Method and system for analyzing inventory purchasing opportunities with respect to inventory health

A method, comprising:

• receiving an offer to purchase units of an inventory item via a purchasing channel for a given purchase price per unit;
• determining a breakeven holding time of existing units of said inventory item, wherein a cost of holding a given existing unit until said breakeven holding time equals, within an equality threshold, a difference between a sale value for sale of said given inventory item through a sales channel and said given purchase price specified by said offer;
• determining a time rate of sales demand of units of said inventory item per unit of time;
• determining a healthy inventory level of said inventory item, wherein said healthy inventory level exceeds a target inventory level by a function of said time rate of sales demand and said breakeven holding time;
• in response to determining that a current inventory level of said inventory item exceeds said healthy inventory level declining to purchase said units of said inventory item for said given purchase price;
• specifying a minimum profit margin associated with said inventory item;
• determining a profit margin breakeven time of said inventory item, wherein a cost of holding a given unit of said inventory item until said profit margin breakeven time equals, within an equality threshold, a total available profit margin associated with said inventory item less said minimum profit margin;
• and
• determining an optimized purchase quantity of units of said inventory item dependent upon a multiplicative product of said profit margin breakeven time and said time rate of sales demand of units of said inventory item;
• wherein each of said receiving an offer, said determining a breakeven holding time, said determining a time rate of sales demand, said determining a healthy inventory level, said declining to purchase, said specifying a minimum profit margin, said determining a profit margin breakeven time, and said determining an optimized purchase quantity is performed by one or more computers.

A computer-accessible medium comprising program instructions, wherein the program instructions are executable to:

• receive an indication of an offer to purchase units of an inventory item via a purchasing channel for a given purchase price per unit;
• determine a breakeven holding time of existing units of said inventory item, wherein a cost of holding a given existing unit until said breakeven holding time equals, within an equality threshold, a difference between a sale value for sale of said given inventory item through a sales channel and said given purchase price specified by said offer;
• determine a time rate of sales demand of units of said inventory item per unit of time;
• determine a healthy inventory level of said inventory item, wherein said healthy inventory level exceeds a target inventory level by a function of said time rate of sales demand and said breakeven holding time;
• in response to determining that a current inventory level of said inventory item exceeds said healthy inventory level, indicate that said offer to purchase said units of said inventory item for said given purchase price should be declined.

A system, comprising:

• a system memory storing program instructions;
• and
• a processor coupled to said system memory and configured to execute said program instructions, wherein said program instructions are executable to:
• receive an indication of an offer to purchase units of an inventory item via a purchasing channel for a given purchase price per unit;
• determine a breakeven holding time of existing units of said inventory item beyond an expected time of sale of said existing units, wherein a cost of holding a given existing unit until said breakeven holding time equals, within an equality threshold, a difference between a current sale value for sale of said given inventory item through a sales channel and said given purchase price specified by said offer;
• determine a time rate of sales demand of units of said inventory item per unit of time;
• determine a healthy inventory level of said inventory item, wherein said healthy inventory level exceeds a target inventory level by a multiplicative product of said time rate of sales demand and said breakeven holding time;
• in response to determining that a current inventory level of said inventory item exceeds said healthy inventory level, indicate that said offer to purchase said units of said inventory item for said given purchase price should be declined.

A method, comprising:

• receiving a web services request to analyze an offer to purchase units of an inventory item via a purchasing channel for a given purchase price per unit;
• in response to receiving said web services request, determining a breakeven holding time of existing units of said inventory item, wherein a cost of holding a given existing unit until said breakeven holding time equals, within an equality threshold, a difference between a sale value for sale of said given inventory item through a sales channel and said given purchase price specified by said offer;
• determining a time rate of sales demand of units of said inventory item per unit of time;
• determining a healthy inventory level of said inventory item, wherein said healthy inventory level exceeds a target inventory level by a function of said time rate of sales demand and said breakeven holding time;
• in response to determining that a current inventory level of said inventory item exceeds said healthy inventory level, generating a response to said web services request, wherein said response includes an indication advising to decline to purchase said units of said inventory item for said given purchase price;
• wherein each of said receiving a web services request, said determining a breakeven holding time, said determining a time rate of sales demand, said determining a healthy inventory level, and said generating a response is performed by one or more computers.