System and method for differentiated customer service in terms of fufillment experience based on customer loyalty and cost to serve

• US 10,296,932 B2
• Filed: 05/12/2016
• Issued: 05/21/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wayfair LLC (Wayfair Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Deshpande, Ajay A., Hampapur, Arun, Koc, Ali, Li, Yingjie, Liu, Xuan, Quanz, Brian L., Xing, Dahai
• Primary Examiner(s): Cao, Vincent M
• Application Number:
  US15/153,088
• Publication Number:
  US 20170330218A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,104 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0233 Method of redeeming a frequent usage reward
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders

Abstract

A method is provided for selecting eligible nodes and item assignments to those nodes for fulfillment based on satisfaction of a reward constraint and fulfillment cost. This method includes several steps, including determining by a computer processor of the fulfillment engine whether each of the plurality of assignments to the plurality of nodes satisfies a reward constraint based on a first customer loyalty reward level of the plurality of customer loyalty reward levels, identifying by a computer processor of the fulfillment engine one or more satisfactory assignments to nodes by identifying which of the one or more assignments is both associated with an order fulfillment cost that is less than the maximum fulfillment cost and satisfies the reward constraint and automatically generating by a computer processor of the fulfillment engine a node order assignment assigning the current order to the one or more satisfactory nodes.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for providing a customer differentiated order fulfillment assignment, comprising:

receiving by a computer processor of a loyalty reward module an electronic record of a current order from a customer, the computer processor of the loyalty reward module having program instructions, which when executed by the processor of the loyalty reward module perform the steps of;

obtaining by a computer processor of the loyalty reward module a loyalty reward budget for that customer from a reward database;

obtaining by a computer processor of the loyalty reward module a plurality of customer loyalty reward levels;

transmitting by a computer processor of the loyalty reward module the loyalty reward budget and the plurality of customer loyalty reward levels to an order fulfillment engine;

determining by a computer processor of the order fulfillment engine a minimum possible fulfillment cost of the current order;

determining by a computer processor of the fulfillment engine a maximum fulfillment cost by adding the transmitted loyalty reward budget of the current order to the minimum possible fulfillment cost of the current order;

determining by a computer processor of the order fulfillment engine an order fulfillment cost of the current order from each of a plurality of assignments to a plurality of nodes;

determining by a computer processor of the fulfillment engine whether each of the plurality of assignments satisfies a reward constraint based on a first customer loyalty reward level of the plurality of customer loyalty reward levels;

identifying by a computer processor of the fulfillment engine one or more satisfactory assignments to nodes by identifying which of the one or more assignments is both associated with an order fulfillment cost that is less than the maximum fulfillment cost and satisfies the reward constraint; and

automatically generating by a computer processor of the fulfillment engine a node order assignment assigning the current order to the one or more satisfactory nodes.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of customer loyalty levels is different from one another and each of the plurality of customer loyalty levels is associated with at least one of increasing a shipping speed of the current order, decreasing a number of packages shipped to fulfill the current order and decreasing a carbon dioxide output resulting from delivery of the current order.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 2, further comprising steps just prior to the automatically generating step, the steps comprising:

iteratively selecting an other of the plurality of customer loyalty levels;

determining by a computer processor of the fulfillment engine whether each of the plurality of assignments to the plurality of nodes satisfies the reward constraint based on the other of the plurality of customer loyalty reward levels;

identifying by a computer processor of the fulfillment engine one or more satisfactory assignments to nodes by identifying which of the one or more assignments is both associated with an order fulfillment cost that is less than the maximum fulfillment cost and satisfies the reward constraint.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the reward constraint is a function of a shipping speed of the current order, a number of packages shipped to fulfill the current order, and a carbon dioxide output resulting from delivery of the current order.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the fulfillment engine determines an unspent budget by subtracting the order fulfillment cost of the one or more satisfactory assignments to the one or more nodes from the maximum fulfillment cost and transmits the unspent budget to the loyalty reward module.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the loyalty reward budget is determined by historical data of previous orders.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 6, wherein the loyalty reward budget for the customer is determined by at least one of a status level of the customer, a purchase history of the customer, a clearance level of one or more items of the current order, a brand of one or more items of the current order.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein a computer processor of the loyalty reward module assigns a customer status level to the current order.

9. A system for providing a customer differentiated order fulfillment assignments, comprising:

one or more storage devices;

one or more hardware processors coupled to the one or more storage devices;

one or more hardware processors operable to receive by a loyalty reward module an electronic record of a current order from a customer, the processor of the loyalty reward module having program instructions;

one or more hardware processors operable for obtaining by the loyalty reward module, a loyalty reward budget for that customer from a reward database;

one or more hardware processors operable for obtaining by the loyalty reward module a plurality of customer loyalty reward levels;

one or more hardware processors operable for transmitting by the loyalty reward module the loyalty reward budget and the plurality of customer loyalty reward levels to an order fulfillment engine;

one or more hardware processors operable for determining by the order fulfillment engine a minimum possible fulfillment cost of the current order;

one or more hardware processors operable for determining by the order fulfillment engine a maximum fulfillment cost by adding the transmitted loyalty reward budget of the current order to the minimum possible fulfillment cost of the current order;

one or more hardware processors operable for determining by the order fulfillment engine an order fulfillment cost of the current order from each of a plurality of assignments to a plurality of nodes;

one or more hardware processors operable for determining by the order fulfillment engine whether each of the plurality of assignments satisfies a reward constraint based on a first customer loyalty reward level of the plurality of customer loyalty reward levels;

one or more hardware processors operable for identifying by the order fulfillment engine one or more satisfactory assignments to nodes by identifying which of the one or more assignments is both associated with an order fulfillment cost that is less than the maximum fulfillment cost and satisfies the reward constraint; and

one or more hardware processors operable for automatically generating by the fulfillment engine a node order assignment assigning the current order to the one or more satisfactory nodes.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein each of the plurality of customer loyalty levels is different from one another and each of the plurality of customer loyalty levels is associated with at least one of increasing a shipping speed of the current order, decreasing a number of packages shipped to fulfill the current order and decreasing a carbon dioxide output resulting from delivery of the current order.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising one or more hardware processors operable for iteratively selecting an other of the plurality of customer loyalty levels;

one or more hardware processors operable for determining by the fulfillment engine whether each of the plurality of assignments to the plurality of nodes satisfies a reward constraint based on the other of the plurality of customer loyalty reward levels;

one or more hardware processors identifying by the fulfillment engine one or more satisfactory assignment to nodes by identifying which of the one or more assignments is both associated with an order fulfillment cost that is less than the maximum fulfillment cost and satisfies the reward constraint.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the reward constraint is a function of a shipping speed of the current order, a number of packages shipped to fulfill the current order, and a carbon dioxide output resulting from delivery of the current order.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more hardware processors are operable for determining by the fulfillment engine an unspent budget by subtracting the order fulfillment cost of the one or more satisfactory assignments to one or more nodes from the maximum fulfillment cost and transmits the unspent budget to the loyalty reward module.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the loyalty reward budget is determined by historical data of previous orders.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the loyalty reward budget for the customer is determined by at least one of a status level of the customer, a purchase history of the customer, a clearance level of one or more items of the current order, a brand of one or more items of the current order.

16. A computer readable storage medium storing a program of instructions executable by a machine to perform a method of providing a customer differentiated order fulfillment assignment, the method comprising:

receiving by a computer processor of a loyalty reward module an electronic record of a current order from a customer, the computer processor of the loyalty reward module having program instructions, which when executed by the processor of the loyalty reward module perform the steps of;

obtaining by a computer processor of the loyalty reward module a loyalty reward budget for that customer from a reward database;

obtaining by a computer processor of the loyalty reward module a plurality of customer loyalty reward levels;

transmitting by a computer processor of the loyalty reward module the loyalty reward budget and the plurality of customer loyalty reward levels to an order fulfillment engine;

determining by a computer processor of the order fulfillment engine a minimum possible fulfillment cost of the current order;

determining by a computer processor of the fulfillment engine a maximum fulfillment cost by adding the transmitted loyalty reward budget of the current order to the minimum possible fulfillment cost of the current order;

determining by a computer processor of the order fulfillment engine an order fulfillment cost of the current order from each of a plurality of assignments to a plurality of nodes;

determining by a computer processor of the fulfillment engine whether each of the plurality of assignments satisfies a reward constraint based on a first customer loyalty reward level of the plurality of customer loyalty reward levels;

identifying by a computer processor of the fulfillment engine one or more satisfactory assignments to nodes by identifying which of the one or more assignments is both associated with an order fulfillment cost that is less than the maximum fulfillment cost and satisfies the reward constraint; and

automatically generating by a computer processor of the fulfillment engine a node order assignment assigning the current order to the one or more satisfactory nodes.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein each of the plurality of customer loyalty levels is different from one another and each of the plurality of customer loyalty levels is associated with at least one of increasing a shipping speed of the current order, decreasing a number of packages shipped to fulfill the current order and decreasing a carbon dioxide output resulting from delivery of the current order.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, further comprising steps just prior to the automatically generating step, the steps comprising:

iteratively selecting an other of the plurality of customer loyalty levels;

determining by a computer processor of the fulfillment engine whether each of the plurality of assignments to the plurality of nodes satisfies a reward constraint based on the other of the plurality of customer loyalty reward levels;

identifying by a computer processor of the fulfillment engine one or more satisfactory assignments to nodes by identifying which of the one or more assignments is both associated with an order fulfillment cost that is less than the maximum fulfillment cost and satisfies the reward constraint.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the reward constraint is a function of a shipping speed of the current order, a number of packages shipped to fulfill the current order, and a carbon dioxide output resulting from delivery of the current order.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the fulfillment engine determines an unspent budget by subtracting the order fulfillment cost of the one or more satisfactory assignments to one or more nodes from the maximum fulfillment cost and transmits the unspent budget to the loyalty reward module.