Method and apparatus for the home delivery of local retail e-commerce orders
OwnerWeiwen Wenginventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The method and apparatus disclosed herein empowers the general population to deliver e-commerce orders from retail stores to buyers. Embodiments of the invention reduce overall fuel usage, creating value for all members of the value chain: reduction in delivery fees for buyer, higher customer satisfaction and purchasing of goods for retailers, and the ability to earn extra income for patrons that deliver the orders. The method and apparatus comprise a database of patrons to perform home or local delivery of e-commerce orders, a database of e-commerce orders from stores, a database of buyers who place the orders, and computer instructions to match acceptable orders with patrons.
Claims20
A method of empowering a patron to deliver at least one e-commerce order to one or more buyers, the method comprising:
- (a) matching at least one pending e-commerce order with the patron's acceptable delivery criteria, said acceptable delivery criteria including acceptable deviation criteria and acceptable order criteria;
- and
- (b) managing the delivery transaction and compensation.
A method of selling one or more products and delivering the products to a buyer, the method comprising:
- (a) providing the one or more products;
- (b) providing means for electronically purchasing the product(s) by the buyer;
- (c) providing the option of delivery by a patron to the buyer;
- (d) providing means for determining at least one potential patron for delivery of the product(s) to the buyer;
- (e) providing means for determining, for each potential patron, the delivery deviation associated with the buyer;
- (f) providing means for comparing the delivery deviation from step (e) with acceptable deviation criteria of each potential patron;
- and
- (g) if at least one patron is associated with deviation criteria that is acceptable, providing means for selecting one patron, authorizing the delivery transaction, and compensating said patron for delivery of the product(s) to the buyer.
An e-commerce system for empowering a patron to deliver one or more e-commerce orders to at least one buyer, the system comprising:
- (a) a client computer to present a user interface to perform the registering of a patron;
- (b) a data-storage medium to store order information;
- (c) a data-storage medium to store buyer information;
- (d) a data-storage medium to store patron information;
- (e) a data-storage medium to store transaction information;
- and
- (f) a client or server computer to perform calculations to match, if possible, at least one pending e-commerce order with the patron's acceptable delivery criteria, said acceptable delivery criteria including acceptable deviation criteria and acceptable order criteria.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.