System and method for automatic updating and display of retail prices

An enterprise-wide integrated computer system for storing, processing and reporting pricing information regarding a plurality of products sold a seller in a plurality of stores in a plurality of markets, comprising:

• a central processing unit,
• a main memory, data storage means for storing in a database, product data concerning each product sold by the seller, said product data concerning each product including a product identification number, and pricing data, said pricing data including, for each product, an active price, a market code, and one or more competitor's prices;
• means for managing the database, including means for modifying, storing, retrieving and manipulating said product data;
• a plurality of applications programs including a pricing software program;
• said pricing program comprising means for processing pricing data including means for communicating with the central processing unit, memory and data storage means, means for changing pricing data at predetermined intervals on the basis of a price change frequency pattern, said means for changing pricing data including means for accessing pricing data in the database on a product-by-product basis and a market-by-market basis, for capturing and deleting expired pricing data and for capturing, modifying and processing said pricing data to provide updated pricing data according to predetermined rules and storing said updated pricing data;
• said predetermined rules including selection of said active price of the product, comparison of said active price of the product with a lowest competitor's price of said one or more competitor's prices;
• calculation of a new active price to be lower than the lowest competitor's price, creation of a cent-coded price by changing an ending cent in said new active price in accordance with a cent code corresponding to a profit margin on the product, comparison of the cent-coded price with the lowest competitors price, calculation of an updated active price lower than or equal to the lowest competitor's price, and storage of the updated active price.

A method of utilizing a computer with a main memory and a display to price a plurality of products responsive to competitor's price using predetermined pricing rules, said system comprising:

• displaying a product identification display to a buyer on a computer terminal display having a monitor having a display screen, the product identification display including a product identification number for the product, a product description and a product price set, said price set including an active price and one or more competitor's prices;
• inputting a frequency of price change pattern;
• receiving, from the user, changes in one or more competitor's prices for the product at predetermined intervals;
• the computer (i) changing, based on said frequency of said price change pattern, the active price to an updated active price responsive to changes in the competitor's prices using the predetermined pricing rules, the predetermined pricing rules comprising determining one or more competitor's prices from new competitor's shopped prices and from new competitors advertised prices, determining a lowest competitor price of said one or more competitor's prices in a market, selecting said active price of said product, comparing said active price of said product with the lowest competitor's price;
• calculating a new active price to be lower than the lowest competitor's price, creating a cent-coded price by changing an ending cent in said new active price in accordance with a cent code corresponding to a profit margin of said product, comparing the cent-coded price with the lowest competitor's price, calculating an updated active price lower than or equal to the lowest competitor's price, and storing said updated active price, (i) providing, on a product-by-product, market-by-market basis, an updated comparative price set of the updated active price and the competitor's prices, and (ii) displaying said price set on said display screen to a buyer at a point of sale, said comparative price set including the updated active price for the selected product, and for each competitor, a competitor's name, the competitor's store location, the competitor's price and a date that the competitor's store was last shopped.

An apparatus for providing, maintaining, and modifying pricing information for a seller and one or more competitors on a plurality of products in a plurality of markets in a particular industry, comprising:

• a computer for storing and executing one or more programs and having a display and one or more input devices;
• a database operatively coupled with said computer, for storing changeable product data for each product of a plurality of products, said product data including a product identification number, an active price, competitor(s) prices and a market code;
• a database management program, in execution on said computer and coupled to said database, for selectively accessing said database, including retrieving current values of said product data, and receiving updates to the values of said product data at predetermined intervals;
• a pricing program in execution on said computer for pricing products responsive to market price changes, said program, operatively communicating with said database management program, for accessing, for a selected market code, the active price and competitor(s) prices in the database, for capturing and deleting expired price data and for capturing and modifying said active price responsive to said competitor(s) prices to provide an updated active price and storing said updated active price in the database, said pricing program having predetermined pricing rules comprising determination of the competitor's prices from new competitor's shopped price and from new competitor's advertised prices;
• determination of a lowest competitor's price of said one or more competitor's prices in the market;
• selection of said active price of said product;
• comparison of said active price of said product with the lowest competitor's price;
• calculation of a new active price to be lower than the lowest competitor's price, creation of a cent-coded price by changing an ending cent in said new active price in accordance with a cent code corresponding to a profit margin of said product, comparison of the cent-coded price with the lowest competitor's price, calculation of an updated active price lower than or equal to the lowest competitor's price, and storing said updated active price;
• and a database query program in execution on said computer for outputting comparative pricing data, said program, operatively communicating with said database management program, for retrieving said updated active price and said competitor(s) prices on a product-by-product and market-by-market basis to provide a comparative price set, and displaying, for a selected product in a selected market, said comparative price set to a buyer at a point of sale.

A method for automatically pricing and dispensing information on products sold by a seller and a plurality of competitors in a particular industry, comprising the computer-aided steps of:

• pricing a plurality of products, each product of said plurality having product identification data including a product identification number and an active price;
• obtaining competitor pricing for said plurality of products by shopping at a predetermined frequency at a competitors store at a competitors store location and by obtaining a competitors advertised prices for the products;
• comparing, for each product of said plurality, the active price and the competitor's price;
• determining from the result of comparing, whether a competitor's price is less than the active price for a selected product of said plurality of products;
• determining a lowest competitors price from the competitor pricing for the selected product;
• modifying the active price, responsive to an indication that said lowest competitors price is less than the active price, to a new active price which is lower or equal to said lowest competitor's price by,
• (i) creating a cent-coded price by changing an ending cent in the new active price in accordance with a cent code corresponding to a profit margin of said product;
• (ii) comparing the cent-coded price with the lowest competitor's price;
• (iii) calculating an updated active price lower than or equal to the lowest competitor's price;
• arranging the updated active price and competitor's price into a comparative price information set, said comparative price information set including the updated active price for the selected product, and, for each competitor, a competitors name, the competitor's store location, the competitors price and a date that the competitors store was last shopped;
• and
• outputting the comparative pricing information set to a customer at a point of sale.

A computerized system for assisting a retail buyer with a buying decision, said system comprising:

• a point of sale computer terminal having a monitor having a display screen, said point of sale terminal having an input device and means for generating a product identification display for each of a plurality of products sold by a seller in a plurality of stores in a plurality of markets, in response to a query by a retail buyer, said product identification display for each of the plurality of products including a comparative price information set which includes an active price for the product queried, one or more competitors' prices for the product including a competitors name, the competitor's store location, and a date that the competitor's store was last shopped, said active price and competitors' prices indicative of a market at which the point of sale terminal is located;
• a database system coupled to said point of sale terminal, said database system comprising a database for storing changeable product data for each product of a plurality of products, said product data including a product identification number, the active price, competitor(s) prices and a market code;
• and a database management program, coupled to said database, for selectively accessing said database, including retrieving current values of said product data, and receiving updates to the values of said product data at predetermined intervals;
• means for compiling competitor price information from a plurality of competitors in a plurality of markets to determine for each competitor, a competitor price;
• said means including, for each product of the plurality of products, shopping means for shopping at a predetermined intervals at a competitor's store at a competitor's store location to determine a competitor's shopped price, analyzing means for reviewing competitor's advertisements to determine a competitors advertised price;
• said shopping means and said analyzing means for further determining a competitor's value-added price, said competitor price being a shopped price, an advertised price or a value-added price;
• a pricing program for pricing and re-pricing products, said program, operatively communicating with said database management program, for accessing, for a selected market code, the active price and competitor(s) prices in the database, for capturing and deleting expired price data and for capturing and modifying said active price responsive to said competitor(s) prices to provide an updated active price and storing said updated active price in the database,
• said pricing program having predetermined pricing rules comprising determination of, for each competitor, the competitor's price from competitor shopped price data, from new competitor's advertised price data and competitor value added price data, determination of a lowest competitor price in the market of said one or more competitors prices, selection of said active price of the product, comparison of said active price with the lowest competitor's price;
• calculation of a new active price to be lower than the lowest competitor's price, creation of a cent-coded price by changing an ending cent in said new user's price in accordance with a cent code corresponding to a profit margin of the product, comparison of the cent-coded price with the lowest competitor's price, calculation of a updated active price lower than or equal to the lowest competitor's price, and storing said updated active price;
• and a database query program coupled to said point of sale terminal for outputting comparative pricing data, said program, operatively communicating with said database management program, for retrieving said updated active price and said competitor(s) prices on a product-by-product and market-by-market basis to provide a comparative price set, and displaying, for a selected product in a selected market, said comparative price set to the retail buyer to facilitate the buyer's buying decision.