Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02284409 1999-09-29
BACKGROUND OF'I'EIE SON
With the rapid introduction of online buying and selling on the Internet World
Wide Web, so called "e-
Commerce", the livelihood of many bricks-and-mortar retailers is in jeopardy.
First, online shopping threatens
those retailers who sell well known brands of products because either the
customer is already familiar with the
product, or it is easy for the customer to examine the product in a retail
setting, undertake some comparison-
shopping on the many Web shopping sites, and to make her purchase from the
online supplier with the lowest
price. Second, some wholesale suppliers are establishing e-Commerce shopping
sites, keeping the retail margin
from online sales for themselves, and diverting customers from their
retailers, a process referred to as
"cannibalization of the traditional distribution channels".
Other large wholesale suppliers would like to sell directly to the consumer on
the Internet; however, they are
constrained by the risk of alienating and losing their retail customers. That
is, they are not prepared to cannibalize
their existing distribution channel. The retail channel is vital to most
wholesale suppliers today because it still
accounts for the majority of their sales revenues.
Several companies have developed large custom online shopping sites, such as
amazon.com, yahoo.com and
carpoint.com, to exploit e-Commerce. Other companies such as BroadVison of Los
Altos CA have developed and
patented a methodology and computer system to facilitate the development of e-
Commerce sites. The current
state-of the-art e-Commerce sites include methods for presenting the products
to the customer, allowing the
customer to browse the electronic catalogue, and to purchase and pay for her
goods or services online. Many
software packages are commercially available containing this core e-Commerce
fiurctionality such as IBM's
Net.Commerce, Netscape's Merchant Xpert, Oracle's iStore and iPay, and
Macromedia's Drumbeat 2000 e-
Commerce Edition. Some companies such as yahoo.com have developed so called "e-
Commerce Portals". They
offer a service to retailers that allows them to create and maintain their own
"storefibnY' and their own electronic
catalogue where the customer enters the shopping site through the Internet
address (URL) of the shopping portal,
browses the collective electronic catalogue that includes all the retailers'
products, and is re-directed to the retail
"storefront" when the customer selects an item to purchase. Still other
companies such as Microsoft Corp. offer
services to the retailer that allows them to create and maintain their own
"storefront" and their own electronic
catalogue, but within their own Internet address (LJRL).
This invention incorporates and utilizes the state-of the-art functionality
available commercially, but also
incorporates a unique business model and computer fimctionality to improve on
the currently available methods.
We claim to have defined a unique method and invented a computer system to
assist the wholesale suppliers to sell
directly to the consumers on the Internet and still preserve their value chain
and distribution channels, by including
the sales representatives, and the retailers in a unique e-Commerce method. We
have identified a vital role for the
retailer in e-Commerce, that includes instilling trust in consumers' minds
during an online purchase, providing
after sales service, and assuring the consumer that she has the choice to shop
locally or purchase goods on the Web
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but at the same time remain loyal to her local retailer. We call the business
model "e-Commerce in
PartnershipTM".
The products that we expect will be sold initially by this method are non-
brand name products. The
consumer is not able to easily perform comparison-shopping on the Web for
these types of product. These
products typically retail at a high mark-up factor (e.g. jewelry, giftware and
hand crafted luxury products). The
products are usually sold through retail stores that typically specialize in
one type of product
We believe that the primary reason for online customers' reluctance to make
their first e-Commerce purchase
is lack of trust. When looking at a non-branded type of product on our Web
site, the consumer does not have a
familiar brand name to reply on, however, with this method he or she sees a
familiar retail store name and has the
confidence to make her purchase knowing that her local retailer will stand
behind it. This method substitutes trust
in a local retailer, for trust in a globally known brand name. We call this
marketing technique "Brand Name
SubstitutionT'"". The Web application in this method finds the closest retail
outlet for each item purchased by
matching the customer's postal code with the retailer's postal code. The
customer receives pre or after sales
service in the retail store assigned on her sales receipt at the time of
purchase.
The method can be applied to any type of goods or services purchased online,
for which a traditional
distribution channel exists.
SIIMMAItY OF THE )NVEN'TION
The invention is both a business model and a computer system, or Web
application, that is required to
implement the functionality required to support the business model. The
business model improves on the
conventional Web based online retailing in that it provides for a consumer's
online order to be fidfilled from a
plurality of wholesale suppliers or fulfillment centers if necessary.
Furthermore, the business model departs fibm
the conventional implementation of a retail e-Commerce application in that it
rewards the retailer when a consumer
in his geographic region makes a purchase, rather than the wholesale supplier
bypassing the retailer and keeping
the retail mark-up and sales representatives' commissions. The Web application
is an e-Commerce shopping
portal and an electronic data interchange system, implemented over a wide area
network that includes multiple
wholesale suppliers, fulfillment centers and bricks-and-mortar retailers. The
method expands on the services of
existing e-Commerce shopping sites, by offering on one Web portal, goods and
services from many wholesale
suppliers or manufacturers, and providing after-sales service from the many
retailers associated with each
wholesale supplier. The online shopping application obtains the customer's
postal code, or zip code, early in the
purchase transaction session, and displays a local retailer for each item
viewed.
The Web application is implemented at a data center that provides the computer
services through which all
the users connect. This data center could be implemented at one of the
wholesale supplier's corporate offices, or it
could be a separate entity charging for the services on an outsourcing basis.
The application contains the
fimctionality included in many of the state-of the-art online shopping
applications currently implemented, and
currently available in packaged software, such as catalogue browsing, the
"shopping cart", and payment validation.
However the invention consists of unique computer applications that are
required to implement the functionality to
support the e-Commerce in ParriiershipT'" business model.
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Using this method, the wholesale supplier (via his fulfillment center) ships
the products directly to the
consumer and credits the retailer with a commission for the sale.
Alternatively, the supplier may choose to drop
ship to the retailer of choice, and the customer may pick up her goods from
the retailer's store. The data center
retains a commission and processing fee and submits the net sales proceeds to
the appropriate wholesale suppliers.
Where no retailer exists in the consumer's area, the wholesale supplier and
the data center each retain a higher
portion of the retail margin. The invention includes a method for calculating
the amounts due to the retailer etc.,
based on a parameter driven system, and sending this information to the
parties involved.
When the customer confirms her purchase and makes her payment to the data
center via the Web
application, the order information is transmitted to one or more fulfillment
centers assigned by the wholesale
suppliers, from which the goods are shipped (or the services provided). Each
fulfillment center involved in the
order ships the product to the customer, and sends back the waybill
information to the data center. The business
relationships between the data center, the wholesale suppliers, the
fizlfillment centers, and the retailers defines the
commissions and processing fees charged and paid to each party. The data
center will process the financial
transactions and transmit them to each party involved.
BRIEFDE9CRIPTIONOFTI-lE DRAWll~IGS
FIG. 1 shows an overview of the wide area network and the local area network
in the data center.
FIG. 2 is a data flow diagram showing the primary transactions passed between
the users of the system and
the data center relating to e-Commerce.
FIG. 3 is a data flow diagram showing the transactions passed between the
users of the system and the data
center relating to the creation and maintenance of the wholesale suppliers'
and retailers' information and customer
returns.
FIG. 4 is an entity relationship diagram showing the database schema and the
relationships between the
database tables required to store the wholesale suppliers' and retailers'
information.
FIG. 5 is an entity relationship diagram showing the schema and relationships
between the database tables
required to store the customers' order information.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OFTHE 1NVEMTON
I. Overview
This section describes the detailed design of the fimctional components of an
elech~onic retail method and
computer system, and an electronic data interchange method, over a wide area
network that includes multiple
fidfillment centers and financial participation by bricks-and-mortar retailers
local to the customer. The method
expands on the existing methods of purchasing goods and services via e-
Commerce, by offering on one Web
portal, goods and services from many wholesale suppliers and manufacturers,
and providing after-sales service
from the many retailers associated with each wholesale supplier. The online
shopping application obtains the
customer's postal code, or zip code, early in the purchase transaction
session, and displays a local retailer for each
item viewed. The method allows the customer to buy goods or services finm any
number of wholesale supplier's
catalogues, and to concurrently perform searches across multiple catalogues in
a seamless manner.
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Some of the components of the computer system consist of commercially
available "package software" or
services - these components are described herein only in terms of the
fimctionality they provide. Other
components required to be constructed specifically for this application are
described in detail herein. The
application could be built using any number of computer languages, database
servers, and commercially available
software packages for the traditional e-Commerce modules. Therefore the design
specifications for the
components unique to the invention are described herein at a level of detail
sufficient such that a competent
systems analyst, experienced in this type of application, will be able to use
these design specifications to produce
low-level programming specifications for system development in the language or
languages of his choice.
The computer system or Web application is event driven, so the application
design is described in terms of
the physical components, the database design, data flow, and the data
processing logic associated with the main
events that occur in the day-to-day use of the application.
2. Physical Components
The physical components of the system are part of a wide area network, as
shown in FIG. 1. The Internet
(1), or its logical successor in years to come, is the transmission layer of
this system. The users of the application
communicate with the Web application via a thin client Web browser, such as
Microsoft Explorer or Netscape
Navigator, to view the Web pages sent to a terminal, such as a personal
computer, WebTV terminal, a telephone
Internet terminal or a mobile computer, connected to the Internet by wireless,
or any similar device. The customer
uses her Internet terminal (2) to do her online shopping. The bricks-and-
mortar retailer (5) may use an Internet
terminal to enter his wholesale orders and to receive reports from the data
center (6). It is not mandatory for the
retailer to have an Internet ternvnal in order to participate, because if a
retailer does not have an Internet terminal,
information may be sent to him fibm the data center (6) using a facsimile
machine or other alternative messaging
method such as voice mail or e-Mail. The fulfillment center has an Internet
terminal (3) and the wholesale supplier
(10) has an Internet terminal (4) on which order information is received and
through which the wholesale
supplier's data may be maintained. The data center (~ includes a local area
network on which there is a Database
Server (9) connected to a Web Application Server (8) which is in turn
connected to a Web Page Server (7).
Additionally, a firewall security server (11) may be places between the Web
server (7) and the rest of the network
in the data center. Some or all of these components may be merged into a
lesser number of components in future
as the available technology changes.
3. Database Design
The system utilizes a commercially available relational database server such
as Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 or
Oracle 8i. The server allows the creation and maintenance of a database
schema. The application populates and
maintains tables of data using a standard command and data flow interface such
as PIJSQL, SQL or ODBC. The
application could also be implemented in a non-relational database, which
supports the required business rules.
The database for a Web based shopping portal contains a multitude of tables
and relationships. Those tables and
relationships specifically required to support the business model are shown in
FIG. 4 and FIG. S.
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In this application a supplier may be a wholesale distributor or a
manufacturer that traditionally sells his
products or services through bricks-and-mortar retail outlets. The supplier
may perform his own fiilfillment or
outsource the warehousing and shipping fitncrions to an outside fi,rlfillment
center.
Each supplier has many bricks-and-mortar retail outlets (41) that buy items
(45) finm him. The information
pertaining to the relationship between the supplier (40) and the retailer (41)
is stored in a cross-reference table
(42). This information includes the percentage of the sales commission payable
to the retailer for online sales to a
customer in their region. Several commission rates based on criteria defined
by the supplier may be applicable.
For each retailer, the supplier may offer one or more items (45), i.e. goods
or services, at a special discount
or price. A cross-reference table (44) contains information relating each item
in the supplier's catalogue (45) to
each retailer (41 ).
Each supplier, or manufacturer, uses one or more fulfillment centers (46) to
warehouse and ship the items
(45) to the customer. These may be the local packing and shipping departinent
or an outside facility performing
the warehousing and shipping services. One fulfillment center (46) may provide
services for many suppliers (40)
and the information pertaining to each fulfillment center/supplier
relationship is stored in a cross-reference table
(47).
Each retailer (41) has a valid postal code or zip code that is part of his
address. In addition, there exist many
zip codes within one or more pre-defined radii of the retailer's store. When a
new retailer is registered with the
system, the application scans every postal code or zip code in the zip code
table (48) for the country in which the
retailer exists, and makes an entry in the retailer zip code table (49) for
every zip code or postal code which exists
within one or more predefined radii of the retailer's zip code or postal code.
When the customer (50) places an order online for the first time this creates
a new entry in the customer table
(50). When the customer places an order online, this creates an entry in a
customer invoice table (51). The ship-
to address on the customer's invoice has a valid zip code (48). Each customer
invoice has one or more invoice
items (52), each of which is related to both a catalogue item (45) and the
fulfillment center (46) responsible for
shipping the item to the customer.
4. Induction of a new fulfillment center
When a new fulfillment center is added to the system, the application provides
a fulfillment center table
maintenance screen, which may be a thin client application conning on an
Internet terminal, e.g. a Web browser,
that is used to insert and modify records in the fulfillment center table
(46).
5. Induction of a new supplier
When a new supplier is incorporated in to the system, the application provides
a supplier table maintenance
screen, which may be a thin client application running on an Internet
terminal, e.g. a Web browser, that is used to
insert and modify records in the supplier table (40). This allows the user to
create new entries in the database for
the corporate information e.g. name, address, standard retail markup, and
other parameters. The next task is to
populate the electronic catalogue at the data center with the required records
about the supplier and about the
goods or services offered. The first method provided by the application is a
bulk insert of the supplier's catalogue
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items from a suitable intermediary file such as a comma delimited ASCII file.
The second method provided by the
application is an item table maintenance screen, which is a Web page used to
insert and modify records in the
catalogue item table (45). This application also allows the user to add
graphical pictures or multi-media objects
related to a particular catalogue item. The final task is to enter one record
in the supplier/fialfillment center cross-
reference table for each fulfillment center that the new supplier uses to
warehouse and ship his products. The
application provides a supplier/fulfi(lment center cross-reference table
maintenance screen, which is a Web page
used to insert and modify records in the supplier/fulfillment center cross-
reference table (47).
The system provides a thin client interface to the application for the
supplier. When the supplier accesses the
application, he must enter an assigned identifier and password. The unique
requirement is that the Web
application only shows the supplier his information - his catalogue items, his
retailer database, and his report data
(27). This requirement is satisfied by maintaining a "view" of the database
for each supplier, based on his unique
identifier, in the supplier table (40). This identifier is also stored in the
item table (4~ and the retailer/supplier
cross-reference table (42). When the supplier uses the Web application to view
or edit his retailers' data at the
data center, only those retailers in the retailer/supplier cross-reference
table (42) that have his supplier )D are
shown or accessible. When the supplier uses the Web application to view or
edit his product catalogue data at the
data center, only those products in the item table (45) that have his supplier
ID are shown or are accessible.
When the supplier uses the Web application to view online sales reports (28),
the only records aggregated
are those in the customer invoice item cross-reference table (52) that have
his supplier 117. When the supplier uses
the Web application to view online sales reports by retailer, the only records
aggregated are those in the customer
invoice item cross reference table (52) that have the retailer ID.
6. Induction of a new retailer
When a new retailer is incorporated in to the system, the application provides
a retailer/supplier table
maintenance screen, which is a Web page used to insert and modify records in
the retailer table (41) and the
retailer/supplier cross reference table (42). A second optional method is to
capture the retailer information off line
on a sales representatives' mobi'.p computer, and to download it later to the
data center via the Internet.
When a new retailer is added to the database using either method, all the
valid zip codes within one or more
pre-defined radii are derived and stored in the retailers' zip code table
(49). The application only selects possible
zip codes that exist within the same country as the retailer, e.g. Canada or
the USA. When a new retailer is
registered with the system, the application scans every postal code or zip
code in the zip code table (48) for the
country in which the retailer exists, and makes an entry in the retailers' zip
code table (49) for every zip code or
postal code which exists within one or more predefined radii of the retailer's
zip code or postal code.
In the zip code table (48), the geographic location of each zip code is
defined in terms of decimal degrees of
north latitude and degrees of west longitude. Because of the spherical shape
of the Earth, calculating the exact
distance between two zip codes requires the use of spherical geometry and
trigonometric math fimctions.
The application first populates a temporary table of all zip codes and their
distance to the retail store zip code
(zipl). The distance between the retail store zip code, and each other
possible zip code (zip2) is derived using the
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following algorithm. The radius of the Earth is assumed to be 6,371
kilometers, or 3,958.75 miles. Exact distance
in miles =
3958.75 * arccos[sin(zipl.lat/57.295B) * sin(zip2.lat/57.2958) +
cos(zipl.lat/57.2958) * cos(zip2.lat/57.2958) * cos(zip2.lon/57.2958 -
zipl.lon/57.2958)]
Next, the application inserts rows in a cross-reference table (49) for each
the zip code in the temporary table
which falls within one or more pre-defined radii of the new retail store, as
defined by system parameters or
parameters specific to an individual supplier, e.g. 5 miles, 10 miles, 25
miles, 50 miles and 75 miles. The distance
between the retail store and each of the zip codes is stored on these cross-
reference records (49)
7. Customer Logon
When the customer connects to the shopping portal via the Internet the Web
application sends a request to
her browser to read the "cookie" file on her Internet terminal, and return her
Preferred Shopper 1D, postal code,
etc. A cookie file is a text file containing information that the Web
application wants to store on the customer's
Internet terminal. If she has previously made a purchase through the system,
then the Web application extracts her
customer profile information using her 1D, stores her postal code, and
displays the shopping home page. If she has
never used the site, no cookie will exist and the Web app displays an
alternative home page for first time users,
containing insmzctive information. The customer is prompted to register as a
Preferred Shopper, to enter her
postal code or zip code and to choose her ID and password for future use. The
application detects whether she is
connected from a Canadian or a US location by parsing the postal code entered,
and validates the code entered
against the database of known postal codes and zip codes (48) and if
necessary, displays an error message and
prompts here to re-enter the code.
If the customer chooses not to supply his or her postal code, the application
still lets the customer browse the
catalogue. However, when a product detail Web page is requested, the
application prompts again for her postal
code so that the retailer information may be selected from the database and
displayed. If the customer still chooses
not to supply his or her postal code, no retailer information will be
displayed alongside the product information,
however, the customer must supply a valid postal code when she "checks out"
and pays for her order, so that the
credit for each item on her invoice (51) may be attributed to the appropriate
retailer (41). The application then
retains the postal code entered in the customer's profile both in the database
and in the cookie file stored on her
Web terminal for use when next she logs into the data center Web site.
In the event that a repeat customer logs into the Web application from a new
Internet terminal, no cookie file
will exist. The application prompts her to enter her Preferred customer ID on
the home page, and selects her
profile information from the database and creates a new cookie file on her new
Internet terminal.
8. Cata~gue Browsing
When the customer wants to look for items to purchase, she is offered a wide
choice of different methods to
search the item catalogue. In addition to the conventional browsing methods
included in commercially available
online shopping systems (e.g. search by item identifier, by product group or
sub-group, or by gift-giving occasion),
the system offers the unique ability to display items by supplier and by
retailer.
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9. Display Catalogue By Supplier
When the customer selects this option, the application presents a pull down
picklist of the suppliers that
choose to display their catalogue to the public, showing the suppliers' names
and a brief description of the type of
products they offer. The customer picks a supplier from the list, and she is
then offered a fiuther choice of
browsing using the conventional drill down methods, or browsing through the
supplier's catalogue in a manner that
emulates turning the pages of a conventional paper printed catalogue. In the
former case, all the conventional drills
down searches are constrained to only those items containing the selected
supplier identifier.
In the latter case, the Web application selects the items by the selected
supplier, and displays them on the
Web page using the page number, and x,y page location stored in the item table
(45) for each item to group the
items by catalogue page. For example in the Sequential Query Language (SQL)
the qualifying items could be
selected as follows:
SELECT DISTINCT item_id, description, retl~rice, cat~age_num,
cat~age~os x, cat~age~os~r, hires~hoto
FROM item
WHERE aupp id = selected_supp_id
ORDER BY cat_page num, cat~age~os x, cat~age~os.y;
Where selected supp id is the unique identifier of the supplier picked by the
customer.
10. Display Catalogue by Retailer
When the customer selects this option, the application presents a pull down
picklist of the available search
radii, e.g. 5 miles, 10 miles, 25 miles, and 50 miles. When the customer
selects the search radius, the application
presents a second pull doww picklist of the showing the retailers' names and a
brief description of the type of
products they offer. The customer then has the option to browse a sub-set of
the item catalogue using the
conventional drill down searches. The searches are constrained to only those
items that contain the supplier
identifier in the set defined by the supplier identifier in the
retailerlsupplier cross-reference table (42). Note that
the results returned do not necessarily represent the items that the retailer
may have in stock in his bricks-and-
mortar store, but rather rhc Gems that his suppliers have in stock available
for purchase online.
The selection may be executed in many ways in many programming languages. For
example in SQL
temporary tables could be used to derive the qualifying suppliers, and then
the items corresponding to the search
criteria as follows:
SELECT DISTINCT retl supp xref.supp id
INTO temp_supp_list
FROtvi retl_supp xref, retl_zip code
WHERE retl_supp xref.retl_id = retl_zip code.retl_id
AND retl zip code.supp miles <= selected radius;
Where selected radius is the distance specified by the customer. Then ...
SELECT item.item_desc, item.item_retail~rice
FROM item, temp supp list
WHERE item. product group = selected~roduct group
At~ item.supp id = temp supp list.supp id;
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Where selected~roduct-group is the product type specified by the customer.
11. Rdailer Lookup
When the customer requests more detailed information on a specific item, the
application selects the detailed
product information from the item table (45) and then searches for the logo
and address information for the bricks-
and-mortar retail store closest to the zip code or postal code the customer
has specified. It uses a query based on
the table of known retailers (41) and a table of zip codes within specified
radii of the retail store (49). The SQL
query to obtain the possible retailers in the customer's area that are related
to the item is as follows:
SELECT retailer.retl_id, retailer. address, retailer. logo,
retl_zip code.supp miles
FROM retailer, retl zip code, retl supp xref
WF~RE retl_zip code. zip code_id = customer zip code_id
AND retl_zip code.supp miles <= search_radius
AND retl_supp xref.supp id = search_supp id
AND retailer.retl id = retl supp_xref.retl_id
ORDER BY retl zip code.supp miles;
Where search radius is the maximum distance specified by the customer,
customer zip code id is the
customer's postal code, and search supp id is the identifier of the supplier
that sells the product, derived finm the
item being displayed. Alternatively, the acceptable radii from the customer's
specified address to the retailer's
bricks-and-mortar store may be derived from a database of rules. If this query
returns more than one retailer the
exact same distance from the customer, then the application prompts the
customer to pick one retailer finm a list,
otherwise the application selects the first retailer in the result list
returned by the query and displays the retailer's
address, the distance in miles between the customer's specified zip code and
the retailer's zip code, and the image
data for the retailer's logo and/or promotional infomlation such as a
storefinnt picture, on the Web page alongside
the product information. Alternatively, the application may be configured to
always present a list of retailers
within the specified radius so that customer may pick the most familiar
retailer to be displayed with the product
information.
If there is no retailer, the customer may increase the radius of the search up
to a maximum specified by a
system parameter. If there is no retailer available and the customer confirms
the purchase, the application makes a
note on the customer invoice item (52) that the retailer commission is zero.
12. Shopping Cart
A "shopping cart" is a software module that keeps track of the items added to
the order by the customer, and
displays the order lines and totals on demand. When the customer clicks on the
"add to shopping cart" button next
to an item displayed on a Web page, the application adds items she wants to
purchase to a "shopping cart". This
fimctionality may be custom developed or may be provided by a commercially
available shopping cart software
utility or service, but in either case, the application also appends the
identifier of the retailer, the wholesale price,
the commission due to the data center, and the commission due to the retailer,
to the record added to the temporary
table used to store the "shopping cart" items.
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When the customer uses the shopping cart function to "check out" and she
submits her payment information,
the application validates her payment and displays her sales receipt. It also
displays against each item on the order,
the unique ID of the retailer who has been assigned to the order item. It
inserts a new row in the customer invoice
table (51) containing her unique customer ID and the unique invoice ID for the
order, and inserts one or more rows
in the customer invoice item table (52), containing the item infom~ation, the
identifier of the retailer, the wholesale
price, the commission due to the data center, and the commission due to the
retailer. The amounts due to each
party are calculated using the commission parameters stored on the Whole
supplier table (40) and the
retailer/supplier cross-reference table (42). In some instances, there may be
special commission applicable for a
particular item, and this information is stored in the retailer/item cross-
reference table (44).
The customer is prompted to print a copy of her sales receipt showing the
retail outlets assigned to provide
after sales support for each item (provided such retailers exist within a
preset radius of the customer's home or
other preferred postal code).
13. Shipping Calculations
Because the items on the customer's order may be shipped from more than one
fizlfillment center, when each
item is added to the shopping cart, the shipping charges associated with the
item are calculated and added to the
total shipping charges for the customer's order. When more than one item is to
be shipped finm the same
firlfillment center, the total weight of the items from the same fiilfillment
center may be used to derive the
appropriate shipping charge, and the total order shipping charge adjusted
accordingly. Alternatively, the distance
firm the fulfillment center's postal code to the customer's postal code may be
calculated finm the
latitude/longitude information, and used to derive the shipping charges
applicable. Note that in some cases, the
shipping charge may be absorbed by the data center or by the supplier, for
example if the item ticket price is over a
specified minimum, in which case no shipping will be charged on the customer's
order. This rule is implemented
by storing a flag on the item table (45).
14. Construct Ship Requests
When the customer clicks the "check out' button and fills c~.rt her payment
method information, the
application validates and approves her payment, and prepares the order
information for the firlfillment centers.
The application sorts the customer-invoice-item (52) rows for the order in
question by fulfillment center ID. It
then groups the order lines for each fi~lfillment center (46) into "sub-
orders" and const<ucts the data interchange
message to be sent to the fulfillment center as the "ship request' (26). This
process is repeated for each fulfillment
center involved with shipping the customer's order items.
If the fulfillment center and the corresponding supplier are different
entities, then this ship request message is
also sent to the supplier (31) who extracts the information finm his online
reports available through his Web
terminal interface to the data center (28) and passes it on to his corporate
order entry system.
15. Shipping Confirmation
When the customer's items are packaged and the shipping information is known,
the fulfillment system will
constnrct a message containing the customer's invoice number, the fulfillment
center ID and the waybill number
for tracing the package with the carrier. The system at the fulfillment center
passes the message back to the data
01999 P~e6er T. O'Brien Page 11
CA 02284409 1999-09-29
e~Commerce in P~rtr~ership'""
center via the Internet (27) and the application updates the status code on
each related item on the customer's
invoice (52) to "shipped" and stores the waybill number for online queries to
the carrier's information system.
16. Product Returns
In the event that the customer wants to return an item he or she has purchased
for repair or for credit, she logs
into the shopping portal Web site and enters her unique customer ID. She
selects the option to retrieve her sales
receipt, and when the application displays the appropriate Web pages, she
clicks the option to "request a return
authorization". On the screen, she selects the items) on her order to be
returned, and she selects the option of
"return for credit" or "return for repair".
There may be more than one supplier and more than one retailer involved in the
return. Therefore the
application will group the requests and package them in messages that are sent
to the appropriate suppliers over the
Internet (35). When the suppliers log onto the Web site, they are alerted that
there are requests for returns to be
processed, and they are required to enter return authorization codes that are
passed back to the data center (36).
The Web application then composes an e-mail message for each supplier
involved, containing the return
authorization information, and sends these e-mail messages to the customer
(37). Alternatively, the customer may
log onto the Web site using her customer B7, and display the return
authorizations) and print them from the Web
page.
In the case of a return for repair, the customer includes a printed copy of
the e-mail return authorization
message in her parcel when she ships the goods back to the suppliers repair
center. In the case of a return for
credit she presents the printed copy of the e-mail return authorization
message with her item when she takes the
goods back to the retailer. In the case where there is no retailer associated
with an item on her order, she includes a
printed copy of the return authorization message in her parcel when she ships
the goods back to the supplier's
return center.
Alternative implementations of this method may be employed where the return
procedures are unique to a
particular supplier.
17. REPGRTING
Using a Web browser, the wholesale supplier submits selection criteria to the
Web application that returns
information formatted as reports, e.g. online sales month-to-date sorted by
retailer region (28). The separation of
one wholesale supplier's information from the next is unique to this method.
Using a Web browser, the retailer submits selection criteria to the Web
application that returns information
fotrnatted as reports, e.g. online sales month-to-date for his region (29).
The separation of one retailer's
information from the next is unique to this method.
The customer may request information about her purchase order(s). The Web
application netmns
information formatted as reports, e.g. a copy of her sales receipt showing the
retailer associated with each item
(30). The tracking of information pertaining to each item on the customer's
order, by retailer, and by fulfillment
center is unique to this method.
We claim:
~ 1999 Peter T. O'B~en
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