System, method, and computer program for providing a multi-merchant electronic shopping cart for a shopping service

A system for providing a multi-merchant electronic shopping cart for a shopping service, the system comprising:

• a client computing device that enables a user to access an electronic shopping cart for the shopping service by selecting a visual representation of the shopping cart object within a web browser, wherein, in response to the user selecting a visual representation of the shopping cart while a webpage of an unrelated merchant shopping site that is supported by the electronic shopping cart is displayed in the web browser, the URL of the webpage of the unrelated merchant shopping site displayed within the web browser is called and information related to a product on the supported webpage of the unrelated merchant shopping site is automatically extracted by scraping some or all of the product information from the webpage and a user interface for the electronic shopping cart is automatically generated with the extracted information prior to the product being added to the electronic shopping cart, and wherein a user is able to purchase the product or save the product to the electronic shopping cart;
• and
• a server for providing the information to the client computing device, for saving product information to the electronic shopping cart in response to the user electing to save the product, and for conducting a purchase transaction on behalf of the user with an applicable merchant in response to the user electing to purchase the product.

One or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising code that, when executed by a computer system, enables the computer system to perform the following method for providing a multi-merchant electronic shopping cart for a shopping service, the method comprising:

• providing a shopping cart object within a user's web browser on a client computing device that provides access to an electronic shopping cart for the shopping service, wherein the shopping cart can be used at a plurality of unrelated merchant shopping sites and wherein the shopping cart object remains within the browser regardless of the website displayed in the browser;
• in response to the user selecting a visual representation of the shopping cart object from within the browser, displaying a user interface for the electronic shopping cart in a new window, wherein a user is able to view the user interface for the electronic shopping cart without navigating the browser to a new webpage;
• in response to the user selecting the visual representation while a webpage of an unrelated merchant shopping site that is supported by the electronic shopping cart is displayed in the browser, performing the following:
• calling the URL of the webpage of the unrelated merchant shopping site displayed within the web browser;
• automatically extracting information related to a product on the supported webpage of the unrelated merchant shopping site by scraping some or all of the product information from the webpage and automatically displaying the extracted information in the user interface for the electronic shopping cart prior to the product being added to the electronic shopping cart, wherein, if the product has one or more options, the information includes the options and the user is able to enter selections for the options via the user interface;
• enabling the user to either commence a purchase transaction for the product via the electronic shopping cart or save the product in the electronic shopping cart for retrieval at a later time, wherein the user is able to save products from a plurality of unrelated merchant shopping sites to the electronic shopping cart;
• and
• in response to the user electing to purchase the product, conducting a purchase transaction on behalf of the user with the merchant associated with the supported webpage;
• and
• enabling the user to purchase at one time, from a plurality of unrelated merchant shopping sites, a plurality of products saved to the electronic shopping cart, wherein for each product to be purchased, a purchase transaction is conducted, on behalf of the user, with the merchant associated with the website from which the user added the product to the electronic shopping cart.