System and method for an independent retailer business-to-business market exchange
OwnerNancy D. Reyda, Kelly J. Heiderich -Lee +1inventors
InventorsNancy D. Reyda, Kelly J. Heiderich -Lee, Eric A. Parnell
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of facilitating operations of a plurality of Independent Retailers (“IR's”), said method comprising: communicating over a network from a service bureau or a plurality of headquarters of a chain of retail stores to their respective IR's; displaying to said IR's a plurality of services for said IR's, for said IR's to select at least one service, wherein said services comprise procurement; receiving over said network a message from at least one of said IR's to its respective headquarters or a service bureau showing said at least one selected service from said at least one store; and serving up to said IR's said at least one selected service.
Claims29
A method of facilitating operations of a plurality of Independent Retailers (“IR's”), said method comprising:
- (a) communicating over a network from a service bureau or a plurality of headquarters of a chain of retail stores to their respective IR's;
- (b) displaying to said IR's a plurality of services for said IR's, for said IR's to select at least one service, wherein said services comprise procurement;
- (c) receiving over said network a message from at least one of said IR's to its respective headquarters or a service bureau showing said at least one selected service from said at least one store;
- and
- (d) serving up to said IR's said at least one selected service.
A method of managing brand promotion deployment for a plurality of chains of IR's, said method comprising:
- (a) entering into volume discount promotion agreements between merchandise suppliers and each headquarters for a chain of IR's;
- (b) communicating said volume discounts agreements over a network from each of said headquarters to it corresponding IR's, wherein said IR's may make purchases under said volume discounts agreements;
- (c) selecting and ordering merchandise by at least one of said IR's pursuant to at least one of said volume discounts agreements;
- and
- (d) communicating over said network said selected purchases of said IR's to the corresponding merchandise supplier or its respective headquarters, for fulfillment of said purchase.
A method for a plurality of retail chains to manage brand promotions defined each chain's respective headquarters, comprising:
- (a) under control of a client system each of the store's:
- (1) displaying information identifying an item in a brand promotion;
- and
- (2) wherein said information is served up from a server system of the corresponding headquarters' of said store;
- (b) sending a request to order said item to a server system of a supplier of the item;
- (c) under control of said server system of a supplier:
- (1) receiving the request;
- (2) generating an order to purchase the requested item;
- and
- (3) fulfilling the generated order to complete purchase of the item.
A system for managing brand promotion deployment for a plurality of chains of IR's, said system comprising:
- (a) a server component for serving over a network a plurality of brand promotions from a plurality of headquarters of chains of IR's to their respective IR's;
- (b) a client component for receiving from said server component said plurality of brand promotions and for displaying said brand promotions, and for recognizing a user's selection of specific brand promotions, and for communicating over said network to a corresponding supplier the selected brand promotions and the identity of the selecting store;
- and
- (c) wherein said system is configured to permit any of said IR's to view and select a plurality of brand promotions on a recurring or irregular basis, that selection is communicated to a supplier which fulfills said brand promotion.
A system for managing a plurality of chains of IR's, said system comprising:
- (a) communication means for communicating over a network from a plurality of headquarters of a chain of IR's to a plurality of said IR's;
- (b) displaying means for displaying to said IR's a plurality of services for said IR's, and configured to allow said IR's to select at least one service, wherein said services comprise promotion ordering;
- (c) receiving means for receiving over said network a message from at least one of said IR's to each respective headquarters showing said at least one selected service from said at least one store;
- and
- (d) server means for serving up to said IR's said at least one selected service.
A system of managing brand promotion deployment for a plurality of chains of IR's, said system comprising:
- (a) volume discount promotion agreements between merchandise suppliers and each headquarters for a chain of IR's;
- (b) communication means for communicating said volume discounts agreements over a network from each of said headquarters to a plurality of IR's, wherein said IR's may make purchases under said volume discounts agreements;
- (c) selection means for selecting and ordering merchandise by at least one of said IR's pursuant to at least one of said volume discounts agreements;
- and
- (d) communication means for communicating over said network said selected purchases of said IR's to the corresponding merchandise supplier, for fulfillment of said purchase.
A system for a plurality of retail chain store to manage brand promotions defined by the store's headquarters, comprising:
- (a) a server system of a plurality of headquarters' of a plurality of retail chain stores configured for serving up information identifying an item in a brand promotion;
- (b) a client system of each of said retail chain store's configured:
- (1) for receiving, parsing, and rendering said information identifying an item in a brand promotion from said server system of the headquarters';
- and
- (2) for selecting at least one of said items and sending a request to order said items to a server system of a supplier of the item;
- (c) a server system of a plurality of suppliers configured:
- (1) for receiving the request;
- (2) for generating an order to purchase the requested item;
- and
- (3) for fulfilling the generated order to complete purchase of the item.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.