Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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COMPUTER SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR
ELECTRONIC COMMERCE INCORPORATING
MULTIPLE WHOLESALE SUPPLIERS, AN
INTEGRATED PRODUCT CATALOGUE AND
RETAILER PARTICIPATION
Backcrround of the Invention
With the rapid introduction of online buying
and selling on the Internet, so called "e-commerce",
many wholesale suppliers and bricks-and-mortar
retailers are searching for the optimum method for
utilizing this new sales channel. Some retailers are
developing their own Web sites or setting up a
"storefront" under a shopping portal like Yahoo!. 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 the
disintermediation or "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
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by the risk of alienating and losing their retail
customers. That is, they are not prepared to
disintermediate 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
functionality such as IBM's Net.Commerce, Netscape's
Merchant Xpert, Oracle's iStore and iPay, and
Macromedia's Drumbeat 2000 e-Store.
Some companies such as yahoo.com, amazon.com
and shopnow.com, offer a service to multiple suppliers
under the same point of entry, so called "e-Commerce
Portals". These services are primarily aimed at small
retailers. These portals offer varying degrees of
integration and search capability within a single
product catalogue, but do not provide the customer with
a single order including more than one supplier. Some
of these companies allow the retailer to create and
maintain their own "storefront" and their own
electronic catalogue where the customer enters the
shopping site through the Internet address (URL) of the
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shopping portal, and browses the collective electronic
catalogue that includes all the participating sellers'
products. However, the customer is typically re-
directed to the retail "storefront" when the customer
selects an item to purchase.
Summary of the Invention
The present invention incorporates and
utilizes the state-of-the-art e-commerce functionality
that is available commercially, but also incorporates a
unique business model and computer functionality to
improve on the currently available methods. The
invention provides unique methods and systems to assist
the wholesale suppliers in selling directly to
consumers, preferably on the Internet, while still
preserving their value chain and distribution channels,
by including sales representatives and retailers in a
unique e-commerce partnership. In these systems and
methods the retailer provides a vital role in
e-commerce that includes instilling trust in consumers'
minds during online purchases, providing after sales
service, and assuring consumers that they have the
choice to shop locally or purchase goods on the Web but
at the same time remain loyal to their local retailer.
Similarly, in these systems and methods, the supplier's
sales representatives enhance e-commerce by persuading
their retailers to register and participate in the
program, and by training their retailers in how to
place wholesale orders online.
The products that may be sold using these
systems and methods include non-brand name products or
lesser-known, specialty brand name products.
Typically, the consumer is not able to easily perform
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comparison-shopping on the Web for these types of
products. 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.
In many cases, the primary reason for online
customers' reluctance in making their first e-commerce
purchase is lack of trust. Many e-commerce Web sites
rely on displaying the names and logos of products with
well-known "brand names" in order to instill confidence
in the customer's mind that she will be satisfied with
the purchase. In the systems and methods of the
present invention the confidence level is instilled in
the customer's mind by displaying a retailer's name and
other information, which is hopefully familiar to the
customer. When looking at non-branded types of
products on a Web site in accordance with the present
invention, the consumer may not have a familiar brand
name to rely on, but instead will have a familiar
retail store name to rely on which will give the
consumer confidence to make a purchase knowing that the
retail store will stand behind it. In this way, trust
in a local retailer is substituted for trust in a
globally known brand name.
The invention improves' on conventional Web
based online retailing in that it provides for a
consumer's online order to be fulfilled from a
plurality of wholesale suppliers. Furthermore, the
invention departs from the conventional implementation
of a retail e-commerce application in that it involves
and preferably rewards the retailer and the sales
representative when a consumer in his geographic region
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makes a purchase. The invention incorporates an
e-commerce shopping portal and an electronic data
interchange system, implemented over a wide area
network (e. g. the Internet), which includes multiple
wholesale suppliers, their sales representatives and
bricks-and-mortar retailers. The invention expands on
the services of existing e-commerce shopping sites by
providing a means for the consumer to browse an
integrated electronic catalogue containing goods and
services from many wholesale suppliers or manufacturers
in a seamless manner, a means to place orders from more
than one supplier on a single order, and a means to
obtain pre and post sales service from many retailers
associated with each wholesale supplier. Furthermore,
the invention determines which local retailer is
applicable for each item selected by the customer by
comparing the distance between customer's postal code
(or zip code) and the retailer's postal code (or zip
code). It then preferably displays the local
retailer's address and promotional information for each
item viewed. The customer receives pre or post sales
service in the retail store indicated on her sales
receipt at the time of purchase. The method can be
applied to any type of goods or services (collectively
"items") purchased online, especially those for which a
traditional distribution channel exists.
In preferred embodiments, the invention may
be implemented in part at a data center that provides
the computer services through which the customer and
all the business participants 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
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basis. The invention preferably contains the
functionality included in many of the state-of-the-art
online shopping applications currently implemented, and
currently available in packaged software, such as
catalogue browsing, "shopping carts", and payment
validation.
Under the invention, a wholesale supplier
(via his fulfillment center) may ship products directly
to a consumer and credit a retailer and a sales
representative with a commission for the sale.
Alternatively, the supplier may choose to drop ship to
a retailer of choice, and the customer may pick up the
goods from the retailer's store. The data center
preferably 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 may each retain a higher portion of the retail
margin. The invention may calculate the amounts due to
20 the retailer, etc. based on a parameter driven system,
and may send this information to the parties involved.
When a customer confirms a purchase and makes
a payment to the data center via a Web application,
order information is transmitted to one or more
suppliers, and if necessary to their fulfillment
centers, from which the goods are preferably shipped
(or the services provided). Each supplier involved in
the order may ship the product to the customer, and
send back a shipping confirmation and carrier's waybill
information to the data center. The commissions and
processing fees charged and paid to each party may be
negotiated between the data center, the wholesale
suppliers, the fulfillment centers, and the retailers,
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and may be defined as parameters within the
application's database. The data center preferably
processes all the transactions and transmits the
transaction data to each party involved.
Brief Description of the Drawings
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment
of a wide area network connecting wholesale suppliers,
fulfillment centers, retailers, sales representatives,
customers, and a data center in accordance with the
present invention.
FIG. 2 is a data flow diagram showing primary
transactions passed between users and a data center in
accordance with one embodiment of the present
invention.
FIG. 3 is a data flow diagram showing other
transactions passed between users and a data center in
accordance with one embodiment of the present
invention.
FIG. 4 is an entity relationship diagram
showing database schema and relationships between
database tables that may be used to store wholesale
suppliers' and retailers' information in accordance
with one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is an entity relationship diagram
showing schema and relationships between database
tables that may be used to store the customers' order
information in accordance with one embodiment of the
present invention.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a process for
creating a new supplier and ancillary data in
accordance with one embodiment of the present
invention.
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FIGS. 7a and 7b are flowcharts of a supplier
log on process and a process for creating and
maintaining a product catalogue for one or more
suppliers in accordance with one embodiment of the
present invention.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a customer log-on
process in accordance with one embodiment of the
present invention.
FIGS. 9a and 9b are flowcharts of a browse by
retailer process and a browse by supplier process in
accordance with one embodiment of the present
invention.
FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a display retailer
for selected item process in accordance with one
embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 11 is a flowchart of shopping cart and
shipping confirmation processes in accordance with one
embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a product returns
process in accordance with one embodiment of the
present invention.
Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments
1. Overview
The present invention expands on the existing
methods of purchasing goods and services via e-commerce
by providing online consumers with seamless electronic
catalogues containing products or services of a
plurality of wholesale suppliers, and, furthermore, by
allowing the identity of wholesale suppliers to remain
hidden from consumers if desired. The invention also
enables the consumer to order products from more than
one supplier on a single order if desired. An online
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shopping application in accordance with the invention
may obtain the customer's postal code (or zip code),
preferably early in the purchase transaction session,
and the application can then display information about
a local retailer for each item viewed. The invention
may also provide a means for remunerating the local
retailer in exchange for the retailer providing pre and
post sales service to the consumer and for permission
to use the retailer's name in connection with the
product being sold. Suppliers using the invention can
maintain their online catalogues, while knowing that
other suppliers are prevented from seeing any
information about their information that is designated
as private. The invention also provides a means for
remunerating a supplier's sales representatives for
online sales in their territory. In addition to the
business-to-consumer functionality, the system has the
optional facility for providing business-to-business
e-commerce between the retailers and their suppliers.
The invention may be implemented using one or
more computer applications and a wide area network that
allows users of the invention to communicate. In
preferred embodiments, a data center is used to enable
all users to communicate using a Web browses and the
Internet.
Some of the components in such embodiments
may comprise commercially available "package software"
or services. The invention could be implemented using
any number of computer languages, database servers, and
commercially available software packages for
traditional e-commerce modules.
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2. Physical Components
One embodiment of the present invention may
be implemented using the physical components of a
system shown in FIG. 1. As illustrated, the Internet
1, or any other suitable computer network, may be used
as a transmission layer of this system.
Over the Internet 1, a customer may use an
Internet terminal 2 to perform online shopping. The
Internet terminal can be a personal computer, a WebTV
terminal, a telephone Internet terminal or a mobile
computer, connected to the Internet by wire or by a
wireless connection, or any similar device. A
bricks-and-mortar retailer 5 also has the option to use
an Internet terminal to enter wholesale orders and to
receive reports from data center 6. It is not
mandatory for retailers to have an Internet terminal in
order to participate, because if retailer 5 does not
have an Internet terminal, information may be sent from
data center 6 using a facsimile machine 4 or other
alternative messaging method such as voice mail or
e-Mail. A supplier 10, and optionally a corresponding
fulfillment center 3, may have an Internet terminal or
server on which order information is received and
through which the wholesale supplier's data may be
maintained. A sales representative 12 may have a
mobile Internet terminal 12 on which wholesale orders
may be placed and downloaded to the supplier, and, in
addition, on which online reports may be viewed.
Data center 6 may include a local area
network 13 through which a Database Server 9 may be
connected to a Web Application Server 8, which is in
turn connected to a Web Page Server 7. A firewall
security server 11 may optionally be positioned between
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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 as desired.
3. Database Desian
As shown in FIG. 1, the present invention may
be implemented using a database server 9. Server
allows the creation and maintenance of a database
schema. Server 9 is preferably populated with tables
of data using a standard command and data flow
interface such as PL/SQL, SQL or ODBC. Server 9 could
also implement a non-relational database. The database
for a Web based shopping portal typically contains a
multitude of tables and relationships. Tables and
relationships that may be used to implement the present
invention are shown in FIGS. 2-5. As can be seen
therein:
1. Each supplier 40 may have a unique
identifier and password (not shown). A supplier may be
a wholesale distributor or a manufacturer that
traditionally sells products or services through
bricks-and-mortar retail outlets. The supplier may
perform its own fulfillment or outsource warehousing
and shipping functions to an outside fulfillment center
46.
2. Each supplier 40 may have many
bricks-and-mortar retail outlets 41 that buy items 45
from the supplier. The information pertaining to the
relationship between the supplier 40 and each retailer
41 may be stored in a cross-reference table 92. This
information may include a percentage of a sales
commission that is payable to the retailer for online
sales to customers in the retailer's region. Several
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commission rates based on criteria defined by the
supplier may be applicable.
3. 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 may contain information relating each item 45 in the
supplier's catalogue to each retailer 41.
4. Each supplier may use one or more
fulfillment centers 46 to warehouse and ship items 45
to customers. Each fulfillment center 46 may provide
services for one or more suppliers 40 and information
pertaining to each fulfillment center/supplier
relationship may be stored in a cross-reference table
47.
5. Each sales representative 53 may have a
unique identifier and user password (not shown). Each
sales representative 53 should be associated with at
least one supplier 40. A sales representative 53 may
sell products from more than one supplier 40.
6. Each retailer 41 may have a unique
identifier and user password (not shown). Each
retailer 41 should be associated with at least one
supplier 40. A retailer 41 may be assigned a sales
representatives 53. Each retailer 41 may have a valid
postal code (or zip code) that is part of its address.
In addition, there may exist one or more zip codes
within one or more pre-defined radii of the retailer's
store. When a new retailer is registered with the
system, the invention may optionally scan every postal
code (or zip code) a code table 48 for the country in
which the retailer exists, and makes an entry in a
retailer zip code table 49 for every postal code (or
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zip code) which exists within one or more predefined
radii of the retailer's postal code (or zip code).
7. Each customer 50 may be assigned a
unique identifier, and optionally a user password,
after the customer has placed its first order. When
customer 50 places an order online for the first time,
a new entry in customer table is preferably created for
that customer 50. When the customer places an order
online, an entry 51 in a customer invoice table is
preferably created for that order. The ship-to address
on the customer's invoice 51 preferably has a valid zip
code 48. Each customer invoice 51 may have one or more
invoice items 52, each of which may be related to both
a catalogue item 45 and a fulfillment center 96
responsible for shipping the item to the customer.
8. Each customer invoice item 52 should be
for an item 45. Each customer invoice item may be
accredited to a retailer 41. Each customer invoice
item may also be accredited to a sales representative
53.
4. Trade Channel
In order to accommodate both wholesale and
retail customers, the invention may provide two
separate Web addresses (or URLs), one for suppliers,
retailers and sales representatives, and another for
consumers. When a "trade" user, i.e. a supplier,
retailer, or sales representative, logs on, the
application will identify the user as such and present
the appropriate menu or "home page" to that type of
user.
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5. Retailer Web Address
Each retailer will be offered the option of
having its own Web address (or URL). For example, if
the data center is addressed as www.datacenter.com a
retailer named "Smiths" could be assigned a URL
"www.smiths.datacenter.com" or a URL
"www.datacenter.com/smiths". This allows the retailer
to direct consumers to the data center web site, but to
initially restrict the consumer's view of the catalogue
to only those products offered by the particular
retailer's suppliers. In addition, this allows the
invention to credit the retailer with the commission
for the sale when the consumer uses the retailer's URL
to enter the site and the consumer purchases one or
more items from one of the retailer's suppliers, even
though the retailer in this case may not be the closest
to the consumer.
6. Supplier Web Address
Each supplier may be offered the option of
having its own Web address (or URL). For example, if
the data center is addressed as "www.datacenter.com" a
supplier named "Jones Gifts Inc." could be assigned the
URL of "www.jonesgifts.datacenter.com" or
"www.datacenter.com/jonesgifts". This allows the
supplier to direct retailers and trade browsers to the
data center web site, and to restrict the retailers and
browsers view of the catalogue to only those products
offered by the particular supplier and to allow them to
place wholesale orders online.
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7. Introduction of a New Supplier
A process 100 for introducing a new supplier
to a system in accordance with the present invention is
shown in FIG. 1. As can be seen, the supplier is
initially provided with a supplier table maintenance
screen which is used to insert and modify records in
supplier table 40 at step 101. In this way, a data
administrator at data center 6 can to create new
entries in the database for the new supplier's
corporate information, e.g. name, address, standard
retail markup, and other parameters.
An optional feature is to accommodate
suppliers that use one or more separate fulfillment
centers. At test 102, process 100 determines whether a
separate fulfillment center is to be used. If so, a
fulfillment center table maintenance screen is then
provided at step 103. This screen is used to insert
and modify one or more records in fulfillment center
table 46. This screen, or another screen, may also be
used to insert and modify records in the
supplier/fulfillment center cross-reference table 47.
As shown, the information entered using this screen is
preferably stored in a database.
After fulfillment center information has been
entered at step 103 or if it is determined at test 102
that no fulfillment center is to be used, the list of
retail customers maintained by supplier is uploaded at
step 104. This step populates retailer table 41 and
retailer/supplier table 42.
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8. Registration Of A Retailer
Next at step 105, process 100 determines if
all retailers have been registered. If not, process
100 provides a table maintenance screen to add a new
retailer or to register a retailer at step 107. An
optional method is to capture retailer information
off-line on a sales representatives' mobile computer,
and to download the information via the Internet at
step 107.
When each retailer is registered (either by
the supplier's sales representative or by online self
registration) and agrees to participate in the program,
additional information may also be required by process
100 and entered using retailer table maintenance screen
107.
9. Local Zip Code Generation
Once all retailers have been registered,
process 100 provides the option to improve performance
by generating a table of all the valid zip codes within
one or more pre-defined radii, and storing these in the
retailers' zip code table 49 at step 106. This step
preferably 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 the
application scans every postal code or zip code in zip
code table 48 for the country in which the retailer
exists, and makes an entry in 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 zip code table 48, the geographic location
of each zip code may be defined in terms of decimal
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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 may require the use of spherical geometry and
trigonometric math functions.
In preferred embodiments, this step first
populates a temporary table of all zip codes and their
distance to the retail store zip code (zipl) within a
specified maximum radius, say 50 miles. The distance
between the retail store zip code, and each other
possible zip code (zip2) is derived using the following
algorithm. The radius of the Earth is assumed to be
6,371 kilometers, or 3,958.75 miles. The following
algorithm defines the distance in miles between two zip
code locations:
3958.75 * arccos[sin(zipl.lat/57.2958)
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, this step inserts rows in a
cross-reference table 49 for each 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.
10. Supplier Loa On
A process 109 for supplier log on is shown in
FIG. 7a. This process provides a means for the
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supplier to connect to data center 9 to maintain its
data, to receive consumer and wholesale orders, to send
shipment information and to obtain reports. When the
supplier accesses a "trade channel" home page, it must
enter an assigned identifier and password at the log-on
page of step 110. If process 109 cannot find a valid
identifier and password in the supplier table 40 at
step 111, the process displays an error message at step
112 and allows the supplier to try again by looping
back to step 110. If the supplier is identified at
step 111, the process displays the supplier's menu or
home page at step 113.
It is important that the Web page only show
the supplier its information -- i.e., its catalogue
items, its orders, its retailer database, and its
report data. The invention may achieve this by
maintaining a "view" of the database for each supplier
based on its unique identifier. The supplier
identifier may be stored in memory for the duration of
the session. This identifier may also be stored in
item table 45 and retailer/supplier cross-reference
table 42. When the supplier uses a Web page to view or
edit its retailers' data at the data center, only those
retailers in retailer/supplier cross-reference table 42
that have its supplier ID are preferably shown or
accessible. When a supplier uses the Web page to view
or edit its product catalogue data at the data center,
only those products in item table 45 that have its
supplier ID are shown or are accessible.
When the supplier uses a Web page to view
online sales reports 28, the only records aggregated
are preferably those in customer invoice item
cross-reference table 52 that have its supplier ID.
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When the supplier uses the Web application to view
online sales reports by retailer, the only records
aggregated are those in customer invoice item
cross-reference table 52 that have the retailer ID.
11. Maintain Product Cataloctue
As shown in FIG. 7b, a process 118 in
accordance with the present invention may be used to
populate the electronic catalogue at the data center
with the required records about the supplier and about
the goods or services offered. One option provided by
the process is to bulk insert the supplier's catalogue
items from a suitable intermediary file such as a comma
delimited ASCII file at step 114. Next at step 115,
process 115 allows the user to add one or more
graphical pictures or mufti-media objects related to a
particular catalogue item. Process 118 then determines
at step 116 whether there are any new items or
modifications to make to item information. When the
supplier has a new item or modifications to make to
item information, process 110 provides an item table
maintenance screen at step 117, which is a Web page
used to insert and modify records in catalogue item
table 45.
12. Customer Locron
As shown in FIG. 8, a process 119 in
accordance with the present invention may be used to
connect to the data center to browse the product
catalogue, to place orders, to review order status, to
process product returns, and to obtain reports.
Customers may enter the Web site via the "consumers
portal". Initially, process 119 displays the shoppers'
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home page at step 120. If the shopper selects the
"First Time" option on the home page at step 121,
process 119 will display an alternative home page for
first time users that contains instructive information
and encourages the user to register as a "Preferred
Customer" at step 122.
Another option for determining at step 121
whether the customer has ever used the web site before
is for process 119 to send a request to the user's
browser to read the appropriate "cookie" file and
return the user's unique identifier, postal code, etc.
If the user has previously made a purchase then process
119 will extract the user's customer profile
information from the central database using the user's
ID, and stores the user's postal code in memory. If
the user has never used the site or the user is using a
different computer, no cookie will exist on the user's
computer and the process 119 may display at step 122 an
alternative home page for first time users which
contains instructive information. The customer may
then be prompted to log in as an existing customer or
to register as a new customer.
Once the user is recognized as having been to
the Web page before, process 119 may then prompt the
user to enter the user's customer ID and password at
step 123. The ID and password are then verified at
step 124. If the ID and password exist in the
database, process 119 selects the user's profile
information from the database and creates a new cookie
file on the user's Internet terminal at step 126. If
the customer enters an identifier and password that is
not valid, the application displays an error message at
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step 125 and allows the user to try again by branching
back to step 123.
Referring back to step 122, the new customer
may be prompted to register as a "Preferred Shopper",
and to enter the customer's postal code or zip code and
to choose an ID and password for future use. Process
119 preferably detects whether the customer is
connected from a Canadian or a US location by parsing
the postal code entered, and validates the code entered
against database of known postal codes and zip codes
48. If necessary, process 119 displays an error
message and prompts the customer to re-enter the postal
or zip code.
The invention preferably extends the
conventional management of customer profiles by using
the customer's zip code or postal code to derive the
retailers in a predefined radius from the customer. In
order to improve performance, one option is to store
the customer's zip code or postal code for subsequent
visits. To do this the customer is assigned a unique
identifier. One option is to use the customer's e-mail
address as the identifier.
If a new customer chooses not to supply his
or her postal code, the invention may still let the
customer browse the catalogue. However, when a product
detail Web page is requested, the customer may be
prompted again for a postal code so that the retailer
information may be selected from the database and
displayed. If the customer still chooses not to supply
a postal code, no retailer information will be
displayed alongside the product information, however,
the customer should be required to supply a valid
postal code when the customer "checks out" and pays for
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the order so that credit (or a commission) for each
item on the customer's invoice 51 may be attributed to
an appropriate retailer 41 and a sales representative
53. The invention then preferably 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 the customer next logs into the
data center Web site.
13. Catalogue Browsing
When the customer wants to look for items to
purchase, the present invention may offer 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 invention
may offer the unique ability to display items by
supplier and by retailer.
14. Dvnamic Catalogue Page Display
The customer may view the products returned
by a database query created by a customer search
request on a dynamically populated Web page layout.
This Web page layout differs from conventional Web page
product displays that use fixed or "hard coded" page
layouts, or Web page product displays that use tables
to display results from a database in rows and columns
of the same sized images. The application has several
"templates" or possible page layouts, each containing
pre-defined areas allocated for product image and
information display. For example, a template could
have a region containing a tabular scrolling area for
CA 02320578 2000-09-25
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small product images as well as three areas for larger
product images. The records in item table 45 contain
attributes that determine whether the image and product
information is to be displayed in a larger format or in
a scrolling region of the Web page. For example, a
product that is being newly introduced could be
assigned a higher profile during a promotion period.
When the application is required to display several
products in the "Dynamic Catalogue Page Display"
format, the invention may use "best fit" logic to
determine the most appropriate template to use in order
to fit the products onto one page. For example, in a
list of items returned from the database in response to
a customer's query, those items with higher profile
attributes may be displayed as larger images, and those
items with normal profile may be displayed as a
scrolling table of images of the same size.
15. Display Catalogue By Supplier
As shown in FIG. 9a, a process 134 in
accordance with the invention may be used to present a
list of the suppliers that choose to display their
catalogue to the public at step 130. This list may
show the suppliers' names and a brief description of
the type of products they offer. If customer then
picks a supplier from the list at step 131, and process
134 will limit the browsing to only those items
associated with the selected supplier at step 132.
Finally, at step 133, process 134 displays only those
items associated with the selected supplier to the
customer.
One option is to display the supplier's
products in a manner that emulates turning the pages of
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a conventional printed paper catalogue. In this case,
the items may be pre-assigned to specific catalogue
page numbers and positions on the page as stored in
item table 45. For example in the Sequential Query
Language (SQL) the qualifying items could be selected
as follows:
SELECT DISTINCT item_id, description,
retl price, cat_page num, cat_page_pos_x,
cat_page posy, hires photo
FROM item
WHERE supp_id = selected_supp_id
ORDER BY cat page num, cat page pos x,
cat_page_pos.y;
Where selected_supp_id is the unique identifier of the
supplier picked by the customer.
An alternative option is for the invention to
assign the product images to one or more catalogue page
templates using a "best fit" algorithm in real time as
the pages are produced for the Web browser.
16. Display Catalocrue by Retailer
As shown in FIG. 9b, a process 145 in
accordance with the present invention may be used to
display retailers within a specified radius of the
customer. As illustrated, process 145 begins by
presenting a pull down menu of the available search
radii, e.g. 5 miles, 10 miles, 25 miles, and 50 miles
at step 141. When the customer selects a search
radius, process 145 presents a second list which shows
the names and a brief description of the type of
products offered by retailers within the selected
distance from the customer. This determination may be
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made by looking for the customer's zip code in
retailer/zip code table 49.
Next at step 142, the customer picks one
retailer from the list displayed. Alternatively, the
customer could have entered the Web site using the
retailer's unique URL (e. g. www.smiths.datacenter.com)
instead of proceeding through steps 141 and 142. In
either case, the customer then has the option of
browsing a sub-set of the item catalogue using
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 retailer/supplier 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 the items that his suppliers have in stock
available for purchase online.
The selection may be executed in many ways in
many programming languages. For example, SQL temporary
tables could be used to derive the qualifying suppliers
and the items corresponding to the search criteria as
follows:
SELECT DISTINCT retl-supp xref.supp-id
INTO temp_supp_list
FROM 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.
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SELECT item. item-desc, item. item retail price
FROM item, temp_supp_list
WHERE item.product_group =
selected product_group
AND item.supp_id = temp-supp_list.supp_id:
Where selected product-group is the product type
specified by the customer.
17. Display Catalog by Supplier
When any user of the "trade" channel selects
to display the catalogue by supplier, the invention
preferably presents a pull down menu of the available
suppliers. Once a supplier is selected, the catalogue
searches are constrained to only the selected
supplier's items 45. Alternatively, when any user of
the "trade" channel enters the Web site via a
supplier's, URL (e. g. www.jonesgifts.datacenter.com),
the catalogue searches are constrained to only those
items 45 that contain the supplier's identifier.
18. Item Retailer Lookup
When the customer requests more detailed
information on a specific item, the invention may
select the detailed product information from item table
45 and then search for the logo and address information
for the bricks-and-mortar retail store closest to the
zip code or postal code that the customer has
specified. The application may perform a
distance-to-retailer calculation as each item is
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. The preferred implementation improves on
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performance by utilizing a pre-generated table of zip
codes or postal codes within a specified radius of each
retailer 49. This implementation may use 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 may be as
follows:
SELECT retailer.retl_id, retailer. address,
retailer. logo, retl_zip-code.supp_miles
FROM retailer, retl-zip-code, retl-supp xref
WHERE 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 as derived from the
item being displayed.
If this query returns more than one retailer
which is the same or substantially the same distance
from the customer, the invention may prompt the
customer to pick one retailer from a list, otherwise
the application may select the first retailer in the
result list returned by the query. Another alternative
is to "rotate" the list of overlapping retailers so
that the credit is shared among them in an equitable
manner for each successive online purchase in their
territory. when the appropriate retailer is selected
(by one of the above methods), the invention preferably
displays the retailer's information, such as address,
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distance in miles between the customer's specified zip
code and the retailer's zip code, and image data for
the retailer's logo and/or promotional information
(such as a storefront 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, another option is to
allow the customer to increase the radius of the search
up to a maximum specified by a system parameter.
A process 150 for implementing this function
in accordance with one embodiment of the present
invention is illustrated in FIG. 10. As shown, process
150 begins by the customer being prompted to select
item information at step 151. This information may be
retrieved from a database as illustrated. Next, at
test 152 process 150 determines if the retailer is
within a specified radius of the customer. If not, the
search radius may be increased at step 153 and test 152
repeated. If the maximum search radius has already
been reached, process 150 branches to test 155.
Otherwise, the retailer information and logo are then
displayed at step 154. After the retailer information
and logo are displayed, or after the maximum search
radius has been reached, process 150 inquires whether
the customer would like to add the item to the shopping
cart at test 155. If so, process 150 creates a
customer invoice item at step 156. Once this item has
been created or if the item is not to be added to the
shopping cart, process 150 determines if more items are
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to be displayed at test 157. If so, process 150 loops
back to step 151; otherwise process 150 terminates.
19. Shopping Cart Transactions
A "shopping cart" is a feature of the
invention that keeps track in memory of items added to
an order by a customer, and that displays the order
lines and totals on demand. When the customer clicks
on an "add to shopping cart" button next to an item
displayed on a Web page, the item is added to the
"shopping cart". When the customer uses the shopping
cart function to "check out", a process 160, such as
that shown in FIG. 11, may be performed in accordance
with the present invention. Initially in process 160,
the customer is asked to submit payment information at
step 161. If the payment is authorized, process 160
inserts a new row in customer invoice table 51
containing a unique customer ID and unique invoice ID
for the order, and inserts one row in customer invoice
item table 52.
Process 160 then validates the payment at
steps 162 and 163. Payment validation may be performed
by a third party validation service that the process
communicates with.
This approach expands on the standard
shopping cart functionality by inserting additional
information for each item in the shopping cart memory,
including, the identifier of the retailer, the sales
representative, the wholesale price, the retail price,
the commission due to the data center, and the
commission due to the retailer. Furthermore, when
displaying the order to the customer, the application
may also display against each item on the order the
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unique ID of the retailer who has been assigned to the
order item.
The amounts due to each party may be
calculated using the commission parameters stored in
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 may be stored in retailer/item
cross-reference table 44. If there is no retailer
available and the customer confirms the purchase, the
application may make a note on the customer invoice
item 52 that the retailer commission is zero. The
customer is optionally prompted to print a copy of the
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).
20. Shipping Calculations
In accordance with the present invention, the
shipping and handling charges may also be calculated on
a line-by-line basis, since the items may be shipped
from more than one supplier.
Because the items on the customer's order may
be shipped from more than one supplier or fulfillment
center, when each item is added to the customer
invoice, the shipping charges associated with the item
may be calculated and added to the total shipping
charges for the customer's order. When more than one
item is to be shipped from the same fulfillment center,
the total weight of the items from the same fulfillment
center may be used to derive the appropriate shipping
charge, and the total order shipping charge adjusted
CA 02320578 2000-09-25
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accordingly. Alternatively, the distance from the
fulfillment center's postal code to the customer's
postal code may be calculated from 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 may be
implemented by storing a flag on item table 45.
21. Construct Ship Requests
Next, process 160 sorts customer-invoice item
52 rows for the order in question by fulfillment center
or supplier ID, groups the order lines for each
fulfillment center 46 into "sub-orders," and constructs
the data interchange message. This message is then
sent to the supplier, and optionally the fulfillment
center, as the "ship request" 26 at step 166. Steps
165 and 166 may be repeated for each supplier 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 preferably also sent to
supplier 31. The supplier then extracts the
information from online reports available through the
Web terminal interface to data center 28 and passes the
information on to the supplier's corporate order entry
system at step 170.
An alternative implementation may use an
automated message handling system such as a
commercially available EDI application to ensure the
order detail is transmitted to the suppliers.
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22. Shipping Confirmation
Once the customer's items are packaged,
shipped and the shipping information is known at step
171, the supplier may then log-on to the "trade"
channel, pull up the outstanding order, and enter the
shipped date, the carrier's name, a shipping reference
(e.g. the waybill number) and a quantity shipped for
each item at step 172.
Optionally, the fulfillment system will
automatically construct a message containing the
customer's invoice number, the fulfillment center ID
and the waybill number for tracking the package with
the carrier and passes the message back to the data
center via the Internet 27 the next time the supplier
logs on.
The application at the data center may then
update the status code on each related item on
customer's invoice 52 to "shipped" and store the
waybill number for online queries to the carrier's
information system at step 173.
23. Order Status
To determine order status, a customer may use
a process 189 as shown in FIG. 12 in accordance with
one embodiment of this present invention. Initially,
the customer is preferably required to log into the
shopping portal Web site using a unique customer ID and
password at step 180. If there is any outstanding
orders for the customer, process 189 displays an
additional function on the home page to review
outstanding orders at step 181. If there are more than
one item on the order, process 189 may expand on the
conventional order review by displaying the shipping
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status of each item separately. The process may also
automatically notify the customer by e-mail whenever
the status of the order changes, e.g. when. each
supplier updates the shipped date and quantity.
24. Product Returns
In the event that the customer wants to
return an item, the customer may next select an option
to Request Return to Manufacturer Authorization, see a
list of all items shipped, and select each item in turn
and picks one of two options: "Return for Credit" or
"Return for Repair", at step 182.
Since there may be more than one supplier and
more than one retailer involved in the return, this
approach expands on the conventional functionality of
processing returns by grouping the requests and
packaging them in messages that are sent to the
appropriate suppliers over the Internet 35 at step 183.
When the suppliers log onto the Web site, they may then
be alerted that there are requests for returns to be
processed, and that they are required to enter return
authorization codes to be passed back to the data
center 36. The supplier may determine whether to
validate each return against their policy at test 184.
If the request is denied, the supplier preferably
enters a reason at step 185. If the request is
authorized, the supplier preferably enters an RMA code
at step 186.
Process 189 preferably then composes an
e-mail message for each supplier involved which
contains the return authorization information, and
sends these e-mail messages to customer 37.
Alternatively, the customer may log onto the Web site
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using a customer ID, display the return
authorizations) and print them from the Web page at
step 187. The RMA preferably shows the appropriate
return instructions applicable to each supplier, such
as shipping at step 188.
In the case of a return for repair, the
customer may be required to include a printed copy of
the e-mail return authorization message with the parcel
when shipped back to the supplier's repair center. One
option in the case of a return for credit is for the
customer. to present the printed copy of the e-mail
return authorization message with the item when brought
back to the retailer. In the case where there is no
retailer associated with an item on the customer's
order, the customer may include a printed copy of the
return authorization message in the parcel when shipped
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.
25. Wholesale Order Entry
Because of the infrastructure and
communication inherent in the present invention, it
provides an improved method for retailers to browse the
product catalogues and place wholesale orders to the
suppliers. The invention may require the supplier to
store the wholesale prices for all items in the
integrated catalogue.
The wholesale order entry aspect to the
invention expands on commercially available
business-to-business e-commerce functionality by
allowing retailers to browse an integrated catalogue
CA 02320578 2000-09-25
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and to see the names of the supplier of each item. The
retailer can create a shopping cart of multiple items
from multiple suppliers, and then the invention will
sort and group the order lines to create individual
orders for each supplier.
Another option is for the invention to
request that the retailer select one supplier at a time
from the registered suppliers. In this case, the
retailer preferably may only browse the selected
supplier's catalogue, and use conventional wholesale
shopping cart functionally to place its order.
If a retailer is registered with at least one
supplier, it may order from other participating
suppliers with whom it does not currently have an
account. The suppliers may establish the appropriate
wholesale price in this case, which may be more that
the price offered to its regular retail customers.
26. Wholesale Order Entry on Mobile Computer
Another option that the invention supports is
to have Sales Representatives take wholesale orders
off-line on a mobile computer, and later log on to the
"trade" channel at the data center to download the
orders. In this case, the mobile computer would mirror
the functionality of the wholesale catalogue display
and order entry that is available via a thin client
connection to the e-commerce application running at the
data center. The mobile computer would preferably also
include a facility for downloading the orders in batch
while connected to the data center via the Internet.
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27. Supplier Order Download
In each case, when each supplier logs into
the data center to pick up his orders, the wholesale
orders will preferably also be available for
downloading.
28. Reporting
This invention also expands on the
conventional e-commerce applications by producing
online reports for the supplier, the retailer, the
sales representative to verify the volume of sales and
the remuneration earned by each party.
Using a Web browser, suppliers may submit
selection criteria 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 the
present invention.
Similarly, using a Web browser, retailers may
submit selection criteria to the Web application that
returns information formatted as reports, e.g. online
sales month-to-date for their regions 29. The
separation of one retailer's information from the next
is unique to the present invention.
Also, using a Web browser, sales
representatives may submit selection criteria to the
Web application that returns information formatted as
reports, e.g. online sales month-to-date for their
regions 29, un-registered retailers who should have
received commission for online sales, or customers' zip
codes or postal codes in their territories that do not
yet have registered retailers nearby. The separation
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of one sales representative's information from the next
is unique to the present invention.
Finally, the customer may request information
about the customer's purchase order(s). The invention
may return information formatted as reports, e.g. a
copy of the customer's 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 supplier is unique to the
present invention.
Persons skilled in the art will thus
appreciate that the present invention can be practiced
by other than the described embodiments, which are
presented for purposes of illustration and not of
limitation, and the present invention is limited only
by the claims which follow.
