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US 10,510,101 B2Granted
Merchant management system for adaptive pricing
AssigneeJet.com, Inc.
InventorsNathan Thomas Faust, Michael Thomas Hanrahan, Marc Eric Lore
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A merchant management system aims to make product sales by multiple merchants more efficient so that the resulting savings can be passed down to consumers. Specifically, the merchant management system evaluates discounts that the consumer may be eligible for (e.g., being within a certain shipping distance, buying multiple units, or waiving the ability to return the item) in order to present the consumer with the lowest price available. Additionally, the merchant management system may price a product in light of other products and pass down any savings that result from purchasing multiple products from the same merchant (e.g., reduced shipping costs for shipping multiple products in the same box).
Claims20
A computer-implemented method comprising:
- receiving, from a user of a merchant management system:
- a request to price a first product as part of a prospective cart, the prospective cart comprising the first product and one or more other products in an existing cart, each respective product of the first product and the one or more other products being sold by one or more merchants of a plurality of merchants that offer the respective product at a respective offer price;
- and
- a competing price for the first product, the competing price having been collected from a competing merchant management system;
- identifying a plurality of cart combinations for the prospective cart via the merchant management system, each cart combination of the plurality of cart combinations being a different combination of merchants of the plurality of merchants assigned to the products of the prospective cart, each merchant of the plurality of merchants for the products of the prospective cart assigned from the one or more merchants offering the respective product;
- evaluating a price for each cart combination of the plurality of cart combinations by combining the respective offer price for each assigned merchant;
- determining at least one cart discount for each cart combination of the plurality of cart combinations by calculating savings of each cart combination of the plurality of cart combinations, the savings of each cart combination of the plurality of cart combinations resulting from the first product and at least one of the one or more other products being fulfilled by a same merchant of the one or more merchants;
- selecting a first cart combination of the plurality of cart combinations based on a lowest price of the first cart combination compared to other cart combinations of the plurality of cart combinations, the first cart combination resulting in at least one discount of the first cart combination, the at least one discount of the first cart combination comprising the at least one cart discount;
- determining a product price of the first product based on the first cart combination, as selected, compared to a price of the existing cart;
- and
- in response to determining the product price of the first product, transmitting instructions to display, on an electronic device of the user, a user interface comprising:
- an information portion comprising a search bar, a discount tracker, and a cart tracker, wherein:
- the discount tracker is configured to:
- display a sum of each discount of the at least one discount of the first cart combination;
- and
- when selected by the user, display, in an expanded configuration, an itemized list showing a source of each discount of the at least one discount of the first cart combination;
- and
- the cart tracker is configured to display a number of the first product and the one or more other products in the existing cart;
- a search indicator displayed on the user interface only after the request to price the first product has been received, the search indicator configured to display:
- search results in response to the request to price the first product;
- and
- a total number of search results returned in response to the request to price the first product;
- and
- a product preview portion comprising:
- a product image of the first product;
- a product name of the first product;
- a product description preview of the first product;
- an add to cart button configured to, when selected by the user, add the first product to the existing cart;
- and
- pricing information comprising:
- the competing price of the first product;
- the respective offer price of the first product for a merchant of the plurality of merchants;
- the at least one discount;
- and
- the product price of the first product.
32 more elements
A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:
- receiving, from a user of a merchant management system:
- a request to price a first product as part of a prospective cart, the prospective cart comprising the first product and one or more other products in an existing cart, each respective product of the first product and the one or more other products being sold by one or more merchants of a plurality of merchants that offer the respective product at a respective offer price;
- and
- a competing price for the first product, the competing price having been collected from a competing merchant management system;
- identifying a plurality of cart combinations for the prospective cart via the merchant management system, each cart combination of the plurality of cart combinations being a different combination of merchants of the plurality of merchants assigned to the products of the prospective cart, each merchant of the plurality of merchants for the products of the prospective cart assigned from the one or more merchants offering the respective product;
- evaluating a price for each cart combination of the plurality of cart combinations by combining the respective offer price for each assigned merchant;
- determining at least one cart discount for each cart combination of the plurality of cart combinations by calculating savings of each cart combination of the plurality of cart combinations, the savings of each cart combination of the plurality of cart combinations resulting from the first product and at least one of the one or more other products being fulfilled by a same merchant of the one or more merchants;
- selecting a first cart combination of the plurality of cart combinations based on a lowest price of the first cart combination compared to other cart combinations of the plurality of cart combinations, the first cart combination resulting in at least one discount of the first cart combination, the at least one discount of the first cart combination comprising the at least one cart discount;
- determining a product price of the first product based on the first cart combination, as selected, compared to a price of the existing cart;
- and
- in response to determining the product price of the first product, transmitting instructions to display, on an electronic device of the user, a user interface comprising:
- an information portion comprising a search bar, a discount tracker, and a cart tracker, wherein:
- the discount tracker is configured to:
- display a sum of each discount of the at least one discount of the first cart combination;
- and
- when selected by the user, display, in an expanded configuration, an itemized list showing a source of each discount of the at least one discount of the first cart combination;
- and
- the cart tracker is configured to display a number of products in the existing cart;
- a search indicator displayed on the user interface only after the request to price the first product has been received, the search indicator configured to display:
- a number of search results in response to the request to price the first product;
- and
- a total number of search results returned in response to the request to price the first product;
- and
- a product preview portion comprising:
- a product image of the first product;
- a product name of the first product;
- a product description preview of the first product;
- an add to cart button configured to, when selected by the user, add the first product to the existing cart;
- and
- pricing information comprising:
- the competing price of the first product;
- the respective offer price of the first product for a merchant of the plurality of merchants;
- the at least one discount;
- and
- the product price of the first product.
32 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.