U.S. patent application number 14/663805 was filed with the patent office on 2016-09-22 for merchandise reservation system, apparatus, and media.
The applicant listed for this patent is Sears Brands, L.L.C.. Invention is credited to Prerna Mamgain, Amar Sharma, Kartik Swamy, Srinivasa Vanukuri.
Application Number | 20160275592 14/663805 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 56881416 |
Filed Date | 2016-09-22 |
United States Patent
Application |
20160275592 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Mamgain; Prerna ; et
al. |
September 22, 2016 |
MERCHANDISE RESERVATION SYSTEM, APPARATUS, AND MEDIA
Abstract
Systems, methods, and apparatus are disclosed for reserving
items of merchandise for in store pickup and/or inspection. In some
embodiments, a reservation method for a store includes receiving,
from a first computing device associated with a customer, a request
to reserve a requested item for the customer. The reservation
method may further include identifying, based on the requested
item, an additional item to reserve for the customer. The
reservation method may also include sending, to a second computing
device associated with an employee of the store, a notification
that instructs the employee to gather the requested item and the
additional item and place the gathered items in a reserved
merchandise area of the store.
Inventors: |
Mamgain; Prerna; (Hoffman
Estates, IL) ; Swamy; Kartik; (Naperville, IL)
; Vanukuri; Srinivasa; (Palatine, IL) ; Sharma;
Amar; (Schaumburg, IL) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Sears Brands, L.L.C. |
Hoffman Estates |
IL |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
56881416 |
Appl. No.: |
14/663805 |
Filed: |
March 20, 2015 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/0631 20130101;
G06Q 10/087 20130101; G06Q 30/0635 20130101 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 30/06 20060101
G06Q030/06; G06Q 10/08 20060101 G06Q010/08 |
Claims
1. A reservation method for a store, comprising: receiving, from a
first computing device associated with a customer, a request to
reserve a requested item for the customer; identifying, based on
the requested item, an additional item that was not requested by
the customer; reserving the requested item and the non-requested,
additional item for the customer; and sending, to a second
computing device associated with an employee of the store, a
notification that instructs the employee to gather the requested
item and the non-requested, additional item and place the gathered
items in a reserved merchandise area of the store.
2. The reservation method of claim 1, further comprising sending,
to the first computing device, a confirmation that informs the
customer that the request to reserve the requested item has been
received.
3. The reservation method of claim 1, further comprising sending,
to the first computing device, a confirmation that informs the
customer that the requested item has been reserved after verifying
the requested item is in stock.
4. The reservation method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting
restocking of the requested item based on received requests to
reserve the requested item.
5. The reservation method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting
restocking of an item associated with the requested item based on
received requests to reserve the requested item.
6. The reservation method of claim 1, further comprising sending,
to the first computing device, a confirmation that informs the
customer that the requested item has been reserved and instructs
the customer to pickup the requested item from the reserved
merchandise area.
7. The reservation method of claim 1, wherein said identifying
comprises selecting the additional item based on items other
customers have purchased with the requested item.
8. The reservation method of claim 1, wherein said identifying
comprises: determining a first product category for the requested
item; identifying, based on past purchases, a second product
category associated with the first product category; and selecting
the additional item from a plurality of items in the second product
category.
9. The reservation method of claim 1, wherein said identifying
comprises selecting, for the additional item, the requested item
but of a different size than requested.
10. The reservation method of claim 1, wherein said identifying
comprises selecting, for the additional item, the requested item
but of a different color than requested.
11. The reservation method of claim 1, wherein said identifying
comprises: determining a product category for the requested item;
and selecting, for the additional item, an item from the product
category at a different price point and feature set.
12. A system, comprising: a first computing device associated with
an employee of a store; and a reservation management system
configured to: receive, from a second computing device associated
with a customer, a request to reserve a requested item for the
customer; identify, based on the requested item, an additional item
not requested by the customer; reserve the requested item and the
non-requested, additional item for the customer; and send, to the
employee of the store via the first computing device, a
notification that instructs the employee to gather the requested
item and the non-requested, additional item and place the gathered
items in a reserved merchandise area of the store.
13. The system of claim 12, wherein reservation management system
is further configured to send to customer a confirmation that
informs the customer that the request for the requested item has
been received.
14. The system of claim 12, wherein the reservation management
system is further configured send, to the customer after verifying
the requested item is in stock, a confirmation that informs the
customer that the request has been received.
15. The system of claim 12, wherein the reservation management
system is further configured to provide a restocking recommendation
of the requested item based on received requests to reserve the
requested item.
16. The system of claim 12, wherein the reservation management
system is further configured to provide a restocking recommendation
of an item associated with the requested item based on received
requests to reserve the requested item.
17. The system of claim 12, wherein the reservation management
system is further configured to send a confirmation that informs
the customer that the requested item has been reserved and
instructs the customer to pickup the requested item from the
reserved merchandise area of the store.
18. The system of claim 12, wherein the reservation management
system is further configured to select the additional item based on
items other customers have purchased with the requested item.
19. The system of claim 12, wherein the reservation management
system is further configured to: determine a first product category
for the requested item; identify, based on past purchases, a second
product category associated with the first product category; and
select the additional item from a plurality of items in the second
product category.
20. The system of claim 12, wherein the reservation management
system is further configured to select, for the additional item,
the requested item but of a different size than requested.
Description
FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE
[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to the purchasing
of merchandise, and more specifically, to features designed to aid
and/or enhance a customer's purchasing experience.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Customers commonly purchase merchandise from
brick-and-mortar stores such as retail stores, grocery stores,
consumer electronic boutiques, etc. Customers also purchase
merchandise via web sites that provide virtual storefronts that
enable customers to purchase such merchandise without visiting a
brick-and-mortar store. While on-line purchases may provide
customers with some benefits over similar purchases made via a
traditional brick-and-mortar store, customers may still prefer
purchasing certain merchandise from a brick-and-mortar store. For
example, with respect to clothing, many customers prefer to
purchase clothing from a brick-and-mortar store. Purchasing from a
brick-and-mortar store enables the customers to inspect the
clothing in person, try on the clothing on to ensure a proper fit,
and ensure an item of clothing (e.g., pants) pairs well with
another item of clothing (e.g., shirt). Similarly, with respect to
big ticket merchandise, such as home electronics, home appliances,
etc., many customers prefer to the merchandise in operation before
committing to a purchase.
[0003] Many customers may visit a particular brick-and-mortar store
with the intention of seeing and/or purchasing specific items of
merchandise. If the brick-and-mortar store no longer has one or
more of the sought after items in stock, the customer may feel that
their visit was for naught and thus may leave the store with a
negative view their visit. Accordingly, if the brick-and-mortar
store can ensure that the items of merchandise being sought by a
customer are in stock or at least available for demonstration, then
the brick-and-mortar store may increase the likelihood of a sale
and increase the likelihood that the customer leaves with a
positive view of their visit.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE
[0004] Shown in and/or described in connection with at least one of
the figures, and set forth more completely in the claims are
systems, methods, and computer readable medium that enable
customers to reserve merchandise.
[0005] These and other advantages, aspects and novel features of
the present disclosure, as well as details of illustrated
embodiments thereof, will be more fully understood from the
following description and drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] FIG. 1 shows an example merchandise reservation (MR) system
in accordance with an example embodiment of the present
disclosure.
[0007] FIGS. 2A and 2B show a flow chart of a reservation process
that may be implemented by the MS system shown in FIG. 1.
[0008] FIGS. 3A and 3B show a flow chart of another reservation
process that may be implemented by the MS system shown in FIG.
1.
[0009] FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of an example demand prediction
system of the MR system of FIG. 1.
[0010] FIG. 5 shows a simplified depiction of an example computing
device for use in the example MR system of FIG. 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0011] Some disclosed embodiments are directed to a merchandise
reservation system that enables customers to reserve merchandise at
a brick-and-mortar store. More specifically, some embodiments
enhance a customer's requested reservation by reserving additional
recommended items of merchandise. The merchandise reservation
system may analyze past purchases of the customer, of other
customers, sales data, demographic data, etc. in an attempt to
recommend items that the customer may want to purchase in addition
to the requested merchandise and/or instead of the requested
merchandise. Furthermore, some embodiments may include a demand
prediction system that provides stocking and/or restocking
recommendations based on information gained from received customer
reservations.
[0012] Referring to FIG. 1, an example embodiment of a merchandise
reservation (MR) system 10 is depicted. In general, the MR system
10 may enable customers to reserve merchandise at a
brick-and-mortar store 20 serviced by the MR system 10. Moreover,
the MR system 10 may collect reservation request data detailing
which items were reserved as well as which items were recommended
to customers due to received reservation requests. Managers may use
such reservation request data to adjust stocking and restocking
merchandise for the stores 20 serviced by the MR system 10.
[0013] As shown, the MR system 10 may include customer computing
devices 30, a reservation management (RM) system 40, point-of-sale
(POS) terminals 50, and employee computing devices 60 that are
operatively coupled to a network 70. The network 70 may include a
number of private and/or public networks that collectively provide
one or more communication paths that interconnect the customer
computing devices 30, the RM system 40, the POS terminals 50, and
the employee computing devices 60. For example, the network 70 may
include wireless and/or wired networks, LAN (local area network)
networks, WAN (wide area network) networks, PAN (personal area
network) networks, cellular networks, and/or the Internet.
[0014] The MR system 10 may provide its services to several
different brick-and-mortar stores 20. In one embodiment, each
brick-and-mortar store 20 corresponds to a different store location
of the same retail store establishment. However, in other
embodiments, the MR system 10 may provide its services to several
different retail store establishments regardless of whether an
affiliation exists between the retail store establishments. Each
store 20 may maintain their own stock of merchandise. As such, even
if each store 20 is a different store location of the same retail
establishment, a particular store 20 may currently have an item in
stock while the same item is currently out of stock at another
store 20.
[0015] In light of such potential stock issues, a customer may
utilize a customer computing device 30 to access the services of
the RM system 40 and ensure that a chosen store 20 has sought after
items for the customer. To this end, the customer may request the
RM system 40 via computing device 30 to reserve an item at a
particular store 20 to ensure that the item is present when the
customer visits the store 20.
[0016] The customer computing devices 30 may include computing
devices that enable a customer to communicate with the RM system
40. For example, the customer computing device 30 may be
implemented as a smart phone, a tablet computing device, a laptop
computing device, a desktop computing device, gaming console,
wearable computing device, and/or some other computing device. The
customer computing device 30 may further include an application 32
that is executed by the customer computing device 30 in order to
communicate with the RM system 40 via the network 70. To this end,
the application 32 may include a native application specifically
designed for the customer computing device 30 to provide the
customer computing device 30 with access to the RM system 40. For
example, if the customer computing device 30 is an iPhone.TM.,
iPad.TM., an Apple.RTM. Watch.TM. or some other iOS.TM. device,
then the application 32 may be a native iOS.TM. application that
has been downloaded and installed from the App Store. Similarly, if
the customer computing device 30 is a Windows.TM. computing device,
the application 32 may be a native Windows.TM. application.
[0017] In other embodiments, the application 32 may not be a native
application specifically designed for the respective computing
platform. Instead, the application 32 may be implemented as a Web
application in which various Web and/or Internet technologies, such
as Hyper-Text Markup Language (HTML) pages, Javascript, etc.,
configure a web browser of the customer computing device 30 to
provide the customer computing device 20 with access to the RM
system 40.
[0018] As shown, the MR system 10 may include one or more
point-of-sale (POS) terminals 50 associated with a particular
retail establishment or store 20. In general, the POS terminals 50
may permit an employee or a customer to scan or otherwise identify
the items of merchandise being purchased, determine the cost of the
items being purchased, and effectuate payment for the items in
order to complete the purchase or transfer of the items to a
customer.
[0019] To this end, the POS terminals 50 may be implemented using a
computing device that includes hardware similar to a general
computing device such as that shown in FIG. 5. However, besides
hardware similar to that found in a general computing device, a POS
terminal 50 may include additional hardware and/or peripherals not
found in a typical computing device. For example, a POS terminal 50
may include a cash drawer, receipt printer, customer display in
addition to a main display for the operator, a conveyor belt, a
weight scale, a signature capture device, a customer pin pad
device, a membership identifier (ID) reader 52, and a scanner 54.
The scanner 54 may scan or read product identifiers from items
being purchased. In particular, the scanner 54 may include a
universal product code (UPC) barcode scanner that is configured to
read UPC codes from the items being purchased.
[0020] The membership ID reader 52 may take on various forms
depending upon the manner membership IDs are provided to the
members of the loyalty program. In some embodiments, members may be
given a membership card that has a magnetic stripe similar to those
found on credit cards and debit cards. In such embodiments, the
membership ID reader 52 may comprise a magnetic stripe reader
similar to those used to read a swiped credit/debit card. Moreover,
in such embodiments, the POS terminal 50 may include a single
reader that is capable or reading both credit/debit cards as well
as membership ID cards provided to the members of the loyalty
program.
[0021] In some embodiment, the membership card may have a barcode
similar to the UPC codes found on the goods offered for purchase.
In such embodiments, the membership ID reader 52 may comprise a
barcode reader similar to those used to scan the UPC codes on the
items being sold. Moreover, in such embodiments, the POS terminal
30 may include a single scanner 54 that is capable or reading both
barcode on the issued membership card as well as the UPC codes on
the items being sold. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the reader
52 and the scanner 54 are provided by the same hardware element of
the POS terminal 30. In yet other embodiments, members may be
presented with a key fob or other device from which the assigned
membership ID may be obtained. For example, the membership ID
reader 52 may include an RFID transceiver, Near Field Communication
(NFC) transceiver, or some other suitable device to read, scan, or
otherwise interrogate the key fob in order to obtain the assigned
membership ID.
[0022] The RM system 40 may generally reserve items in response to
reservation requests received from customer computing devices 30.
Moreover, the RM system 40 may generate reports based on the
received reservation requests which may aid managers in stocking
and/or restocking stores 20. To this end, the RM system 40 may
include one or more web servers, database servers, routers, load
balancers, and/or other computing and/or networking devices that
cooperate to perform the above-noted functions. For example, the RM
system 40 in one embodiment may include an e-commerce system 42, an
inventory system 44, a member database system 46, a demand
prediction system 48, and a recommendation system 49 which may each
include one or more web servers, database servers, routers, load
balancers, and/or other computing and/or networking devices.
[0023] The e-commerce system 42 generally provides a virtual
storefront that a member may access via a customer computing device
20 in order to browse, research, and/or purchase items. In some
embodiments, the e-commerce system 42 may permit members to utilize
the services of the RM system 40 to reserve items at a particular
store 20. In particular, the e-commerce system 42 may present a
user interface to a customer via a customer computing device 20
that enables the customer to identify himself or herself as a
member and request that a particular item be reserved at a selected
store 20.
[0024] The inventory system 44 may maintain details 45 about items
that the stores 20 and/or e-commerce system 42 have available for
purchase. Such details 45 may include the quantity of each item
that is available at each store 20 and via the e-commerce system
42. The details 45 may further include a description of each item
as well as various attributes are variation for each item such as,
for example, size, color, brand name, item SKU (stock keeping
unit), price, associated promotional offers, etc.
[0025] The member database system 46 may maintain data about
members who have registered with the RM system 40 and/or the
e-commerce system 42. In particular, the member database system 46
may store a member profile 47 for each registered member that
includes various information about that particular member. For
example, each member profile 47 may include contact information
(e.g., name, mailing address, shipping address, phone number, email
address), payment information (e.g., debit card number, credit card
number, checking account number, etc.), and a purchase history that
identifies the items the respective member has purchased in the
past. Each member profile 47 may further specify clothing sizes,
color preferences, brand preferences, product quality/grade
preferences, etc. of the respective member, which may aid in
identifying items that are likely to meet the members
expectations.
[0026] The demand prediction system 48 may generally predict demand
for a particular item. As explained, in greater detail below, the
demand prediction system 48 may generate a restocking and/or a
stocking recommendation for an item based on a predicted demand for
the item that takes into account a vast array of aspects including
reservations requests received from customers. As such, the demand
prediction system 48 may leverage received reservation requests to
better assess and determine demand for a item.
[0027] Finally, the recommendation system 49 may provide
recommendations based on items being reserved by a reservation
request. The recommendation system 49 may review the customer's
profile 47 as well as the profiles 47 of other customers in order
to identify items of interest in light of the requested items. For
example, based on demographics, purchase histories, and other
information from the profiles 47, the recommendation system 49 may
be able to identify other customers with similar purchasing
behavior. Moreover, the recommendation system 49 may be able to
identify customers with similar purchasing behaviors that have
purchased one or more of the items being reserved. Based on such
information, the recommendation system 49 may identify one or more
items that are commonly purchased with the requested items 24 and
thus are likely of interest for the customer.
[0028] The recommendation system 49 may further consider items that
are similar to the items being reserved. For example, if the
customer reserved a shirt, the recommendation system 49 may
recommend the same shirt in a different color or a shirt having a
similar style. Furthermore, the recommendation system 49 may
further attempt to identify items that are commonly purchased
together. For example, if the customer reserved shoes, the
recommendation system 49 may recommend a matching belt and/or
matching socks. It should be appreciated that the recommendation
system 49 may be implemented using various data mining techniques
that attempt to identify correlations between customers based on
the profiles 47 and/or items based on purchase histories so that
the recommendation system 49 may recommend items that the customer
is likely to be interested in purchasing.
[0029] The recommendation system 49 may further identify items to
recommend based on product categories. In particular, the
recommendation system 49 may determine a product category for the
requested item. The recommendation system 49 may then recommend
other products in the same category and/or products in an
associated category. With respect to products in the same category,
the recommendation system 49 may recommend product that is at a
different price point (e.g., 105% of the requested item) and/or
that has a different feature set. For example, if the customer
requested a digital camera be reserved, then recommendation system
49 may also reserve a more expensive digital camera with an
improved feature set.
[0030] With respect to product in an associate category, the
recommendation system 49 may identify another product category
associated with the product category of the requested item. The
recommendation system 49 may then select additional items from
items in the associated product category. For example, if a
customer requested a shirt be reserved, then the recommendation
system 49 may identify a product category of "pants" as being
associated with a product category of shirts and may select one or
more items from the "pants" category. Similarly, if a customer
requested a winter coat be reserved, then the recommendation system
49 may identify a product category of "gloves" as being associated
with the product category of "winter coats" and may select one or
more items from the "gloves" category.
[0031] FIG. 1 depicts an example embodiment of a MR system 10.
However, the MR system 10 may be implemented in numerous different
manners using a wide range of different computing devices,
platforms, networks, etc. In particular, the MR system 10 in some
embodiments may include a single customer computing device 30, a
single RM system 40, a single point-of-sale terminal 50, and a
single employee computing device 60. However, other embodiments may
include multiple customer computing devices 30, RM systems 40,
point-of-sale terminals 50, and/or employee computing devices 60.
Moreover, aspects of the RM system 10 may be implemented using a
client/server architecture, a peer-to-peer (P2P) architecture,
and/or another networking architecture. Such embodiments are
envisioned and protection for such embodiments is sought to the
extent encompassed by the appended claims.
[0032] Referring now to FIGS. 2A and 2B, a flow chart is shown for
a reservation process 200 that may be implemented by an embodiment
of the MR system 10. In general, the reservation process 200
permits a customer to reserve one or more requested items 24 for in
store pickup and/or inspection and further permits an employee to
add recommended items 25 to those items 24 requested by the
customer.
[0033] A customer may use a computing device 30 to generate a
reservation request for items 24. However, a reservation request
may be generated in other manners. For example, in some
embodiments, an employee may use a POS terminal 50, an employee
computing device 60, and/or some other computing device to generate
a similar reservation request on behalf of a customer. In
particular, the employee may generate such a reservation request in
response to a telephone call from the customer. As another example,
an employee may generate such a reservation request in order to
reserve items at another store 20 if for example a customer desires
to purchase items that are not in stock at the store 20 in which
the employee works.
[0034] At 210, the e-commerce system 42 of the MR system 10 may
present a product page to a customer via a customer computing
device 30. In particular, the e-commerce system 42 may present the
product page in response to a customer visiting, via the customer
computer device 30, a virtual storefront provided by the e-commerce
system 42. In particular, the customer may locate an item of
interest that is offered by the e-commerce system 42 and/or one or
more stores 20 as a result of browsing and/or searching the virtual
storefront provided by the e-commerce system 42. The e-commerce
system 42 may retrieve details 45 about the item of interest from
the inventory system 44 and present a product page that includes
various retrieved details 45 for the item 24.
[0035] In addition to presenting the customer with such details 45,
the e-commerce system 42 at 215 may further present the customer
with variations (e.g., size, color, quantity, etc.) with respect to
the item. In particular, the e-commerce system 42 via the customer
computer device 30 may present an interface via which the customer
may select specific variations for the item. In some embodiments,
the e-commerce system 42 may preselect one or more of these
variations based on the profile 47 that is maintained for the
customer. For example, based on information in the profile 47, the
e-commerce system 42 may preselect a color, size, quantity, etc.
for the item.
[0036] Besides enabling a customer to specify variations with
respect to the item, the interface presented at 215 may further
provide the customer with options to buy and/or reserve the item.
For example, the presented interface may include both a "Buy It"
button and a "Reserve In Store" button. When clicked or otherwise
activated by the customer, the "Buy It" button may cause the
e-commerce system 42 to place the specified item 24 in a virtual
cart that holds selected items 24 until the customer checks out and
finalizes a purchase of the placed items 24. The "Reserve In Store"
button, when clicked or otherwise activated by the customer, may
initiate creation of a reservation request for the specified item
24.
[0037] At 220, the e-commerce system 42 may receive, via the
presented interface, the customer's selected variation of the item
as well as the customer's intention to buy the specified item
on-line or reserve the specified item in a store 20. If the
e-commerce system 42 at 230 determines that the customer has
elected to buy the specified item on-line, then the e-commerce
system 42 at 235 may place the specified item in a virtual cart
that holds the specified item until which time the customer is
ready to check out and finalize a purchase of the items placed in
the virtual cart at 245. If the e-commerce system 42 at 230
determines that the customer has elected to reserve the specified
item in a store 20, then the e-commerce system 42 may proceed to
245 in order to initiate the creation of a reservation request for
the specified item.
[0038] In response to initiating the creation of a reservation
request, the e-commerce system 42 at 245 may determine whether a
selected store 20 has the specified item in stock. To this end, the
e-commerce system 42 may retrieve a previously-selected default or
preferred store 20 from the customer's profile 47. Furthermore, the
e-commerce system 42 may access the inventory system 44 to
determine whether the selected store 20 has the specified item in
stock.
[0039] If the e-commerce system 42 determines that the selected
store 20 does not have the specified item in stock, the e-commerce
system 42 at 250 may present the customer with other options for
reserving the item. For example, the e-commerce system 42 may
present the customer with an interface via the customer computing
device 30 that enables the customer to (i) expand the inventory
search to other stores 20 near the customer, (ii) specify a
particular store 20 to inventory check for the specified item,
and/or (ii) modify one or more aspects of the specified item (e.g.,
specify a different color, size, quantity, etc.). At 255, the
e-commerce system 42 may receive, via the presented interface, the
customer's selected options for reserving the item. The e-commerce
system 42 may then return to 245 to determine whether the item 24
is in stock based on the received options.
[0040] At 260, the e-commerce system 42 may present the customer
with an interface via customer computing device 30 from which the
customer may confirm and/or supply contact information. In some
embodiments, the e-commerce system 42 may obtain the contact
information from the profile 47 for the customer. In such
embodiments, the interface may present the contact information
obtained from the profile 47 and provide the customer opportunity
to confirm and/or modify the presented contact information to be
associated with the reservation.
[0041] At 265, the e-commerce system 42 may receive the contact
information from the customer computing device 30. In response to
receiving the contact information, the e-commerce system 42 at 270
may send the customer a confirmation that the reservation request
has been received. For example, the e-commerce system 42 may
present, to the customer via customer computing device 30, a
confirmation web page that includes a message confirming the
receipt of the reservation request. The e-commerce system 42 may
alternatively and/or in addition to presenting such a confirmation
page send the customer confirmation messages via other
communication channels. For example, the e-commerce system 42 may
send an e-mail message, an instant message, a SMS (short message
service) message, etc.
[0042] The e-commerce system 42 at 275 may request an employee of
the selected store 20 to locate and place the requested item 24 in
the reservation merchandise area 22 of the store 20. In particular,
the e-commerce system 42 may send the reservation request to an
employee via a employee computing device 60. At 275, the employee
computing device 60 may present the employee a list of requested
items 24 as specified in the received reservation request as well
as an interface via which the employee may confirm whether each
requested item 24 was found and placed in the reserved merchandise
area 22 of the store 20.
[0043] Via the employee computing device 60, the employee at 280
may recommend additional and/or alternative items 25 for the
customer. For example, if the customer reserved a particular shirt,
the employee may add the same style shirt in a different color
and/or a shirt of the same color but different style to requested
items 24 placed in the reserved merchandise area 22 for the
customer. Similarly, if the customer reserved a particular shirt,
the employee may retrieve the customer's pant and shoe size from
the customer's profile 47 and add matching pants and shoes in the
customer's size to the requested items 24. In some embodiments, the
employee may identify such recommended items 25 based on their own
personal knowledge of the customer and/or personal knowledge of
purchases by other customers. In other embodiments, the employee
may request that the recommendation system 49 provide
recommendations for the customer based on the requested items 24,
the customer's profile 47, past purchases of the reserved item 24,
clearance items for the store 20, sale items for the store 20,
and/or current inventory of the store 20.
[0044] After obtaining the additional recommended items, the
employee via the employee computing device 60 may update the
reservation to include the recommended items 25 and print a reserve
ticket at 285. The reserve ticket may identify the requested items
24, the recommended items 25, and the customer for which the items
24, 25 are reserved. The employee may include the reserve ticket
with the items 24, 25 placed in the reserved merchandise area 22 to
help aid the customer in collecting their requested items 24 and
recommended items 25.
[0045] The employee at 290 may notify the e-commerce system 42 via
the employee computing device 60 that the requested items 24 have
been placed in the reserved merchandise area 22. The e-commerce
system 42 at 295 may then notify the customer that their requested
items 24 have been reserved and are ready for pickup and/or
inspection. In particular, the e-commerce system 42 may send a
notification message to the customer based on contact information
in the customer's profile 47 and or contact information provided by
the customer when creating the reservation request. For example,
the e-commerce system 42 may provide such notification by sending
an email message, sending a SMS text message, sending an instant
message, calling a telephone number to present an audio message, or
utilizing some other communications method in order to inform the
customer that their reserved items 24 are ready. In some
embodiments, the e-commerce system 42 may further provide a
notification banner toward the top of presented web pages of the
virtual storefront that informs the customer that their reserved
items are ready. In this manner, if the customer is still using the
virtual storefront or revisits the virtual storefront at a later
date, the customer may receive a reminder of their reserved
items.
[0046] At 298, the demand prediction system 48 may receive or
receive data regarding the reservation request including the
reserved items 24 and recommended items 25. As explained in greater
detail below, the demand prediction system 48 may utilize the data
provided by the received reservation requests to estimate demand
for items. Such demand estimations may be used to adjust stocking
and restocking of the items for the store 20 at which the items
were reserved as well as other stores 20 of the retail
establishment.
[0047] Referring now to FIGS. 3A and 3B, a flow chart is shown for
another reservation process 300 that may be implemented by an
embodiment of the MR system 10. Several aspects of the reservation
process 300 may be implemented in a similar manner as corresponding
aspect of the reservation process 200 shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B. As
such, FIGS. 3A and 3B present such similar aspects with the same
reference numeral as corresponding aspects of FIGS. 3A and 3B.
Moreover, in the interest of not obscuring differences between the
processes 200 and 300, the following description of FIGS. 3A and 3B
does not address such similar aspects.
[0048] As explained in more detail below, the reservation process
300 of FIGS. 3A and 3B like reservation process 200 of FIGS. 2A and
2B may permit a customer to reserve one or more items for in store
pickup and/or inspection. However, unlike the reservation process
200, the reservation process 300 may automatically identify items
to recommend to the customer and present such recommended items 25
to the customer during the creation of the reservation request. In
this manner, the customer may approve, decline, and/or revise one
or more of the recommended items 25 before such items are located
by an employee and placed in the reserved merchandise area 22.
[0049] The e-commerce system 42, in a manner similar to 260 of the
reservation process 200, may present at 257 the customer with an
interface via customer computing device 30 from which the customer
may confirm and/or supply contact information. However, the
e-commerce system 42 may further generate the interface such that
it further requests permission to make recommendations based on the
requested items 24.
[0050] Accordingly, the e-commerce system 42 may receive the
requested contact information at 258 in a manner similar to 265 of
the reservation process 200. However, besides the contact
information, the e-commerce system 42 may further receive an
indication of whether the customer is interested in seeing some
recommended items 25 that have been selected based on the requested
items 24.
[0051] If the e-commerce system 42 determines at 259 that the
customer is interested in seeing some recommended items 25, then
the e-commerce system 42 at 261 may obtain recommended items 25
from the recommendation system 49 and present the recommended items
25 to the customer via customer computing device 30. To this end,
the e-commerce system 42 may send the recommendation request to the
recommendation system 49 in order to identify which items are being
requested by the customer as well as which customer is requesting
the items 24. The recommendation system 49 may review the
customer's profile 47 as well as the profiles 47 of other customers
in order to identify recommended items 25.
[0052] At 263, the e-commerce system 42 may receive from the
customer information regarding the recommended items 25. In
particular, the customer may accept one or more of the recommended
items 25 to be placed with their reservation. Conversely, the
customer may reject one or more of the recommended items 25 to
prevent such item from being placed with their reservation.
Furthermore, the customer may specify one or more variations for
the recommended items 25. For example, the customer may specify a
different size, color, or some other variation of the recommended
item 25.
[0053] After receiving the customer information regarding the
recommended items 25, the e-commerce system 42 may confirm receipt
of the reservation request at 272. The reservation may then be
processed by the MR system 10 in a manner similar to process 200
described above. However, as shown, the reservation process 300
does not include 280 and thus the employee in an embodiment of the
reservation process 300 does not recommend items to be added to
reservations since the e-commerce system 42 has already presented
the customer with recommended items 25.
[0054] As noted above, reservation processes 200 and 300 provide
reservation requests to a demand prediction system 48 so that the
demand prediction system 48 may estimate and/or update estimated
demand based on received reservation requests. It should be
appreciated that reservation requests may enable the demand
prediction system 48 to better estimate the true customer demand
for items than can be obtained by merely analyzing sales data. For
example, if a store 20 does not have an item in stock, then the
item cannot be sold to a customer who may have otherwise purchased
the item. However, the e-commerce system 42 may receive reservation
requests to pickup and/or inspect such an out-of-stock item at the
store 20. Such a request may still go unfulfilled and there may be
no record of the event in the sales data. However, the e-commerce
system 42 may provide such reserve requests to the demand
prediction system 48 thus providing the demand prediction system 48
with data indicative of unmet demand.
[0055] Referring now to FIG. 4, block diagram of on embodiment of
the demand prediction system 48 is shown. As shown, the demand
prediction system 48 may include a product mining module 410, a
clearance/seasonal matching module 420, a promotion planning module
430, a sale matching module 440, an item level matching module 450,
and store inventory module 460.
[0056] The product mining module 410, in one embodiment, receives
item details 412. Such item details 412 may include data gleaned
from recommendation requests such as requested items 24 and
recommended items 25 for such requests. The product mining module
410 further receives store location details 412, which includes
information regarding sales at each store 20 as well as items
offered for sale at each store 20. The product mining module 410
may further receive location details 414, which provide data
regarding the various store locations. Furthermore, the product
mining module 410 receives customer details from customer profiles
47. Based on such received data, the product mining module 410 may
determine (i) item demand by brand per store division and (ii) item
demand by store 20 per store division.
[0057] The clearance/seasonal matching module 420 may received from
the product mining module 410 the determined item demand data. The
clearance/seasonal matching module 420 may further receive items on
clearance data and/or seasonal item data. Based on such received
data, the clearance/seasonal matching module 420 may adjust item
demand data received from the product mining module 410 to account
for clearance and seasonal items.
[0058] The promotion planning module 430 may received from the
clearance/seasonal matching module 420 the item demand data
adjusted for clearance and seasonal effects. The promotion planning
module 420 may further receive details regarding promotional plans
for an upcoming period of time (e.g., next four weeks). Based on
such received data, the promotion planning module 430 may adjust
item demand data received from the clearance/seasonal matching
module 420 to further account for upcoming promotional plans.
[0059] The sales matching module 440 may receive, from the
promotion planning module 430, the item demand data adjusted for
anticipated effects from upcoming promotional plans. The sales
matching module 440 may further receive details regarding last
years sales data for the sales period being predicted. Based on
such received data, the sales matching module 440 may further
adjust item demand data received from the promotion planning module
430 based on actual sales data for the same sales period of the
prior year.
[0060] The item level matching module 450 may receive, from the
sales matching module 430, the item demand data adjusted based on
last years sales data. The item level matching module 450 may
further receive demographic details from the customer profiles 47.
Based on such received data, the item level matching module 450 may
further adjust item demand data received from the sales matching
module 440 based on the customer demographic data obtained from the
customer profiles 47.
[0061] Finally, the store inventory module 460 may receive, from
the item level matching module 450, the item demand data adjusted
based on customer demographics. The store inventory module 460 may
then determine a recommended inventory update per item per store 20
based on current inventory levels per store 20. In this manner, the
demand prediction system 48 may provide stocking and/or restocking
recommendations per item per store based, at least in part, upon
recommendation requests.
[0062] In some embodiments, the customer computing devices 30, the
RM system 40, the e-commerce system 42, the inventory system 44,
the member database system 46, the demand prediction system 48, and
the recommendation system 49 may be implemented using one or more
computing devices and/or embedded computing devices. FIG. 5
provides a simplified depiction of a computing device 500 suitable
for such aspects of MR system 10. As shown, the computing device
500 may include a processor 510, a memory 520, a mass storage
device 530, a network interface 540, and various input/output (I/O)
and peripheral devices 550. The processor 510 may be configured to
execute instructions, manipulate data and generally control
operation of other components of the computing device 500 as a
result of its execution. To this end, the processor 510 may include
a general purpose processor such as an .times.86 processor or an
ARM processor which are available from various vendors. However,
the processor 510 may also be implemented using an application
specific processor, microcontroller, and/or other circuitry.
[0063] The memory 520 may include various types of random access
memory (RAM) devices, read only memory (ROM) devices, flash memory
devices, and/or other types of volatile or non-volatile memory
devices. In particular, such memory devices of the memory 520 may
store instructions and/or data to be executed and/or otherwise
accessed by the processor 510. In some embodiments, the memory 520
may be completely and/or partially integrated with the processor
510.
[0064] In general, the mass storage device 530 may store software
and/or firmware instructions which may be loaded in memory 520 and
executed by processor 510. The mass storage device 530 may further
store various types of data which the processor 510 may access,
modify, and/otherwise manipulate in response to executing
instructions from memory 520. To this end, the mass storage device
530 may comprise one or more redundant array of independent disks
(RAID) devices, traditional hard disk drives (HDD), sold state
device (SSD) drives, flash memory devices, read only memory (ROM)
devices, and/or other types of non-volatile storage devices.
[0065] The network interface 540 may enable the computing device
500 to communicate with other computing devices via network 70. To
this end, the networking interface 540 may include a wired
networking interface such as an Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) interface, a
wireless networking interface such as a WiFi (IEEE 802.11)
interface, a radio or mobile interface such as a cellular interface
(GSM, CDMA, LTE, etc) or near field communication (NFC) interface,
and/or some other type of networking interface capable of providing
a communications link between the computing device 500 and network
70 and/or another computing device.
[0066] Finally, the I/O and peripheral devices 550 may generally
provide devices which enable a user to interact with the computing
device 500 by either receiving information from the computing
device 500 and/or providing information to the computing device
500. For example, the I/O and peripheral devices 550 may include
display screens, keyboards, mice, touch screens, microphones, audio
speakers, digital cameras, optical scanners, RF transceivers, etc.
The I/O and peripheral devices 550 for a POS terminal 30 may
especially include a cash drawer, receipt printer, a conveyor belt,
a weight scale, a signature capture device, a customer pin pad
device, a membership ID reader, and product scanner.
[0067] While the above provides some general aspects of a computing
device 500, those skilled in the art readily appreciate that there
may be significant variation in actual implementations of a
computing device. For example, a smart phone implementation of a
computing device generally uses different components and may have a
different architecture than a database server implementation of a
computing device. However, despite such differences, computing
devices generally include processors that execute software and/or
firmware instructions in order to implement various functionality.
As such, the above described aspects of the computing device 500
are not presented from a limiting standpoint but from a generally
illustrative standpoint. The present application envisions that
aspects of the present application may find utility across a vast
array of different computing devices and the intention is not to
limit the scope of the present application to a specific computing
device and/or computing platform beyond any such limits that may be
found in the appended claims.
[0068] Various embodiments have been described herein by way of
example and not by way of limitation in the accompanying figures.
For clarity of illustration, exemplary elements illustrated in the
figures may not necessarily be drawn to scale. In this regard, for
example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated
relative to other elements to provide clarity. Furthermore, where
considered appropriate, reference labels have been repeated among
the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.
[0069] Moreover, certain embodiments may be implemented as a
plurality of instructions on a tangible, computer readable storage
medium such as, for example, flash memory devices, hard disk
devices, compact disc media, DVD media, EEPROMs, etc. Such
instructions, when executed by one or more computing devices, may
result in the one or more computing devices performing various
aspects of the processes depicted in FIGS. 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, and
4.
[0070] While the present disclosure has described certain
embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that
various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted
without departing from the intended scope of protection. In
addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular
situation or material to the teachings of the present disclosure
without departing from its scope. Therefore, it is intended that
the present disclosure not be limited to the particular embodiment
or embodiments disclosed, but encompass all embodiments falling
within the scope of the appended claims.
* * * * *