Budget planner for softlines

• US 10,089,587 B1
• Filed: 10/13/2015
• Issued: 10/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Walsh, Paul J., Gardner, Paul J., Liden, Lars H., Donnelley, Samuel Y., Rosser, Graham T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Obaid, Fateh M
• Application Number:
  US14/882,279
• Time in Patent Office: 1,085 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/10 Tax strategies
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

Various approaches described herein enable various types of users, such as finance managers, vendors, and vendor managers to access up-to-date information in a retail environment that can assist with obtaining and tracking various items to be offered through that environment. A budget planner can analyze information such as historical performance, projection, and vendor data to establish a budget plan for various providers for a particular period. The budget information is fed to an assortment planner, which can use similar and other types of information to allocate that budget across various types and styles of item for each provider. A commitment tracker enables a user to commit to at least some portion of the allocation for various items, and track how well the orders are filled. Information at each level is fed back into the system to be almost instantly available and to adjust allocations for current or future periods.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

under control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions to implement a management system associated with managing a budget across a plurality of item types offered at an electronic platform of a seller and available from a provider,

accessing, by the management system from a data store associated with the electronic platform, historical data, seller data, and provider data associated with the plurality of item types;

ranking, by the management system, the plurality of item types in a ranked order based at least in part on two or more of the historical data, the seller data, or the provider data;

receiving, by the management system, information about an overall purchase budget amount associated with the seller ordering the plurality of item types from the provider to facilitate offering the plurality of item types at the electronic platform;

allocating, by the management system, a target purchase budget amount from the overall purchase budget amount to a portion of the plurality of item types according to an assortment determination algorithm implemented with the executable instructions, the assortment determination algorithm configured to allocate individual target purchase budget amounts from the overall purchase budget to respective portions of the plurality of item types based at least in part on the ranked order of the plurality of item types and a combination of parameters associated with one or more of the historical data, the seller data, or the provider data;

providing, by the management system, access to the plurality of allocated target purchase budget amounts to a computing device of a user, the access allowing the user to request an adjustment to the plurality of target purchase budget amounts;

automatically, by the management system, adjusting the target purchase budget amount of the portion of the plurality of item types according to the assortment determination algorithm upon approval of a request from the computing device of the user for adjusting another target purchase budget amount from the overall purchase budget amount; and

outputting the target purchase budget as adjusted from the management system to a procurement system, the outputting causing the procurement system to generate orders for the plurality of item types based at least in part on the target purchase budget as adjusted, the orders enabling the provider to offer the plurality of item types at the electronic marketplace,

wherein the plurality of allocated target purchase budget amounts are sent to a commitment tracker and used in generating and tracking one or more commitments by the provider, and wherein changes to the one or more commitments trigger further automatic reallocation of the target purchase budget amount.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the computing device of the user comprises a portable device, wherein the portable device is configured to:

store a portion of the historical data, the seller data, and the provider data in a local data store of the portable device; and

request the adjustment to the plurality of target purchase budget amounts based at least in part on the local data store.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the user is further able to run queries on at least one of the historical data, the provider, the plurality of item types, items corresponding to the plurality of item types, parameters, combinations of parameters or the plurality of allocated purchase budget amounts.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein historical data is inferred for an item type based at least in part upon similar item types when the item type does not have at least a minimum amount of historical data, the similar item types being offered by similar providers or having at least one similar parameter value.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least a portion of the plurality of item types are ranked based at least in part upon at least one of projected performance data or vendor planning data.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the target purchase budget amount is for a future period of time;

and

wherein the historical data represents at least one similar period of time in the past, and includes at least one value for at least one performance parameter including at least one of sell through, contribution margin, return rate, pure margin, average cost per unit or yearly growth.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

for each of the at least a portion of the plurality of item types, further allocating a corresponding allocated target purchase budget amount of the plurality of allocated target purchase budget amounts over additional item types of the plurality of item types that have different values for at least one item parameter.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein a request to increase or decrease an allocated target purchase budget amount for an item type of the plurality of item types causes an associated and automatic adjustment in an allocated target purchase budget amount for at least one similar item type.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein information regarding the automatic adjustment is sent to at least one of a budget planner or the commitment tracker and is used in at least one adjustment to information for the at least one provider.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein an adjustment in an allocated target purchase budget amount for an item type of the plurality of item types triggers a notification to at least one user associated with the item type.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the plurality of allocated target purchase budget amounts for use as historical data when determining at least one future purchase budget allocation.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the historical data includes data from at least one of an assortment planner, the commitment tracker, a purchase order tracker or a procurement module.

13. A system configured to manage a budget across multiple item types offered by a provider at an electronic platform of a seller, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory device including instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to, at least;

access a data store that includes one or more of historical data, seller data, or provider data associated with the plurality of item types, the data store associated with the electronic platform;

rank the plurality of item types in a ranked order based at least in part on the one or more of the historical data, the seller data, or the provider data;

receive information about an overall purchase budget amount associated with the seller ordering the plurality of item types from the provider to facilitate offering the plurality of item types at the electronic platform;

allocate a target purchase budget amount from the overall purchase budget amount of the seller to a portion of the plurality of item types according to an assortment determination algorithm, the assortment determination algorithm configured to allocate individual target purchase budget amounts from the overall purchase budget to respective portions of the plurality of item types based at least in part on the ranked order of the plurality of item types and a combination of parameters associated with one or more of the historical data, the seller data, or the provider data;

providing access to the plurality of allocated target purchase budget amounts to a user device, the access allowing a request from the user device for an adjustment to the plurality of target purchase budget amounts;

automatically adjust the target purchase budget of the portion of the plurality of item types according to the assortment determination algorithm upon approval of the request from the user device for adjusting another target purchase budget amount from the overall purchase budget amount; and

output the target purchase budget as adjusted to a procurement system, the outputting causing the procurement system to generate orders for the plurality of item types based at least in part on the target purchase budget as adjusted, the orders enabling the provider to offer the plurality of item types at the electronic marketplace,

wherein the plurality of allocated target purchase budget amounts are sent to a commitment tracker and used in generating and tracking one or more commitments by the provider, and wherein changes to the one or more commitments trigger further automatic reallocation of the target purchase budget amount.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the target purchase budget amount is received from a budget planner operable to determine a purchase budget and allocate that purchase budget across multiple vendors.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein information regarding the automatic adjustment of the target purchase budget amount is sent to the budget planner when the reallocation affects more than one vendor.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions for managing a budget across multiple item types offered by a provider at an electronic platform of a seller, the instructions when executed by at least one processor cause the at least one processor to at least:

obtain, from a data store associated with the electronic platform, historical data, seller data, and provider data associated with the plurality of item types;

rank the plurality of item types in a ranked order based at least in part on two or more of the historical data, the seller data, or the provider data;

obtain information about an overall purchase budget amount associated with the seller ordering the plurality of item types from the provider to facilitate offering the plurality of item types at the electronic platform;

allocate a target purchase budget amount from the overall purchase budget amount to a portion of the plurality of item types according to an assortment determination algorithm, the assortment determination algorithm configured to allocate individual target purchase budget amounts from the overall purchase budget to respective portions of the plurality of item types based at least in part on the ranked order of the plurality of item types and a combination of parameters associated with one or more of the historical data, the seller data, or the provider data;

provide access to the plurality of allocated target purchase budget amounts to a user device, the access allowing a request from the user device for one or more adjustments to the plurality of allocated purchase budget amounts;

automatically adjust the target purchase budget amount of the portion of the plurality of item types according to the assortment determination algorithm upon approval of the request from the user device to adjust another target purchase budget amount from the overall purchase budget amount; and

output the target purchase budget as adjusted to a procurement system, the outputting causing the procurement system to generate orders for the plurality of item types based at least in part on the target purchase budget as adjusted, the orders enabling the provider to offer the plurality of item types at the electronic marketplace,

wherein the plurality of allocated target purchase budget amounts are sent to a commitment tracker and used in generating and tracking one or more commitments by the provider, and wherein changes to the one or more commitments trigger further automatic reallocation of the target purchase budget amount.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the at least one processor to rank the portion of the plurality of item types based at least in part upon at least one of projected performance data or vendor planning data.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein a request to increase or decrease an allocated target purchase budget amount for an item type of the plurality of item types causes an associated and automatic adjustment in an allocated target purchase budget amount for at least one similar item type.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein:

ranking the plurality of item types is based at least in part on weighted combinations of factors associated with the historical data, the seller data, and the provider data,

the assortment determination algorithm is configured to remove target budget amounts to particular portions of the plurality of item types that rank lower than a threshold,

the assortment determination algorithm is configured to allocate target budget amounts to remaining portions of the plurality of item types based at least in part on weighted combinations of factors associated with the ranked order, the historical data, seller data, and provider data,

the user is associated with the seller,

the request is approved based at least in part on tracked performance data of the user, and

adjusting the target budget amount comprises sending notifications about the adjusting to the computing device of the user and to a computing device of the provider.