Methods and apparatus for selling paint products in stores which traditionally do not sell paint

• US 10,296,969 B2
• Filed: 12/17/2015
• Issued: 05/21/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BEHR Process Corporation (Masco Corporation)
• Original Assignee: BEHR Process Corporation (Masco Corporation)
• Inventors: Hamacher, Leonard Ludovic, Palakodati, Sunil, Ehnes, Jill Dawn, Thompson, Jr., Nicholas Robert, Poole, Miles Anthony
• Primary Examiner(s): Civan, Ethan D
• Application Number:
  US14/972,707
• Publication Number:
  US 20160180450A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,251 Days
• Field of Search: 705 261- 272
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers

Abstract

A sales person at a retail store which traditionally does not sell paint assists a consumer in selecting and purchasing a non-paint product and thereafter employs a computer terminal and display in conjunction with a website operated by a paint manufacturer to provide a paint color recommendation to the consumer. The sales person may thereafter respond to consumer selection of a particular paint color by employing an on-line electronic ordering tool to transmit a paint order to an order processing terminal located at a paint manufacturer facility. Thereafter, the paint manufacturer may proceed to process the order, perform tinting and shaking steps to formulate paint of the particular color, package the tinted paint, and cause the packaged paint to be shipped to the consumer.

Claims

1. A method for selling paint at a store which traditionally sells a first type of product but that traditionally does not sell paint comprising:

providing a sales person at the store to assist a consumer in selecting and purchasing said first type of product;

providing a computer terminal and computer controlled display at said store and a webserver, remote from the computer terminal, operated by a paint manufacturer, the webserver providing a website with a color coordination application program to the computer terminal to generate one or more interactive display screens on said computer controlled display providing paint color selection assistance;

generating, with a spectrophotometer, a digital representation of a color of a non-paint product for sale at the store;

transmitting the digital representation of the color to the computer terminal; and

causing the computer terminal to transmit the digital representation of the color to the color coordination application program, the color coordination application program determining at least one coordinating color for the color of the non-paint product and displaying the at least one coordinating color on the computer controlled display;

wherein said sales person employs said computer terminal and display and the website operated by the paint manufacturer to provide a paint color recommendation to the consumer based on the at least one coordinating color and responds to consumer selection of a particular paint color from the at least one coordinating color by employing an on-line electronic ordering tool to transmit a paint order for paint of the particular color to the webserver;

wherein the webserver receives the paint order for paint of the particular color and transmits the paint order to an order processing terminal, remote from the web server and the computer terminal, operated by the paint manufacturer; and

wherein the paint manufacturer thereafter proceeds to (a) process the paint order received by the order processing terminal, (b) perform tinting and shaking steps to formulate tinted paint of the particular color, (c) package the tinted paint, and (d) cause the packaged paint to be shipped to the consumer.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first type of product is flooring.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the sales person further provides the consumer with a sample of said at least one coordinating color and wherein the consumer confirms at home the suitability of the at least one coordinating color.

4. In connection with a retail site which does not traditionally sell paint, a method comprising:

generating a digital representation of a color of a non-paint product for sale at said retail site;

transmitting said digital representation to a retail site computer located at said retail site;

causing said retail site computer to supply said digital representation to a color coordination application program provided by a webserver, remote from the retail site computer, in order to generate one or more coordinating colors that coordinate with the color of the non-paint product;

employing a computer controlled electronic display associated with said retail site computer to display said one or more coordinating colors;

providing a color recommendation to a consumer at said retail site based on review of said one or more coordinating colors;

receiving a paint order for paint of a particular paint color selected by the consumer from the one or more coordinating colors; and

transmitting the paint order from the retail site computer to the webserver;

wherein the webserver receives the paint order for paint of the particular paint color and transmits the paint order to an order processing terminal, remote from the web server and the computer terminal and operated by a paint manufacturer; and

wherein the paint manufacturer receives the paint order from the order processing terminal and processes the paint order by packaging and shipping paint of the particular paint color to the consumer.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein said retail site comprises a floor covering store and said non-paint product comprises flooring.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein said digital representation is generated by a spectrophotometer.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein said color coordination application program comprises a client application transmitted from the webserver to the retail site computer.