U.S. patent application number 12/690553 was filed with the patent office on 2011-07-21 for a method, medium, and system for allocating a transaction discount during a collaborative shopping session.
This patent application is currently assigned to INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION. Invention is credited to SUBIL M. ABRAHAM, RAJARAMAN HARIHARAN, RAMAKRISHNAN KANNAN, MATHEWS THOMAS.
Application Number | 20110178889 12/690553 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 44169471 |
Filed Date | 2011-07-21 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110178889 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
ABRAHAM; SUBIL M. ; et
al. |
July 21, 2011 |
A METHOD, MEDIUM, AND SYSTEM FOR ALLOCATING A TRANSACTION DISCOUNT
DURING A COLLABORATIVE SHOPPING SESSION
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.
Inventors: |
ABRAHAM; SUBIL M.; (PLANO,
TX) ; HARIHARAN; RAJARAMAN; (CHENNAI, IN) ;
KANNAN; RAMAKRISHNAN; (BANGALORE, IN) ; THOMAS;
MATHEWS; (FLOWER MOUND, TX) |
Assignee: |
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES
CORPORATION
Armonk
NY
|
Family ID: |
44169471 |
Appl. No.: |
12/690553 |
Filed: |
January 20, 2010 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
705/26.1 ;
705/14.23; 705/27.1; 705/319; 705/34; 715/752 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 10/10 20130101;
G06Q 30/0641 20130101; G06Q 30/0239 20130101; G06Q 30/06 20130101;
G06Q 30/0605 20130101; G06Q 30/0222 20130101; G06Q 30/0601
20130101; G06Q 30/04 20130101; G06Q 50/01 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/26.1 ;
705/14.23; 705/34; 705/319; 715/752; 705/27.1 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 30/00 20060101
G06Q030/00; G06Q 99/00 20060101 G06Q099/00; G06F 15/16 20060101
G06F015/16; G06F 3/048 20060101 G06F003/048 |
Claims
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 of claim 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 of claim 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 of claim 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 of claim 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 of claim 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 of claim 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 of claim 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 of claim 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 of claim 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 of claim 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 of claim 11, wherein only members of the social
networking site are permitting to be members of the collaborative
shopping group.
14. The method of claim 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 of claim 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 of claim 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 of claim 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 of claim 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 of claim 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 of claim 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.
Description
BACKGROUND
[0001] The present invention relates to the field of online
shopping systems and, more particularly, to a collaborative online
shopping system.
[0002] 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
[0003] 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.
[0004] 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.
[0005] 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
[0006] 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.
[0007] 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
[0008] 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.
[0009] 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.
[0010] 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.
[0011] 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.
[0012] 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.
[0013] 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.
[0014] 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.
[0015] 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
[0016] 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.
[0017] 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.
[0018] 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.
[0019] 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.
[0020] 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).
[0021] 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.
[0022] 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.
[0023] 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.
[0024] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a system 100 that
enables shoppers 104, 109, and 114 to make collaborative purchases
from multiple online retailers 175 participating in a socially
collaborative shopping system 120 in accordance with embodiments of
the inventive arrangements disclosed herein. In system 100,
shoppers 104, 109, and 114 can utilize a social shopping interface
107, 112, and 117 to share social shopping cart (SSC) data 170 over
a network 195 to collectively make purchases from online retailers
175 associated with the socially collaborative shopping system
120.
[0025] Shoppers 104, 109, and 114 can access the social shopping
interface 107, 112, and 117 from a client device 105, 110, and 115.
The client device 105, 110, and 115 can represent a variety of
computing devices, such as a personal computer or a network-enabled
mobile phone. The social shopping interface 107, 112, and 117 can
correspond to a software application that allows shoppers 104, 109,
and 114 to perform a variety of operations within the socially
collaborative shopping system 120 via network 195. The social
shopping interface 107, 112, and 117 can utilize a variety of
technologies capable of interacting with a service-oriented
architecture (SOA) environment 102.
[0026] Examples of operations that can be performed by the shoppers
104, 109, and 114 can include, but are not limited to, a single
shopper 104, 109, or 114 making purchases from one or more online
retailers 175, multiple shoppers 104, 109, and 114 making a single
collaborative purchase from one or more online retailers 175,
defining a social shopping network 164 of other shoppers 104, 109,
or 114, creating shopping alerts based on their social shopping
network 164, and the like.
[0027] Use of the socially collaborative shopping system 120 can
require a shopper 104, 109, and 114 to be registered. Registration
of a shopper 104, 109, and 114 can include the collection and
storage of shopper data 160. Shopper data 160 can represent
information entered by a shopper 104, 109, and/or 114 that supports
functions of the socially collaborative shopping system 120. Aside
from standard identifying information (i.e., username and
password), the shopper data 160 can also include alert definitions
162, user preferences 163, and a social shopping network 164.
[0028] Alert definitions 162 can represent a set of conditions
that, when met, prompt the socially collaborative shopping system
120 to send a notification to the shoppers 104, 109, or 114. The
user preferences 163 can represent user-configurable settings
affecting how the socially collaborative shopping system 120
performs specific functions either for or in reference to the
shoppers 104, 109, or 114.
[0029] In one embodiment, the alert definitions 162 can provide an
ability to set up a passive mode listening for alerts from other
shopping carts. For example, a shopper 104 may set up an alert
(definitions 162) to buy a designated item, but this shopper 104
may not want to research for a good deal for that item. Shopper 104
can set up an alert on the item, where he/she receives an alert
whenever someone else in his/her social shopping network 164 (e.g.,
shopper 109, shopper 114) finds a shopping deal for the designated
item. Thus, one type of alert permits a deal to come to the shopper
104 rather than forcing the shopper 104 to find the deal.
[0030] The social shopping network 164 can represent a listing of
other registered shoppers 104, 109, and/or 114 that a shopper 104,
109, or 114 has identified a relationship to, similar to a
"friends" or "buddy" list. The social shopping network 164 can be
configured to support a variety of information and/or relationships
per the implementation of the socially collaborative shopping
system 120.
[0031] The socially collaborative shopping system 120 can represent
the hardware and/or software for a computing system capable of
supporting the operations initiated within the social shopping
interfaces 107, 112, and 117 by the shoppers 104, 109, and 114, and
interacting with one or more online retailers 175, social
networking systems 185, and/or non-retailer services 190 within a
service-oriented architecture (SOA) environment 102. Using the SOA
environment 102, the socially collaborative shopping system 120 can
access online retail services 177 of its participating online
retailers 175, interact with a SSC widget 187 supported by social
networking systems 185, and exchange data with other non-retailer
services 190.
[0032] The online retailers 175 can represent entities having
Web-based systems for selling product items. An online retailer 175
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. Online retail services 177 provided by
online retailers 175 can include, but are not limited to,
conventional shopping carts, inventory information, in-store
availability of products, access to data 182 and 183 contained in
an associated data store 180, and the like.
[0033] Online retailers 175 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, shoppers 104,
109, 114 can be notified when a person in their network 164 is
close to a physical store that has an item in their SSC, so that
that person can pick-up the item for the shopper 104, 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 the
network 164.
[0034] The SSC widget 187 can represent a software component that
can display SSCs and/or provide limited functionalities of the
socially collaborative shopping system 120 within an interface of
the social networking system 185 such as FACEBOOK, MYSPACE, or
ORKUT. Members of the social networking system 185 using the SSC
widget 187 need only have a social relationship with another member
who is registered with the socially collaborative shopping system
120. For example, Member Y, who is not registered with the socially
collaborative shopping system 120, can use the SSC widget 187 to
view information about their friend, Member J, who is
registered.
[0035] It should be appreciated that information sharing can be
controlled by individual users in a network 164 (e.g., shopper 104,
109, 114) while required security and rules mechanisms are provided
by the system 100. The system 100 provides an ability for retailers
to extend their list of target shoppers 104, 109, 114 by not only
focusing on existing customers, but also collaborators who are
networked (via social shopping network 164) with existing
customers.
[0036] In one embodiment, shoppers 104, 109, 114 can enable their
SSC and their shopping history with their collaborators to be
viewed by various independent retailers (online retailers 175). The
amount of information that can be shared with retailers 175 can be
configurable by a shopper 104, 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 socially collaborative shopping system 120 can restrict
access permissions.
[0037] For example, shopper 104 can use his/her SSC to purchase
items from Retailer B's (retailer 175) Web site. Shopper 104 can
then configure parameters of system 120 to allow Retailer B to
access shopping purchases conducted by shopper 104 and his/her
collaborators from other retailers 175. 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.
[0038] In one embodiment, targeted group promotions can be
conducted by retailers 175 based on social shopping network 164
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 the retailers 175 analysis from historic shopping transactions.
For example, retailer 175 data can suggest that when shopper 104
and shopper 109 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 two shoppers 104 and 109 to shop together.
[0039] The non-retailer services 190 can represent a variety of
other informational services available over the network 195 that
are not associated with any specific online retailer 175. For
example, the socially collaborative shopping system 120 can request
review information for a product item from an independent reporting
agency (i.e., consumer reports) to aggregate and present to a
shopper 104, 109, and/or 114.
[0040] To support these various functions, components of the
socially collaborative shopping system 120 can include a SSC
controller 125, a security manager 130, a social alert handler 132,
a social recommendation engine 135, a data mining component 137, a
collaborative purchase manager 140, a social promotion manager 145,
a communications handler 150, and a data store 155 for storing
relevant data.
[0041] The communications handler 150 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 socially collaborative shopping system 120 can
include, but are not limited to, client devices 105, 110, and 115,
online retailers 175, social networking systems 185, non-retailer
services 190 and the like. The communications handler 150 can be
configured to support the necessary communications protocols as
well as utilize pertinent application programming interfaces (APIs)
to establish communication pathways with affiliated components 105,
110, 115, 175, 185, and 190.
[0042] The security manager 130 can represent the hardware and/or
software elements of the socially collaborative shopping system 120
responsible for ensuring the digital security of data stored within
the data store 155 and communications initiated by the
communications handler 150. The security manager 130 can utilize a
variety of available security technologies as supported by the
socially collaborative shopping system 120, the network 195, and
affiliated components 105, 110, 115, 175, 185, and 190.
[0043] The SSC controller 125 can represent the software component
of the socially collaborative shopping system 120 that handles
operations involving a shopper's 104, 109, and 114 social shopping
carts (SSCs). A SSC created by the SSC controller 125 can be a
modified universal shopping cart. In addition to supporting the
one-to-many purchase relationship between a shopper 104, 109, or
114 and online retailers 175 of a conventional universal shopping
cart, SSCs created by the SSC controller 125 can also support a
many-to-many purchase relationship between shoppers 104, 109, and
114 and the online retailers 175, herein referred to as shared
SSCs.
[0044] For example, shoppers 104, 109, and 114 can use a shared SSC
to purchase product items for an upcoming party. Shopper.sub.1 104
can add decorations from one or more party supply retailers 175 to
the shared SSC; shopper.sub.2 109 can add tableware from various
housewares retailers 175; and shopper.sub.n 114 can add cookware
from housewares and cookware boutiques 175.
[0045] Additionally, while shopping for cookware, shopper.sub.n 114
can find a better price at a different online retailer 175 for a
product item previously added to the shared SSC by shopper.sub.2
109. shopper.sub.n 114 can then replace the product item added by
shopper.sub.2 109 with the same product item from the other online
retailer 175 within the shared SSC.
[0046] The SSC controller 125 can be further configured to handle
importing the contents of a conventional shopping cart from an
online retailer 175 into a SSC structure. For example, a
shopper.sub.1 104 can create/store a conventional shopping cart
while shopping at the Web site of Store D, an online retailer 175
participating with the socially collaborative shopping system 120.
Later, when visiting Store D 175 via the socially collaborative
shopping system 120, the socially collaborative shopping system 120
can detect the existence of shopper.sub.1's 104 conventional
shopping cart and can present shopper.sub.1 104 with the option to
import the contents of that shopping cart into a new or existing
SSC.
[0047] The SSC controller 125 can include a visibility handler 127
to ensure that shopping information (i.e., purchase histories, SSC
contents) associated with a shopper 104, 109, and/or 114 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 the user preferences 163 of the shopper's 104, 109,
and/or 114 shopper data 160.
[0048] For example, shopper.sub.1 104, when purchasing a gift for
shopper.sub.2 109, can indicate that shopper.sub.2 109 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, when
shopper.sub.2 109 attempts to view all of the SSCs belonging to
shopper.sub.1 104, the visibility handler 127 can omit the "gift"
SSC from the listing.
[0049] Alternately, shopper.sub.2 109 can indicate that they do not
wish to have purchase information about their SSCs "seen" by a
specific online retailer 175; any purchase information collected by
the socially collaborative shopping system 120 regarding
shopper.sub.2 109 and the specific online retailer 175 would not be
shared with the specific online retailer 175. The configuration of
options for specifying these restrictions can be dependent upon the
specific implementation and design of the socially collaborative
shopping system 120.
[0050] The SSC controller 125 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's 104, 109, and/or 114 SSC,
adding a product item to your SCC from another shopper's 104, 109,
and/or 114 SSC or wish list, inviting another shopper 104, 109, or
114 to make a collaborative purchase of product items, and the
like.
[0051] For example, shopper.sub.1 104 can view the wish list of
shopper.sub.2 109 for gift ideas. Deciding upon a product item from
the wish list, shopper.sub.1 104 can right-click on the product
item in shopper.sub.2's 109 wish list and select an option to add
the product item directly to their "gift" SSC. Since shopper.sub.1
104 is purchasing the product item from the wish list of
shopper.sub.2 109, the product item can remain on shopper.sub.2's
109 wish list, not informing shopper.sub.2 109 that the product
item has been bought.
[0052] It is important to remember that conventional online
shopping systems, at most, allow shoppers 104, 109, and/or 114 the
ability to view the shopping cart contents of other shoppers 104,
109, and/or 114. That is, in a conventional shopping system, a
shopper 104, 109, and/or 114 may view, but cannot perform any
operations upon the shopping cart of another.
[0053] Shoppers 104, 109, and 114 using a shared SSC to make a
collaborative purchase need not be members of each others' social
shopping networks 164. That is, the shoppers 104, 109, and 114 can
simply desire to consolidate their purchases to take advantage of a
promotion or increase their purchase power. For example, an online
retailer 175 can offer a special discount for collaborative
purchases made with a shared SSC that includes three or more
shoppers 104, 109, and/or 114 purchasing their product items.
Multiple shoppers 104, 109, and/or 114 purchasing product items
from the online retailer 175 can indicate that they would like to
consolidate their purchases with any other shoppers 104, 109,
and/or 114 in order to receive the discount.
[0054] All the product items added to the shared SSC can be
purchased by the shoppers 104, 109, and 114 as one logical
transaction handled by the collaborative purchase manager 140 of
the socially collaborative shopping system 120. That is, each
shopper 104, 109, and 114 can initiate a single purchase
transaction for their portion of the shared SSC within the socially
collaborative shopping system 120. The collaborative purchase
manager 140 can represent the software component configured to
distribute the single purchase transaction made to the shared SSC
to the corresponding online retailers 175. The distribution
performed by the collaborative purchase manager 140 can occur
transparent to the shoppers 104, 109, and 114.
[0055] The collaborative purchase manager 140 can be configured to
separate the contents of the shared SSC by online retailer 175. A
single purchase order can then be generated for each online
retailer 175 that includes the billing and shipping information for
each shopper 104, 109, and/or 114 having product items in the
order. Since multiple shoppers 104, 109, and 114 can be involved
with the single purchase order sent to each online retailer 175 by
the collaborative purchase manager 140, the online retailers 175
participating in the socially collaborative shopping system 120 can
be required to support order splitting. That is, each online
retailer 175 can accept a purchase order where the product items
are purchased by and shipped to different shoppers 104, 109, and/or
114.
[0056] Further, the treatment of the contents of a shared SSC as a
single logical transaction can allow the collaborative purchase
manager 140 to apply discounts or other special shopping promotions
entered by any shopper 104, 109, and/or 114 to the contents of the
shared SSC as a whole. That is, each shopper 104, 109, and 114 can
receive the benefit of the discount or promotion for product items
they added to the shared SSC that qualify.
[0057] Building upon the previous example, shopper.sub.2 109 can
apply a coupon for a 10% price discount for all product items
purchased from Store A 175 to the shared SSC. All product items
from Store A 175 contained in the shared SSC, regardless of which
shopper 104, 109, or 114 added the item, can have its price reduced
by 10%.
[0058] The application of discounts and/or promotions to a shared
SSC can be performed by the collaborative purchase manager 140 in
real-time or near real-time, automatically reducing the purchase
totals for each affected shopper 104, 109, and/or 114.
[0059] Functionality of the collaborative purchase manager 140 can
be further expanded to provide shoppers 104, 109, and/or 114 with
additional collaborative purchasing options. These additional
collaborative purchasing options can include, but not limited to,
allowing one shopper 104, 109, and/or 114 to pay for the entire
shared SSC, allowing shoppers 104, 109, and/or 114 to pay a flat
amount towards the total cost of the shared SSC, allowing shopper
104, 109, and/or 114 to pay for another shopper's 104, 109, and/or
114 potion of the shared SSC, allowing a shopper 104, 109, and/or
114 to purchase a product item in the shared SSC that was selected
by another shopper 104, 109, and/or 114, and the like.
[0060] 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.
[0061] As shoppers 104, 109, and 114 conduct their shopping
activities, other components 132, 135, and 145 of the socially
collaborative shopping system 120 can activate to provide the
shoppers 104, 109, and 114 with a variety of collaborative
shopping-related information. The social alert handler 132 can
represent the software component configured to send shoppers 104,
109, and 114 alert notifications when changes occur within the
socially collaborative shopping system 120 that meet the conditions
of their alert definitions 162 (e.g., a specific product item goes
on sale).
[0062] Many conventional online shopping systems have incorporated
the use of alert notifications between a shopper 104, 109, or 114
and an online retailers 175 (i.e., a shopper-retailer alert). The
socially collaborative shopping system 120 can allow shoppers 104,
109, and 114 to create alert definitions 162 that include
conditions based on their social shopping network 164 (i.e., a
shopper-shopper alert). The means (e.g., text message, email, etc.)
utilized by the social alert handler 132 to provide alert
notifications can correspond to the capabilities of the
communications handler 150.
[0063] For example, shopper.sub.1 104 can be a member of
shopper.sub.2's 109 social shopping network 164. Shopper.sub.2 109
can then create an alert definition 162 requesting an alert
whenever shopper.sub.1 104 creates a new SSC. Thus, whenever the
social alert handler 132 detects or receives notification of
shopper.sub.1 104 creating a new SSC, the social alert handler 132
can generate and present an alert message within the social
shopping interface 112 of shopper.sub.2 109.
[0064] Throughout the shopping process, the social recommendation
engine 135 can determine and present shoppers 104, 109, and 114
with a variety of product recommendations based upon the SSC data
170 of their SSCs, purchase history (not shown), social shopping
networks 164, and the product data 183 from online retailers 175.
Recommendation information provided by the social recommendation
engine 135 can be presented in a variety of ways consistent with
the implementation and design of the socially collaborative
shopping system 120 and can be influenced by user-configurable
settings within a shopper's 104, 109, and/or 114 user preferences
163.
[0065] For example, the social recommendation engine 135 can take
the following information into account: shopper.sub.1's 104
previous purchase of Product Z from Store A 175, Product Z
currently in a SSC (individual or shared) of shopper.sub.2 109
being purchased from Store D 175, shopper.sub.2's 109 inclusion in
shopper.sub.1's 104 social shopping network 164, and a sale on
Product Z at Store A 175. The social recommendation engine 135 can
present both shoppers 104 and 109 with recommendations to purchase
Product Z from Store A 175.
[0066] Further, the social recommendation engine 135 can be
configured to provide shoppers 104, 109, and 114 associated with a
shared SSC with recommendations based on commonalities between the
shoppers 104, 109, and 114 and contents of the shared SSC.
[0067] In one embodiment, shoppers 104, 109, 114 responsive for
increased retailer 175 sales (such as via recommendations) can
receive incentives. Responsibility for sales can be tracked through
click through analysis. For example, a shopper 104, 109, 114
looking through a SSC of another can notice that the collaborator
has purchased a product and recommends it. The shopper 104, 109,
114 therefore adds the product to his SSC and purchases it. The
retailer 175 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.
[0068] In one implementation, the following actions can be tracked
for incentive purposes: a shopper 104, 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).
[0069] In another contemplated embodiment, the social
recommendation engine 135 can request recommendation information
about a specific shopper 104, 109, or 114 and/or product item from
corresponding online retailers 175; an online retail service 177 of
the online retailers 175 can provide the recommendation
information. The social recommendation engine 135 can then
aggregate the recommendation information from the various online
retailers 175 to present to the shopper 104, 109, or 114.
[0070] The social recommendation engine 135 can also be configured
to utilize information received from non-retailer services 190. For
example, a shopper 104, 109, or 114 can set user preferences 163 to
have the social recommendation engine 135 utilize ratings from an
independent testing laboratory 190 when determining products to
recommend.
[0071] While the social recommendation engine 135 provides
recommendations of product items to purchase, the social promotion
manager 145 can make a shopper 104, 109, or 114 aware of discounts
and deals available for their SSCs (individual or shared). The
social promotion manager 145 can determine potential promotions
using the promotion data 183 of online retailers 175 and shopping
data 160 and 170 related to the shopper 104, 109, or 114.
Promotions identified by the social promotion manager 145 can
encompass multiple online retailers 175 and/or shoppers 104, 109,
and 114.
[0072] For example, a shopper 104, 109, or 114 having Product Z in
a stored SSC can be presented with all the promotions currently
available for Product Z from all applicable online retailers 175 by
the social promotion manager 145. 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.
[0073] Further, the social promotion manager 145 can work with the
social recommendation engine 135 to provide shoppers 104, 109, and
114 with recommendations based on promotion data 183, such as
online retailers 175 having additional benefits when purchases are
made from them as a group. For example, Store A 175 and Store D 175
can have a promotion expressed in their promotion data 183
indicating that a SSC containing purchases from both online
retailers 175 receives free shipping. The social promotion manager
145 can identify this promotion for shopper.sub.1 104 who's SCC
contains product items from Store A 175. This information can be
passed to the social recommendation engine 135 that can then send
shopper.sub.1 104 a recommendation to purchase a product item from
Store D 175 with their SCC to receive free shipping.
[0074] In addition to these various shopper-centric functions,
components of the socially collaborative shopping system 120 can
also be configured to provide online retailers 175 with the means
to institute additional business models and features tailored to
collaborative purchases and the social relationships contained in
shoppers' 104, 109, and 114 social shopping networks 164.
Components supporting these functions can include the data mining
component 137, the social alert handler 132, the social
recommendation engine 135, and the social promotion manager
145.
[0075] The data mining component 137 can represent the software
component of the socially collaborative shopping system 120
configured to collect raw data regarding shopping-related
activities (e.g., product purchases, product viewings) performed by
the shoppers 104, 109, and 114. The data mining component 137 can
then synthesize the raw data into processed data 168 stored within
the data store 155. The processed data 168 can be provided to the
corresponding online retailers 175 and/or non-retailer services
190.
[0076] Since the raw data collected by the data mining component
137 can include collaborative purchases made between shoppers 104,
109, and 114, the processed data 168 can carry forth the
relationships between shoppers 104, 109, and/or 114. For example,
instead of simply stating that shoppers 104 and 109 each purchased
Product Z, the processed data 168 can capture that shopper.sub.1
104 made a purchase of Product Z, shopper.sub.2 109 purchased
Product Z from shopper.sub.1's 104 SSC, and shopper.sub.2 109 is
not a member of shopper.sub.1's 104 social shopping network 164.
Thus, the processed data 168 generated by the socially
collaborative shopping system 120 can provide online retailers 175
with a level of detail currently not available in conventional
online shopping systems.
[0077] The detailed capture of shopper 104, 109, and 114
information within the processed data 168 can allow online
retailers 175 to expand their consumer base to shoppers 104, 109,
and/or 114 contained in the social shopping networks 164 of
returning shoppers 104, 109, or 114. This can allow the online
retailers 175 to target these related shoppers 104, 109, and/or 114
with special promotions.
[0078] Online retailers 175 can also utilize the processed data 168
to define incentive models 166 that reward shoppers 104, 109,
and/or 114 whose actions within the socially collaborative shopping
system 120 generate positively affect the online retailer 175, such
as increasing product sales or product viewings or provide detailed
product reviews or feedback. The social promotion manager 145 can
include an incentive handler 147 configured to analyze the
processed data 168 in terms of the reward conditions of the
incentive models 166 for each shopper 104, 109, and 114.
[0079] In one example of an incentive/reward structure, the
incentive model 166 of Store A 175 can define quantities of reward
points that can be added to a shoppers 104, 109, and/or 114 account
with the socially collaborative shopping system 120 and/or Store A
175 in response to actions performed by other shoppers 109 and/or
114. For example, shopper.sub.2 109 views (i.e., clicks on, hovers
over) information about Product Z, which is being purchased from
Store A 175, from a SSC belonging to shopper.sub.1 104. The
incentive handler 147 can recognize this action within the
incentive model 166 and provide shopper.sub.1 104 with the
specified quantity of reward points. Should shopper.sub.2 109
perform any other shopping actions related to Store A 175 and/or
Product Z that are defined within the incentive model 166 (e.g.,
purchasing Product Z from Store A 175, adding Product Z to their
SSC, etc.), the incentive handler 147 can further increase
shopper.sub.1's 104 amount of reward points.
[0080] It should be noted that this is a simple example of an
incentive/reward structure and that the incentive models 166
utilized within the socially collaborative shopping system 120 can
depend upon the design and the implementation details of the
socially collaborative shopping system 120 as well as the design of
the incentive model 166 of the online retailer 175.
[0081] Rewards earned or near to being earned by a shopper 104,
109, or 114 can be passed from the incentive handler 147 to the
social promotion manager 145 for presentation within the social
shopping interface 107, 112, or 117. Shoppers 104, 109, and/or 114
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 by shoppers 104, 109, and 114 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.
[0082] For example, the incentive handler 147, correlating
processed data 168 pertaining to shopper.sub.1 104 and the
incentive model 166 of Store Z 175, can inform shopper.sub.1 104
that they have earned a coupon code for 10% off their next purchase
from Store Z 175. Further, shopper.sub.1 104 can be told that they
will receive a coupon for 15% off should five members of their
social shopping network 164 purchase products recommended by or
contained within a SSC of shopper.sub.1 104.
[0083] The incentive handler 147 can be configured to provide
reward information to shoppers 104, 109, and 114 at a time period
predefined (i.e., daily, weekly, etc.) within the socially
collaborative shopping system 120. The incentive models 166
provided by the online retailers 175 can conform to standards
established by the socially collaborative shopping system 120.
[0084] The concept of collaborative purchases can lead to multiple
online retailers 175 providing shoppers 104, 109, and 114 with
sales structures or discounts for bulk/group purchases from one
online retailer 175 or specific set of online retailers 175. For
example, promotion data 183 for Store D 175 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, a shopper 104, 109, and 114 can receive a 10%
discount when a television is purchased from Store A 175 and a
recliner is purchased from Store D 175.
[0085] The role of the social alert handler 132 can also be further
expanded to provide additional benefit in the form of alert
notifications between online retailers 175 (i.e., a
retailer-retailer alert). This increased functionality can require
the online retailer 175 to create a set of alert definitions (not
shown) within the data store 155 of the socially collaborative
shopping system 120. For example, Store A 175 can receive alert
notifications when a changes in price occurs for common product
items sold by Store D 175.
[0086] The socially collaborative shopping system 120 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
socially collaborative shopping system 120 previously detailed can
be extended to utilize these typical data sources without
significant deviation from this embodiment of the present
invention.
[0087] In another embodiment, the socially collaborative shopping
system 120 can be implemented as a distributed computing system. In
yet another embodiment, the socially collaborative shopping system
120 can incorporate the location awareness capability of mobile
devices. For example, a shopper 104, 109, or 114 can receive an
alert when a shopper 104, 109, or 114 in their social shopping
network 164 is in or near to a physical store corresponding to an
online retailer 175 that they desire to make a purchase from. The
alerted shopper 104, 109, or 114 can then contact the mobile device
of the other shopper 104, 109, or 114 to ask them to make an
in-store pick up of the product item.
[0088] Network 195 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. Network 195 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. Network 195 can also include
network equipment, such as routers, data lines, hubs, and
intermediary servers which together form a data network, such as
the Internet. Network 195 can also include circuit-based
communication components and mobile communication components, such
as telephony switches, modems, cellular communication towers, and
the like. Network 195 can include line based and/or wireless
communication pathways.
[0089] As used herein, presented data stores 155 and 180 can be a
physical or virtual storage space configured to store digital
information. Data stores 155 and 180 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 stores 155 and 180 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 within
data stores 155 and 180 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 stores 155 and 180 can utilize one or more
encryption mechanisms to protect stored information from
unauthorized access.
[0090] It should be appreciated that system 100 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 online
retail services 177 and need not be implemented into a separate
social networking system 185. Likewise, functionality (or portions
thereof) of the socially collaborative shopping system 120 can be
incorporated directly into the social networking system 185, as a
new service of the social networking system 185. Specific
artifacts, such as the SSC widget 187, 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.
[0091] Additionally, in one contemplated embodiment, the services
provided by the socially collaborative shopping system 120 can be
conducted transparently to the online retailers 175 and/or social
networking system 185. For example, system 120 can establish a
single "virtual shopper" which is a user of system 175 and/or 185,
which behaves as if it is a single individual, thus resulting in a
unified shopping experience. The system 120 can perform the
"splitting" actions needed to allocate the contributions to the
various shoppers 104, 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, the system 100 improvements can be
implemented in any unmodified system (175, 185), yet still provide
the collaborative shopping functionality (or portions thereof) as
detailed herein.
[0092] 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," which system 120 will allocate to the shoppers
104, 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 the online retainer 175 may not
support combining rewards (which would be supported in an
embodiment where online retailer 175 is aware of and participates
in collaborative shopping via system 120).
[0093] FIG. 2 is a block diagram 200 illustrating the basic data
flows involving the SSC controller 220 in accordance with
embodiments of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein. Block
diagram 200 can be utilized within the context of system 100 or any
other online shopping system that utilizes a social network
structure and supports operation in a SOA environment.
[0094] As shown in diagram 200, the SSC controller 220 can provide
data to various service providers 205 such as other shoppers or
internal components of the socially collaborative shopping system.
The SSC controller 220 can receive data from service consumers 210,
such as the non-retailer services 190 or online retailers 175 of
system 100. Service consumers 210 can also represent other internal
components of the socially collaborative shopping system, such as
updates to purchase totals calculated by the collaborative purchase
manager.
[0095] Data can be bi-directionally communicated with the social
shopping interface 215 and data store 225. Functions affecting SSCs
invoked by shoppers via the social shopping interface 215 can be
sent to the SSC controller 220, which can return the resultant
information to the social shopping interface 215.
[0096] The SSC controller 220 can request data from as well as save
data to the data store 225. Requested data can be conveyed from the
data store 225 to the SSC controller 220, which can then send the
data to other components such as the social shopping interface
215.
[0097] FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method 300 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. Method 300 can be performed within the context of
system 100 and/or utilizing the communication flow of block diagram
200.
[0098] Method 300 can begin in step 305 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 in step 310. In step 315, the validity of
the logon data can be determined.
[0099] When the logon data is invalid, step 320 can be performed
where the shopper is notified of the invalid data. Flow of method
300 can return to step 305 from step 320 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 in step 325.
[0100] In step 330, 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 in step 335.
[0101] In step 340, 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 steps 330-340 within
the social shopping interface can occur in step 345.
[0102] FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a method 400 describing the
creation of a shared SSC within socially collaborative shopping
system in accordance with embodiments of the inventive arrangements
disclosed herein. Method 400 can be performed within the context of
system 100 and/or utilizing the communication flow of block diagram
200.
[0103] Method 400 can begin in step 405 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 in step 410. In step 415, it can be determined if
matches to the query of step 410 were found.
[0104] When no other shoppers are interested in a collaborative
purchase of the product item, step 420 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 in step 425.
[0105] The listing can be presented to the shopper within the
social shopping interface in step 430. In step 435, 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.
[0106] The socially collaborative shopping system can sent an
invitation to the shopper selected from the listing in step 440. In
step 445, a response to the invitation can be received from the
selected shopper.
[0107] When the received response indicates that the selected
shopper declines the invitation, step 450 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 in step 455. In step 460,
the requesting shopper and the selected shopper can be associated
with the shared SSC.
[0108] FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a method 500 describing the
handling of promotions by a socially collaborative shopping system
in accordance with embodiments of the inventive arrangements
disclosed herein. Method 500 can be performed within the context of
system 100 and/or utilizing the communication flow of block diagram
200.
[0109] Method 500 can begin in step 505 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 in
step 510.
[0110] The existence of promotions from the online retailer for the
product item can be determined in step 515. When no promotions are
found, the socially collaborative shopping system can take no
action in step 520.
[0111] When promotions exist, step 525 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) in step 530.
[0112] FIG. 6 is a flow chart of a method 600 describing
performance of a collaborative purchase by a socially collaborative
shopping system in accordance with embodiments of the inventive
arrangements disclosed herein. Method 600 can be performed within
the context of system 100 and/or utilizing the communication flow
of block diagram 200.
[0113] Method 600 can begin in step 605 where the socially
collaborative shopping system can receive a purchase command for a
shared SSC from a shopper. In step 610, it can be determined if all
the shoppers associated with the shared SSC are ready to conduct
the purchase.
[0114] When one or more shoppers are not ready to conduct the
purchase, the socially collaborative shopping system can take no
action in step 615. Flow of method 600 can then return to step 605
to await the next purchase command for the shared SSC.
[0115] In step 620, 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 in step
625.
[0116] When a discount/promotion has bee applied to the shared SSC,
step 630 can be performed where the amount of the
discount/promotion can be determined for each shopper. Each
shopper's cost, as calculated in step 620, can be adjusted by the
determined amount in step 635.
[0117] Upon completion of step 635 or when no discounts/promotions
have been applied to the shared SSC, step 640 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 in step 645. In step 650, 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.
[0118] FIG. 7 is a flow chart of a method 700 describing the
handling of incentives within a socially collaborative shopping
system in accordance with embodiments of the inventive arrangements
disclosed herein. Method 700 can be performed within the context of
system 100 and/or utilizing the communication flow of block diagram
200.
[0119] Method 700 can begin in step 705 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 in step 710.
[0120] In step 715, the processed data can be compared with
applicable incentive models. Applicable rewards for the shopper can
be determined in step 720. When a reward is applicable for the
shopper, the socially collaborative shopping system can generate a
reward message in step 725.
[0121] In step 730, the reward message can be conveyed to the
shopper. Upon completion of step 730 or when no rewards are
applicable to the shopper, the processed data can be optionally
provided to the respectively online retailers in step 735.
[0122] FIG. 8 is a collection 800 of examples 805 and 850
illustrating the interaction of the socially collaborative shopping
system 830 and 875 with a social networking site 815 and 860 in
accordance with embodiments of the inventive arrangements disclosed
herein. The examples 805 and 850 of collection 800 can be performed
within the context of system 100 and/or utilizing the communication
flow of block diagram 200.
[0123] In example 805, User B 810 can utilize a social networking
site 815 to view the SSC 825 of User A via the SSC widget 820. User
B 810 can select an option from the SSC widget 820 to add User A's
SSC 825 to their account 840 within the socially collaborative
shopping system 830.
[0124] The social networking site 815 can authenticate both User A
and User B 810 to the socially collaborative shopping system 830.
The socially collaborative shopping system 830 can then read the
SSC 825 contained within User A's account 835 and copy the SSC 825
as a new SSC 845 in User B's 810 account 840.
[0125] It should be noted that, in example 805, both User B and
User A are members of the socially collaborative shopping system
830.
[0126] In example 850, User B 855 can view the wish list 865 of
User D within the social networking site 860. User B 855 can
utilize a function of the SSC widget 870 add User D's wish list 865
as a SSC 885 in their account 880 of the socially collaborative
shopping system 875.
[0127] The social networking site 860 can automatically
authenticate User B 855 to the socially collaborative shopping
system 875. The socially collaborative shopping system 875 can then
create a new SSC 885 within User B's 855 account 880 that contains
the products listed in the wish list 865 of User D.
[0128] The socially collaborative shopping system 875 can handle
incompatible online retailers and/or product items from the wish
list 865 in accordance with predefined rules governing operation of
the socially collaborative shopping system 875.
[0129] It should be noted that, in example 850, only User B 855 is
a member of the socially collaborative shopping system 875.
[0130] 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.
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