Shared Virtual Shopping Basket

A computer program product for collaborative online shopping between a customer and a retailer representative, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program code embodied therewith, the program code being executable by a processor to perform a method comprising:

• providing a communication channel between the customer and the retailer representative, through which communication channel the customer and retailer representative can have a dialog with respect to items available for purchase on a retailer website, wherein the communication channel is configurable to accommodate different communication modalities for the customer and the retailer representative;
• providing a shared virtual shopping basket into which items can be added or removed in response to instructions from either the customer or the retailer representative, the shared virtual shopping basket being synchronously shared between the customer and retailer representative and synchronously viewable by the customer and the retailer representative;
• in response to the customer or the retailer representative performing one or more of the following actions:
• adding an item to the shared virtual shopping basket, removing an item from the shared virtual shopping basket, and changing features of an item from the shared virtual shopping basket,
• synchronously updating the shared virtual shopping basket to reflect the changes that were made to the item, and
• notifying one or more of the customer and the retailer representative about the updates made to the shared virtual shopping basket;
• and
• in response to the customer or retailer representative indicating that shopping is complete, transferring the contents of the shared virtual shopping basket to a shopping cart at the retailer website to complete the purchase at the retailer website.

A system for collaborative online shopping between a customer and a retailer representative, comprising:

• a database;
• a processor;
• and
• a memory storing instructions that when executed by the processor causes the processor to perform the following method:
• providing a communication channel between the customer and the retailer representative, through which communication channel the customer and retailer representative can have a dialog with respect to items available for purchase on a retailer website, wherein the communication channel is configurable to accommodate different communication modalities for the customer and the retailer representative;
• providing a shared virtual shopping basket into which items can be added or removed in response to instructions from either the customer or the retailer representative, the shared virtual shopping basket being synchronously shared between the customer and retailer representative and synchronously viewable by the customer and the retailer representative;
• in response to the customer or the retailer representative performing one or more of the following actions:
• adding an item to the shared virtual shopping basket, removing an item from the shared virtual shopping basket, and changing features of an item from the shared virtual shopping basket,
• synchronously updating the shared virtual shopping basket to reflect the changes that were made to the item, and
• notifying one or more of the customer and the retailer representative about the updates made to the shared virtual shopping basket;
• and
• in response to the customer or retailer representative indicating that shopping is complete, transferring the contents of the shared virtual shopping basket to a shopping cart at the retailer website to complete the purchase at the retailer website.