that operates only electronically, such as a small business, or a business that maintains an electronic store in addition to physical stores. Onlineretail services177 provided byonline retailers175 can include, but are not limited to, conventional shopping carts, inventory information, in-store availability of products, access todata182 and183 contained in an associateddata store180, and the like.
• Online retailers175 can include location based inventory retailers, who make their inventory available online. That is, advances in location awareness technologies and inventory management have permitted many physical storefront retailers to advertise their inventory online. In such a case,shoppers104,109,114 can be notified when a person in theirnetwork164 is close to a physical store that has an item in their SSC, so that that person can pick-up the item for theshopper104,109,114 in question. When an item is picked up for a collaborator, the SSC of the person for whom the item is intended can be altered to prevent multiple inadvertent purchases of the same item. In one embodiment, updates can occur in real-time or near real-time. In one embodiment, this feature can be implemented using location awareness capabilities of mobile devices carried by people in thenetwork164.
• TheSSC widget187 can represent a software component that can display SSCs and/or provide limited functionalities of the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 within an interface of thesocial networking system185 such as FACEBOOK, MYSPACE, or ORKUT. Members of thesocial networking system185 using theSSC widget187 need only have a social relationship with another member who is registered with the sociallycollaborative shopping system120. For example, Member Y, who is not registered with the sociallycollaborative shopping system120, can use theSSC widget187 to view information about their friend, Member J, who is registered.
• It should be appreciated that information sharing can be controlled by individual users in a network164 (e.g.,shopper104,109,114) while required security and rules mechanisms are provided by thesystem100. Thesystem100 provides an ability for retailers to extend their list oftarget shoppers104,109,114 by not only focusing on existing customers, but also collaborators who are networked (via social shopping network164) with existing customers.
• In one embodiment,shoppers104,109,114 can enable their SSC and their shopping history with their collaborators to be viewed by various independent retailers (online retailers175). The amount of information that can be shared withretailers175 can be configurable by ashopper104,109,114 using access controls and other mechanisms. For example, using services provided by an external access control server, such as IBM TIVOLI DIRECTORY SERVER, the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 can restrict access permissions.
• For example,shopper104 can use his/her SSC to purchase items from Retailer B's (retailer175) Web site.Shopper104 can then configure parameters ofsystem120 to allow Retailer B to access shopping purchases conducted byshopper104 and his/her collaborators fromother retailers175. Based on this information, Retailer A can target those shoppers with specific promotions and products, thereby generating increased traffic and revenue from Retailer A's web site.
• In one embodiment, targeted group promotions can be conducted byretailers175 based onsocial shopping network164 information. For example, specific promotions can be sent to encourage collaborative or joint shopping sessions between a defined set of individuals. These individuals can be selected based on theretailers175 analysis from historic shopping transactions. For example,retailer175 data can suggest that whenshopper104 andshopper109 collaborate in a shopping session, each tends to make more substantial purchases than when either shops individually. Thus, a group promotion can be established to encourage these twoshoppers104 and109 to shop together.
• Thenon-retailer services190 can represent a variety of other informational services available over thenetwork195 that are not associated with any specificonline retailer175. For example, the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 can request review information for a product item from an independent reporting agency (i.e., consumer reports) to aggregate and present to ashopper104,109, and/or114.
• To support these various functions, components of the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 can include aSSC controller125, asecurity manager130, asocial alert handler132, asocial recommendation engine135, a data mining component137, acollaborative purchase manager140, asocial promotion manager145, acommunications handler150, and adata store155 for storing relevant data.
• Thecommunications handler150 can represent the hardware and/or software components configured to manage the flow of both internal and external communications traffic. External elements, herein referred to en masse as “affiliated components”, that communicate with the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 can include, but are not limited to,client devices105,110, and115,online retailers175,social networking systems185,non-retailer services190 and the like. Thecommunications handler150 can be configured to support the necessary communications protocols as well as utilize pertinent application programming interfaces (APIs) to establish communication pathways withaffiliated components105,110,115,175,185, and190.
• Thesecurity manager130 can represent the hardware and/or software elements of the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 responsible for ensuring the digital security of data stored within thedata store155 and communications initiated by thecommunications handler150. Thesecurity manager130 can utilize a variety of available security technologies as supported by the sociallycollaborative shopping system120, thenetwork195, andaffiliated components105,110,115,175,185, and190.
• TheSSC controller125 can represent the software component of the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 that handles operations involving a shopper's104,109, and114 social shopping carts (SSCs). A SSC created by theSSC controller125 can be a modified universal shopping cart. In addition to supporting the one-to-many purchase relationship between ashopper104,109, or114 andonline retailers175 of a conventional universal shopping cart, SSCs created by theSSC controller125 can also support a many-to-many purchase relationship betweenshoppers104,109, and114 and theonline retailers175, herein referred to as shared SSCs.
• For example,shoppers104,109, and114 can use a shared SSC to purchase product items for an upcoming party.Shopper₁104 can add decorations from one or moreparty supply retailers175 to the shared SSC;shopper₂109 can add tableware fromvarious housewares retailers175; andshopper_n114 can add cookware from housewares andcookware boutiques175.
• Additionally, while shopping for cookware,shopper_n114 can find a better price at a differentonline retailer175 for a product item previously added to the shared SSC byshopper₂109.shopper_n114 can then replace the product item added byshopper₂109 with the same product item from the otheronline retailer175 within the shared SSC.
• TheSSC controller125 can be further configured to handle importing the contents of a conventional shopping cart from anonline retailer175 into a SSC structure. For example, ashopper₁104 can create/store a conventional shopping cart while shopping at the Web site of Store D, anonline retailer175 participating with the sociallycollaborative shopping system120. Later, when visitingStore D175 via the sociallycollaborative shopping system120, the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 can detect the existence of shopper₁'s104 conventional shopping cart and can presentshopper₁104 with the option to import the contents of that shopping cart into a new or existing SSC.
• TheSSC controller125 can include avisibility handler127 to ensure that shopping information (i.e., purchase histories, SSC contents) associated with ashopper104,109, and/or114 are invisible or unavailable for use by specified entities. Limitations as to who can view which pieces or types of information can be stored within theuser preferences163 of the shopper's104,109, and/or114shopper data160.
• For example,shopper₁104, when purchasing a gift forshopper₂109, can indicate thatshopper₂109 does not have permission to view the contents of a SSC named “gift” or only certain types of product items contained within any SSC. Thus, whenshopper₂109 attempts to view all of the SSCs belonging toshopper₁104, thevisibility handler127 can omit the “gift” SSC from the listing.
• Alternately,shopper₂109 can indicate that they do not wish to have purchase information about their SSCs “seen” by a specificonline retailer175; any purchase information collected by the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 regardingshopper₂109 and the specificonline retailer175 would not be shared with the specificonline retailer175. The configuration of options for specifying these restrictions can be dependent upon the specific implementation and design of the sociallycollaborative shopping system120.
• TheSSC controller125 can also handle performance of additional user-selectable functions upon existing SSCs (shared or individual) that are currently unavailable in conventional online shopping systems. Examples of these functions can include, but are not limited to, copying another shopper's104,109, and/or114 SSC, adding a product item to your SCC from another shopper's104,109, and/or114 SSC or wish list, inviting anothershopper104,109, or114 to make a collaborative purchase of product items, and the like.
• For example,shopper₁104 can view the wish list ofshopper₂109 for gift ideas. Deciding upon a product item from the wish list,shopper₁104 can right-click on the product item in shopper₂'s109 wish list and select an option to add the product item directly to their “gift” SSC. Sinceshopper₁104 is purchasing the product item from the wish list ofshopper₂109, the product item can remain on shopper₂'s109 wish list, not informingshopper₂109 that the product item has been bought.
• It is important to remember that conventional online shopping systems, at most, allowshoppers104,109, and/or114 the ability to view the shopping cart contents ofother shoppers104,109, and/or114. That is, in a conventional shopping system, ashopper104,109, and/or114 may view, but cannot perform any operations upon the shopping cart of another.
• Shoppers104,109, and114 using a shared SSC to make a collaborative purchase need not be members of each others'social shopping networks164. That is, theshoppers104,109, and114 can simply desire to consolidate their purchases to take advantage of a promotion or increase their purchase power. For example, anonline retailer175 can offer a special discount for collaborative purchases made with a shared SSC that includes three ormore shoppers104,109, and/or114 purchasing their product items.Multiple shoppers104,109, and/or114 purchasing product items from theonline retailer175 can indicate that they would like to consolidate their purchases with anyother shoppers104,109, and/or114 in order to receive the discount.
• All the product items added to the shared SSC can be purchased by theshoppers104,109, and114 as one logical transaction handled by thecollaborative purchase manager140 of the sociallycollaborative shopping system120. That is, eachshopper104,109, and114 can initiate a single purchase transaction for their portion of the shared SSC within the sociallycollaborative shopping system120. Thecollaborative purchase manager140 can represent the software component configured to distribute the single purchase transaction made to the shared SSC to the correspondingonline retailers175. The distribution performed by thecollaborative purchase manager140 can occur transparent to theshoppers104,109, and114.
• Thecollaborative purchase manager140 can be configured to separate the contents of the shared SSC byonline retailer175. A single purchase order can then be generated for eachonline retailer175 that includes the billing and shipping information for eachshopper104,109, and/or114 having product items in the order. Sincemultiple shoppers104,109, and114 can be involved with the single purchase order sent to eachonline retailer175 by thecollaborative purchase manager140, theonline retailers175 participating in the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 can be required to support order splitting. That is, eachonline retailer175 can accept a purchase order where the product items are purchased by and shipped todifferent shoppers104,109, and/or114.
• Further, the treatment of the contents of a shared SSC as a single logical transaction can allow thecollaborative purchase manager140 to apply discounts or other special shopping promotions entered by anyshopper104,109, and/or114 to the contents of the shared SSC as a whole. That is, eachshopper104,109, and114 can receive the benefit of the discount or promotion for product items they added to the shared SSC that qualify.
• Building upon the previous example,shopper₂109 can apply a coupon for a 10% price discount for all product items purchased fromStore A175 to the shared SSC. All product items fromStore A175 contained in the shared SSC, regardless of whichshopper104,109, or114 added the item, can have its price reduced by 10%.
• The application of discounts and/or promotions to a shared SSC can be performed by thecollaborative purchase manager140 in real-time or near real-time, automatically reducing the purchase totals for eachaffected shopper104,109, and/or114.
• Functionality of thecollaborative purchase manager140 can be further expanded to provideshoppers104,109, and/or114 with additional collaborative purchasing options. These additional collaborative purchasing options can include, but not limited to, allowing oneshopper104,109, and/or114 to pay for the entire shared SSC, allowingshoppers104,109, and/or114 to pay a flat amount towards the total cost of the shared SSC, allowingshopper104,109, and/or114 to pay for another shopper's104,109, and/or114 potion of the shared SSC, allowing ashopper104,109, and/or114 to purchase a product item in the shared SSC that was selected by anothershopper104,109, and/or114, and the like.
• For example, parents can create a shared SSC with their son, who is attending college in another state. When it is time to pay for the product items contained in the shared SSC, the parents can select an option to pay for all the product items that were added to the shared SSC.
• Asshoppers104,109, and114 conduct their shopping activities,other components132,135, and145 of the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 can activate to provide theshoppers104,109, and114 with a variety of collaborative shopping-related information. Thesocial alert handler132 can represent the software component configured to sendshoppers104,109, and114 alert notifications when changes occur within the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 that meet the conditions of their alert definitions162 (e.g., a specific product item goes on sale).
• Many conventional online shopping systems have incorporated the use of alert notifications between ashopper104,109, or114 and an online retailers175 (i.e., a shopper-retailer alert). The sociallycollaborative shopping system120 can allowshoppers104,109, and114 to createalert definitions162 that include conditions based on their social shopping network164 (i.e., a shopper-shopper alert). The means (e.g., text message, email, etc.) utilized by thesocial alert handler132 to provide alert notifications can correspond to the capabilities of thecommunications handler150.
• For example,shopper₁104 can be a member of shopper₂'s109social shopping network164.Shopper₂109 can then create analert definition162 requesting an alert whenevershopper₁104 creates a new SSC. Thus, whenever thesocial alert handler132 detects or receives notification ofshopper₁104 creating a new SSC, thesocial alert handler132 can generate and present an alert message within thesocial shopping interface112 ofshopper₂109.
• Throughout the shopping process, thesocial recommendation engine135 can determine andpresent shoppers104,109, and114 with a variety of product recommendations based upon theSSC data170 of their SSCs, purchase history (not shown),social shopping networks164, and theproduct data183 fromonline retailers175. Recommendation information provided by thesocial recommendation engine135 can be presented in a variety of ways consistent with the implementation and design of the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 and can be influenced by user-configurable settings within a shopper's104,109, and/or114user preferences163.
• For example, thesocial recommendation engine135 can take the following information into account: shopper₁'s104 previous purchase of Product Z fromStore A175, Product Z currently in a SSC (individual or shared) ofshopper₂109 being purchased fromStore D175, shopper₂'s109 inclusion in shopper₁'s104social shopping network164, and a sale on Product Z atStore A175. Thesocial recommendation engine135 can present bothshoppers104 and109 with recommendations to purchase Product Z fromStore A175.
• Further, thesocial recommendation engine135 can be configured to provideshoppers104,109, and114 associated with a shared SSC with recommendations based on commonalities between theshoppers104,109, and114 and contents of the shared SSC.
• In one embodiment,shoppers104,109,114 responsive for increasedretailer175 sales (such as via recommendations) can receive incentives. Responsibility for sales can be tracked through click through analysis. For example, ashopper104,109,114 looking through a SSC of another can notice that the collaborator has purchased a product and recommends it. Theshopper104,109,114 therefore adds the product to his SSC and purchases it. Theretailer175 can reward the collaborator who had originally purchased the product. This idea can be extended so that incentives are provided even if the item is added to a SSC, but not purchased.
• In one implementation, the following actions can be tracked for incentive purposes: ashopper104,109,114 adding an item to a cart because of viewing the item in an influencer's cart; tracking whether the added item is converted to purchase; and tracking all the responsible users who helped the buyer reach the influencer's cart. Any of a variety of incentive models can be used, which include models based on game theory and mechanism design. Some game theoretic models can include, but are not limited to, network incentive (Amway model), cost sharing mechanism, and marginal contribution (Shapley value).
• In another contemplated embodiment, thesocial recommendation engine135 can request recommendation information about aspecific shopper104,109, or114 and/or product item from correspondingonline retailers175; an onlineretail service177 of theonline retailers175 can provide the recommendation information. Thesocial recommendation engine135 can then aggregate the recommendation information from the variousonline retailers175 to present to theshopper104,109, or114.
• Thesocial recommendation engine135 can also be configured to utilize information received fromnon-retailer services190. For example, ashopper104,109, or114 can setuser preferences163 to have thesocial recommendation engine135 utilize ratings from anindependent testing laboratory190 when determining products to recommend.
• While thesocial recommendation engine135 provides recommendations of product items to purchase, thesocial promotion manager145 can make ashopper104,109, or114 aware of discounts and deals available for their SSCs (individual or shared). Thesocial promotion manager145 can determine potential promotions using thepromotion data183 ofonline retailers175 andshopping data160 and170 related to theshopper104,109, or114. Promotions identified by thesocial promotion manager145 can encompass multipleonline retailers175 and/orshoppers104,109, and114.
• For example, ashopper104,109, or114 having Product Z in a stored SSC can be presented with all the promotions currently available for Product Z from all applicableonline retailers175 by thesocial promotion manager145. Examples of promotions can include, but are not limited to, a buy-one-get-one-free offer, discounted shipping prices for orders of a specific value, a clearance discount, a bulk order discount, a returning customer discount, and the like.
• Further, thesocial promotion manager145 can work with thesocial recommendation engine135 to provideshoppers104,109, and114 with recommendations based onpromotion data183, such asonline retailers175 having additional benefits when purchases are made from them as a group. For example,Store A175 andStore D175 can have a promotion expressed in theirpromotion data183 indicating that a SSC containing purchases from bothonline retailers175 receives free shipping. Thesocial promotion manager145 can identify this promotion forshopper₁104 who's SCC contains product items fromStore A175. This information can be passed to thesocial recommendation engine135 that can then send shopper₁104 a recommendation to purchase a product item fromStore D175 with their SCC to receive free shipping.
• In addition to these various shopper-centric functions, components of the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 can also be configured to provideonline retailers175 with the means to institute additional business models and features tailored to collaborative purchases and the social relationships contained in shoppers'104,109, and114social shopping networks164. Components supporting these functions can include the data mining component137, thesocial alert handler132, thesocial recommendation engine135, and thesocial promotion manager145.
• The data mining component137 can represent the software component of the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 configured to collect raw data regarding shopping-related activities (e.g., product purchases, product viewings) performed by theshoppers104,109, and114. The data mining component137 can then synthesize the raw data into processeddata168 stored within thedata store155. The processeddata168 can be provided to the correspondingonline retailers175 and/ornon-retailer services190.
• Since the raw data collected by the data mining component137 can include collaborative purchases made betweenshoppers104,109, and114, the processeddata168 can carry forth the relationships betweenshoppers104,109, and/or114. For example, instead of simply stating thatshoppers104 and109 each purchased Product Z, the processeddata168 can capture thatshopper₁104 made a purchase of Product Z,shopper₂109 purchased Product Z from shopper₁'s104 SSC, andshopper₂109 is not a member of shopper₁'s104social shopping network164. Thus, the processeddata168 generated by the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 can provideonline retailers175 with a level of detail currently not available in conventional online shopping systems.
• The detailed capture ofshopper104,109, and114 information within the processeddata168 can allowonline retailers175 to expand their consumer base toshoppers104,109, and/or114 contained in thesocial shopping networks164 of returningshoppers104,109, or114. This can allow theonline retailers175 to target theserelated shoppers104,109, and/or114 with special promotions.
• Online retailers175 can also utilize the processeddata168 to defineincentive models166 that rewardshoppers104,109, and/or114 whose actions within the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 generate positively affect theonline retailer175, such as increasing product sales or product viewings or provide detailed product reviews or feedback. Thesocial promotion manager145 can include anincentive handler147 configured to analyze the processeddata168 in terms of the reward conditions of theincentive models166 for eachshopper104,109, and114.
• In one example of an incentive/reward structure, theincentive model166 ofStore A175 can define quantities of reward points that can be added to ashoppers104,109, and/or114 account with the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 and/orStore A175 in response to actions performed byother shoppers109 and/or114. For example,shopper₂109 views (i.e., clicks on, hovers over) information about Product Z, which is being purchased fromStore A175, from a SSC belonging toshopper₁104. Theincentive handler147 can recognize this action within theincentive model166 and provideshopper₁104 with the specified quantity of reward points. Shouldshopper₂109 perform any other shopping actions related toStore A175 and/or Product Z that are defined within the incentive model166 (e.g., purchasing Product Z fromStore A175, adding Product Z to their SSC, etc.), theincentive handler147 can further increase shopper₁'s104 amount of reward points.
• It should be noted that this is a simple example of an incentive/reward structure and that theincentive models166 utilized within the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 can depend upon the design and the implementation details of the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 as well as the design of theincentive model166 of theonline retailer175.
• Rewards earned or near to being earned by ashopper104,109, or114 can be passed from theincentive handler147 to thesocial promotion manager145 for presentation within thesocial shopping interface107,112, or117.Shoppers104,109, and/or114 can then take the necessary actions to redeem/use an earned reward or earn a reward that they are close to earning. Examples of rewards earned byshoppers104,109, and114 can include, but are not limited to, coupon codes, free/discounted product items, gift items, free/discounted shipping rates, early access to sale-priced items, and the like.
• For example, theincentive handler147, correlating processeddata168 pertaining toshopper₁104 and theincentive model166 ofStore Z175, can informshopper₁104 that they have earned a coupon code for 10% off their next purchase fromStore Z175. Further,shopper₁104 can be told that they will receive a coupon for 15% off should five members of theirsocial shopping network164 purchase products recommended by or contained within a SSC ofshopper₁104.
• Theincentive handler147 can be configured to provide reward information toshoppers104,109, and114 at a time period predefined (i.e., daily, weekly, etc.) within the sociallycollaborative shopping system120. Theincentive models166 provided by theonline retailers175 can conform to standards established by the sociallycollaborative shopping system120.
• The concept of collaborative purchases can lead to multipleonline retailers175 providingshoppers104,109, and114 with sales structures or discounts for bulk/group purchases from oneonline retailer175 or specific set ofonline retailers175. For example,promotion data183 forStore D175 can indicate that a purchase of four Product Zs qualifies for a 5% discount that can be increased by 2% for every Product Z above four purchased. In another example, ashopper104,109, and114 can receive a 10% discount when a television is purchased fromStore A175 and a recliner is purchased fromStore D175.
• The role of thesocial alert handler132 can also be further expanded to provide additional benefit in the form of alert notifications between online retailers175 (i.e., a retailer-retailer alert). This increased functionality can require theonline retailer175 to create a set of alert definitions (not shown) within thedata store155 of the sociallycollaborative shopping system120. For example,Store A175 can receive alert notifications when a changes in price occurs for common product items sold byStore D175.
• The sociallycollaborative shopping system120 can also include other typical functions found in conventional online shopping systems, such as wish lists, user-entered product recommendations, product item feedback, product item ratings, surveys, and the like. The configuration of the components of the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 previously detailed can be extended to utilize these typical data sources without significant deviation from this embodiment of the present invention.
• In another embodiment, the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 can be implemented as a distributed computing system. In yet another embodiment, the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 can incorporate the location awareness capability of mobile devices. For example, ashopper104,109, or114 can receive an alert when ashopper104,109, or114 in theirsocial shopping network164 is in or near to a physical store corresponding to anonline retailer175 that they desire to make a purchase from. The alertedshopper104,109, or114 can then contact the mobile device of theother shopper104,109, or114 to ask them to make an in-store pick up of the product item.
• Network195 can include any hardware/software/and firmware necessary to convey data encoded within carrier waves. Data can be contained within analog or digital signals and conveyed though data or voice channels.Network195 can include local components and data pathways necessary for communications to be exchanged among computing device components and between integrated device components and peripheral devices.Network195 can also include network equipment, such as routers, data lines, hubs, and intermediary servers which together form a data network, such as the Internet.Network195 can also include circuit-based communication components and mobile communication components, such as telephony switches, modems, cellular communication towers, and the like.Network195 can include line based and/or wireless communication pathways.
• As used herein, presenteddata stores155 and180 can be a physical or virtual storage space configured to store digital information.Data stores155 and180 can be physically implemented within any type of hardware including, but not limited to, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a semiconductor memory, a digitally encoded plastic memory, a holographic memory, or any other recording medium.Data stores155 and180 can be a stand-alone storage unit as well as a storage unit formed from a plurality of physical devices. Additionally, information can be stored withindata stores155 and180 in a variety of manners. For example, information can be stored within a database structure or can be stored within one or more files of a file storage system, where each file may or may not be indexed for information searching purposes. Further,data stores155 and180 can utilize one or more encryption mechanisms to protect stored information from unauthorized access.
• It should be appreciated thatsystem100 represents one contemplated, non-limiting, architecture for the disclosure and that others are contemplated. For example, in one embodiment, functionality of the social networking system specific to collaborative shopping can be directly incorporated into onlineretail services177 and need not be implemented into a separatesocial networking system185. Likewise, functionality (or portions thereof) of the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 can be incorporated directly into thesocial networking system185, as a new service of thesocial networking system185. Specific artifacts, such as theSSC widget187, for interacting among the indicated components can (and are expected to vary) in accordance with different implementation choices, which are to be considered within scope of the disclosure.
• Additionally, in one contemplated embodiment, the services provided by the sociallycollaborative shopping system120 can be conducted transparently to theonline retailers175 and/orsocial networking system185. For example,system120 can establish a single “virtual shopper” which is a user ofsystem175 and/or185, which behaves as if it is a single individual, thus resulting in a unified shopping experience. Thesystem120 can perform the “splitting” actions needed to allocate the contributions to thevarious shoppers104,109,114 that have been combined as the virtual shopper. This can include combining payments for a “single” purchase of the “virtual shopper”, allocating rewards from the shopping, etc. In this manner, thesystem100 improvements can be implemented in any unmodified system (175,185), yet still provide the collaborative shopping functionality (or portions thereof) as detailed herein.
• It is possible that a subset of normally permitted functionality will be present when interacting with legacy systems. For example, rewards offered for shopping may be attributed to the “virtual shopper,” whichsystem120 will allocate to theshoppers104,109,114 in accordance with established rules. Thus, the rewards of the virtual shopper may not be unified with individual shopper's reward programs, since theonline retainer175 may not support combining rewards (which would be supported in an embodiment whereonline retailer175 is aware of and participates in collaborative shopping via system120).
• FIG. 2 is a block diagram200 illustrating the basic data flows involving theSSC controller220 in accordance with embodiments of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein. Block diagram200 can be utilized within the context ofsystem100 or any other online shopping system that utilizes a social network structure and supports operation in a SOA environment.
• As shown in diagram200, theSSC controller220 can provide data tovarious service providers205 such as other shoppers or internal components of the socially collaborative shopping system. TheSSC controller220 can receive data fromservice consumers210, such as thenon-retailer services190 oronline retailers175 ofsystem100.Service consumers210 can also represent other internal components of the socially collaborative shopping system, such as updates to purchase totals calculated by the collaborative purchase manager.
• Data can be bi-directionally communicated with thesocial shopping interface215 anddata store225. Functions affecting SSCs invoked by shoppers via thesocial shopping interface215 can be sent to theSSC controller220, which can return the resultant information to thesocial shopping interface215.
• TheSSC controller220 can request data from as well as save data to thedata store225. Requested data can be conveyed from thedata store225 to theSSC controller220, which can then send the data to other components such as thesocial shopping interface215.
• FIG. 3 is a flow chart of amethod300 describing the initial aggregation of data for presentation to a shopper within the social shopping interface of a socially collaborative shopping system in accordance with embodiments of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein.Method300 can be performed within the context ofsystem100 and/or utilizing the communication flow of block diagram200.
• Method300 can begin instep305 where the socially collaborative shopping system can receive the logon data for a shopper. The stored shopper data associated with the shopper's logon data can be access instep310. Instep315, the validity of the logon data can be determined.
• When the logon data is invalid, step320 can be performed where the shopper is notified of the invalid data. Flow ofmethod300 can return to step305 fromstep320 to await the re-entry of logon data. When the logon data is valid, the product items for the shopper's wish list (if applicable) and any stored SSCs can be populated instep325.
• Instep330, the relevant information for each product item contained in the shopper's wish list and/or SSCs can be obtained from the originating online retailers. Promotions and recommendations applicable to the product items contained in the shopper's wish list and/or SSCs can be aggregated instep335.
• Instep340, feedback information from other shoppers contained in the social shopping network of the shopper logging on can be retrieved. Presentation of the shopper's wish list and/or SSCs and the data collected in the previous steps330-340 within the social shopping interface can occur instep345.
• FIG. 4 is a flow chart of amethod400 describing the creation of a shared SSC within socially collaborative shopping system in accordance with embodiments of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein.Method400 can be performed within the context ofsystem100 and/or utilizing the communication flow of block diagram200.
• Method400 can begin instep405 where the socially collaborative shopping system can detect the addition of a product item to a SCC by a shopper. Shopper data can be queried for shoppers who are interested in a collaborative purchase of the product item instep410. Instep415, it can be determined if matches to the query ofstep410 were found.
• When no other shoppers are interested in a collaborative purchase of the product item, step420 can be performed where the socially collaborative shopping system takes no action. When there are other shoppers interested in making a collaborative purchase of the product item, a listing of these other shoppers can be generated instep425.
• The listing can be presented to the shopper within the social shopping interface instep430. Instep435, the socially collaborative shopping system can receive a request from the shopper to invite a shopper selected from the listing to make a collaborative purchase of the product item.
• The socially collaborative shopping system can sent an invitation to the shopper selected from the listing instep440. Instep445, a response to the invitation can be received from the selected shopper.
• When the received response indicates that the selected shopper declines the invitation, step450 can be performed where the socially collaborative shopping system informs the requesting shopper of the response. When the selected shopper accepts the invitation, the socially collaborative shopping system can create a shared SSC containing the product item instep455. Instep460, the requesting shopper and the selected shopper can be associated with the shared SSC.
• FIG. 5 is a flow chart of amethod500 describing the handling of promotions by a socially collaborative shopping system in accordance with embodiments of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein.Method500 can be performed within the context ofsystem100 and/or utilizing the communication flow of block diagram200.
• Method500 can begin instep505 where the socially collaborative shopping system can detect the addition of a product item to a SSC (individual or shared) by a shopper. The promotion data of the online retailers can be queried for the product item instep510.
• The existence of promotions from the online retailer for the product item can be determined instep515. When no promotions are found, the socially collaborative shopping system can take no action instep520.
• When promotions exist, step525 can be performed where a listing of promotion can be generated for the product item. The promotion listing can be conveyed to the shopper (or shoppers in the case of a shared SSC) instep530.
• FIG. 6 is a flow chart of amethod600 describing performance of a collaborative purchase by a socially collaborative shopping system in accordance with embodiments of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein.Method600 can be performed within the context ofsystem100 and/or utilizing the communication flow of block diagram200.
• Method600 can begin instep605 where the socially collaborative shopping system can receive a purchase command for a shared SSC from a shopper. Instep610, it can be determined if all the shoppers associated with the shared SSC are ready to conduct the purchase.
• When one or more shoppers are not ready to conduct the purchase, the socially collaborative shopping system can take no action instep615. Flow ofmethod600 can then return to step605 to await the next purchase command for the shared SSC.
• Instep620, the cost of each shopper's products items in the shared SSC can be calculated. It can be determined if any discounts and/or promotions have applied to the shared SSC instep625.
• When a discount/promotion has bee applied to the shared SSC, step630 can be performed where the amount of the discount/promotion can be determined for each shopper. Each shopper's cost, as calculated instep620, can be adjusted by the determined amount instep635.
• Upon completion ofstep635 or when no discounts/promotions have been applied to the shared SSC, step640 can be performed where the payment and shipping information can be collected for each shopper. The product items contained in the shared SSC can then be separated by online retailer instep645. Instep650, a single purchase request can be submitted to each online retailer along with the payment and shipping information of the shoppers purchasing the product items.
• FIG. 7 is a flow chart of amethod700 describing the handling of incentives within a socially collaborative shopping system in accordance with embodiments of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein.Method700 can be performed within the context ofsystem100 and/or utilizing the communication flow of block diagram200.
• Method700 can begin instep705 where the socially collaborative shopping system can collect raw shopping data for a shopper and their SSCs in accordance with the shopper's visibility rules. At a predetermined time, the raw shopping data can be synthesized into processed data instep710.
• Instep715, the processed data can be compared with applicable incentive models. Applicable rewards for the shopper can be determined instep720. When a reward is applicable for the shopper, the socially collaborative shopping system can generate a reward message instep725.
• Instep730, the reward message can be conveyed to the shopper. Upon completion ofstep730 or when no rewards are applicable to the shopper, the processed data can be optionally provided to the respectively online retailers instep735.
• FIG. 8 is acollection800 of examples805 and850 illustrating the interaction of the sociallycollaborative shopping system830 and875 with asocial networking site815 and860 in accordance with embodiments of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein. The examples805 and850 ofcollection800 can be performed within the context ofsystem100 and/or utilizing the communication flow of block diagram200.
• In example805,User B810 can utilize asocial networking site815 to view theSSC825 of User A via theSSC widget820.User B810 can select an option from theSSC widget820 to add User A'sSSC825 to theiraccount840 within the sociallycollaborative shopping system830.
• Thesocial networking site815 can authenticate both User A andUser B810 to the sociallycollaborative shopping system830. The sociallycollaborative shopping system830 can then read theSSC825 contained within User A'saccount835 and copy theSSC825 as anew SSC845 in User B's810account840.
• It should be noted that, in example805, both User B and User A are members of the sociallycollaborative shopping system830.
• In example850,User B855 can view thewish list865 of User D within thesocial networking site860.User B855 can utilize a function of theSSC widget870 add User D'swish list865 as aSSC885 in theiraccount880 of the sociallycollaborative shopping system875.
• Thesocial networking site860 can automatically authenticateUser B855 to the sociallycollaborative shopping system875. The sociallycollaborative shopping system875 can then create anew SSC885 within User B's855account880 that contains the products listed in thewish list865 of User D.
• The sociallycollaborative shopping system875 can handle incompatible online retailers and/or product items from thewish list865 in accordance with predefined rules governing operation of the sociallycollaborative shopping system875.
• It should be noted that, in example850, onlyUser B855 is a member of the sociallycollaborative shopping system875.
• The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be run substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be run in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

Claims (21)

1. A collaborative e-shopping method comprising:

establishing a shared shopping cart for use by a plurality of different collaborative shoppers;

each of said collaborative shoppers individually and independently adding items from at least one e-commerce site via a shopper-specific browser interface to the collaborative shared shopping cart;

any of said collaborative shoppers selecting a sale finalization action via their browser interface;

responsive to the selection of the finalization action, confirming that each of the collaborative shoppers of the plurality elect to finalize a sale of the items in the shared shopping cart;

only when each of said collaborative shoppers has finalized the sale of items in the collaborative shopping cart, purchasing the items in the shared shopping cart from the at least one e-commerce site; and

shipping each of the purchased items of the collaborative shopping cart to postal/mail/other addresses specified by the different collaborative shoppers.

2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein for the purchase, a shared shopping cart transactional discount is provided for the purchase, which is greater than or equal to a sum of transactional discounts that would have been granted where the shared shopping cart items purchased separately as individual-specific discrete transactions.

3. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising:

for the purchase, each of the different collaborative shoppers paying a shopper specific amount for the items which that shopper placed in the shared shopping cart, wherein said shopper specific amount does not exceed an amount that would have been paid where the items purchased separately by the shopper as an individual-specific discrete transaction.

4. The method ofclaim 2, wherein said shared cart transactional discount comprises a bulk quantity discount, a shipping discount, a reward program discount, and a combination item purchasing discount, some of which would not have been available to the different collaborative shoppers outside the shared shopping cart purchase.

5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the adding of items by at least one of the collaborative shoppers occurs at different times from different locations and using different user interfaces which each individual one of the different collaborative shoppers must log onto using shopper-specific authorization information, said method further comprising:

responsive to the selection of the finalization action, conveying a digitally encoded message to a previously specified message receiving account of each of the different collaborative shoppers other than the shopper who initiated the finalization action; and

receiving responses to the digitally encoded messages, each response indicating an election to finalize the purchase or an option to not finalize the purchase.

6. The method ofclaim 5, further comprising:

removing items from the shared shopping cart corresponding to shoppers that elected to not finalize the purchase; and

proceeding with the sale for the remaining items by performing the purchasing of the items, where the items involved in the purchasing consist of the remaining items present in the shared shopping cart after the removing of the items from shoppers that elected not to finalize the purchase.

7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the at least one e-commerce site comprises a plurality of different e-commerce sites, which are independently owned and operated from one another, wherein the adding of items by at least one of the collaborative shoppers occurs from different locations, said method further comprising:

responsive to the selection of the finalization action, aggregating applicable promotions of the e-commerce sites based on the items in the shared shopping cart;

generating recommendations and discounts for items not currently in the shared shopping cart based in part of the promotions and recommendations given the items of the shared shopping cart;

responsive to the selection of the finalization action, conveying a digitally encoded message to a previously specified message receiving account of each of the different collaborative shoppers other than the shopper who initiated the finalization action, wherein at least one of the digitally encoded message comprises one of the discounts and recommendations;

presenting the discounts and recommendations via the to the purchaser who triggered the finalization action and to at least one of the different collaborative shoppers, which is presented within the digitally shopper specific browser interface; and

receiving responses for the discounts and recommendations, which includes at least one positive response, which results in at least one additional item being added to the shared shopping cart prior to the purchasing of the items; and

receiving responses to the digitally encoded messages from at least a portion of the different shoppers that received the digitally encoded message, each response indicating an election to finalize the purchase or an option to not finalize the purchase.

8. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the adding of items to the shared shopping cart comprises:

each collaborative shopper selecting items from a set of for sale items advertised on the at least one e-commerce site, wherein the selected items that are added to the shared shopping cart are determined by the collaborative shopper at the time at which they are added and were not previously specified or suggested to the collaborative shopper by the e-commerce site based upon a list of items designed for purchase by another, whereby the collaborative shopper is not selecting items from an online registry or the equivalent.

9. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising:

within a social networking web site, which is independent of any of the at least one e-commerce site, establishing a collaborative shopping group consisting of individuals with whom the establishing user has a social networking affiliation;

wherein after an initial establishment of the collaborative shopping group, each individual within the group is able to add additional individuals to the collaborative shopping group, wherein each of the additional individuals is one with whom the adding user has a social networking affiliation; and

wherein the different collaborative shoppers associated with the shared shopping cart consists of the members of the collaborative shopping group, which includes at least one additional individual not included in the collaborative shopping group originally entered by the establishing user.

10. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising:

when adding items to the shared shopping cart, each collaborative shopper specifying a purchasing leeway for the selected item, wherein the purchasing leeway includes a time window for completing the purchase or an acceptable deviation extent from specifics of the exact item added to the shared shopping cart;

allocating the shared shopping cart transactional discount to the collaborative shoppers, wherein a difference between the shared shopping cart discount and a discount a shopper would have received by making a discrete individual purchase is allocated disproportionately so that those collaborative shoppers with greater purchasing leeway receive a higher portion of the difference than those collaborative shoppers with a lesser purchasing leeway.

11. A method for collaborative shopping within a social network comprising:

within a social networking web site establishing a collaborative shopping group consisting of individuals with whom the establishing user has a social networking affiliation, wherein after an initial establishment of the collaborative shopping group, each individual within the group is able to add additional individuals to the collaborative shopping group;

establishing a shared shopping cart for the collaborative shopping group;

a plurality of different members of the collaborative shopping group individually and independently adding items from a plurality of different e-commerce sites to the shared shopping art, wherein each of the different e-commerce sites has a unique URL and is independently owned and operated from the social networking site and from each other; and

completing an e-commerce purchase of items in the shared shopping cart, wherein the e-commerce purchase receives a transaction discount greater than or equal to a sum of discounts that would have resulted if discrete purchases of the items were made without using the shared shopping cart.

12. The method ofclaim 11, wherein the members of the collaborative shopping group are granted an ability to include and exclude others from the collaborative shopping group in accordance with social networking based rules of the social networking site.

13. The method ofclaim 11, wherein only members of the social networking site are permitting to be members of the collaborative shopping group.

14. The method ofclaim 11, further comprising:

the collaborative shopping group purchasing a preferred annual membership for a price from at least one of the e-commerce sites, wherein the preferred membership entitles any member of the collaborative shopping group to receive the preferred annual membership benefits when completing a purchase of items that that member placed in the shared shopping cart, where the preferred annual membership benefits would otherwise not be applied to purchases made by that member who individually lacks the preferred annual membership.

15. The method ofclaim 11, wherein members of the collaborative shopping group receive incentives for purchases made by others that result from purchases, ratings, or recommendations provided by an incentive receiving one of the members which caused at least one of the others to complete a purchase.

16. The method ofclaim 11, wherein the different members who placed items in the shared shopping cart are referred to as collaborative shoppers, wherein the completing of the e-commerce purchase comprises:

any of said collaborative shoppers selecting a sale finalization action via their browser interface;

responsive to the selection of the finalization action, confirming that each of the collaborative shoppers of the plurality elect to finalize a sale of the items in the shared shopping cart;

only when each of said collaborative shoppers has finalized the sale of items in the shared shopping cart, purchasing the items in the shared shopping cart from the at least one e-commerce sites;

wherein for the purchase, a shared shopping cart transactional discount is provided for the purchase which is greater than or equal to a sum of transactional discounts that would have been granted where the collaborative shared shopping cart items purchased separately as individual specific discrete transactions;

for the purchase, each of the different collaborative shoppers paying a shopper specific amount for the items which that shopper placed in the shared shopping cart, wherein said shopper specific amount does not exceed an amount that would have been paid were the items purchased separately by the shopper as an individual specific discrete transaction; and;

shipping each of the purchased items of the shared shopping cart to postal/mail/other addresses specified by the different collaborative shoppers.

17. The method ofclaim 11, further comprising:

establishing at least one alert for the shared shopping cart that is triggered upon an occurrence of a user defined condition of a user of the collaborative shopping group relating to a purchase of a different user in the collaborative shopping group;

detecting the occurrence and responsibly triggering the alert;

presenting the alert to the user.

18. The method ofclaim 11, further comprising:

detecting a proximity of a first user of the collaborative shopping group to a physical store having an item in inventory matching an item in the shared shopping cart, said item being for a second user of the collaborative shopping group;

providing a notification to the first user of the item and its presence in the physical store;

the first user purchasing the item in the physical store; and

responsive to the purchasing, updating the shared shopping cart for at least the second user to indicate that the first user has purchased the item for the second user.

19. The method ofclaim 16, wherein the adding of items by at least one of the collaborative shoppers occurs at different times from different locations, said method further comprising:

responsive to the selection of the finalization action, aggregating applicable promotions of the e-commerce sites based on the items in the shared collaborative shopping cart;

generating recommendations and discounts for items not currently in the shared collaborative shopping cart based in part of the promotions and recommendations given the items of the shared shopping cart;

responsive to the selection of the finalization action, conveying a digitally encoded message to a previously specified message receiving account of each of the different collaborative shoppers other than the shopper who initiated the finalization action, wherein at least one of the digitally encoded message comprises one of the discounts and recommendations;

conveying a digital message comprising the discounts and recommendations to at least one member of the collaborative shopping group that did not place an item in the collaborative shopping cart;

presenting the discounts and recommendations via the to the purchaser who triggered the finalization action and to at least one of the different collaborative shoppers, which is presented within the digitally shopper specific browser interface; and

receiving responses for the discounts and recommendations, which includes at least one positive response, which results in at least one additional item being added to the shared shopping cart prior to the purchasing of the items; and

receiving responses to the digitally encoded messages from at least a portion of the different shoppers that received the digitally encoded message, each response indicating an election to finalize the sale or an option to not finalize the sale.

20. The method ofclaim 11, the adding of items in the shared shopping cart further comprising:

detecting items placed in at least one of individual shopping carts and individual wish lists of the different e-commerce sites but not purchased by members of the collaborative shopping group; and

extracting the detected items from the at least one of the individual shopping carts and individual wish lists and placing them in the shared shopping cart.

21. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising:

computer usable program code stored in a tangible storage medium operable to, within a social networking web site, establish a collaborative shopping group consisting of individuals with whom the establishing user has a social networking affiliation, wherein after an initial establishment of the collaborative shopping group, each individual within the group is able to add additional individuals to the collaborative shopping group;

computer usable program code stored in a tangible storage medium operable to establish a shared shopping cart for the collaborative shopping group;

computer usable program code stored in a tangible storage medium operable to permit a plurality of different members of the collaborative shopping group to individually and independently add items from a plurality of different e-commerce sites to the shared shopping art, wherein each of the different e-commerce sites has a unique URL and is independently owned and operated from the social networking site and from each other; and

computer usable program code stored in a tangible storage medium operable to complete an e-commerce purchase of items in the shared shopping cart, wherein the e-commerce purchase receives a transaction discount greater than or equal to a sum of discounts that would have resulted if discrete purchases of the items were made without using the shared shopping cart.

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