Beverage product acquisition and inventory management system

• US 10,467,585 B2
• Filed: 03/04/2016
• Issued: 11/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jason K. Smith
• Original Assignee: Jason K. Smith
• Inventors: Smith, Jason K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cao, Vincent M
• Application Number:
  US15/061,026
• Publication Number:
  US 20160267430A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,341 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders

Abstract

A method of optimizing computerized inventory orders over a distributed network is disclosed. The method includes receiving, from a first user device connected to the distributed network, a list of products, the list including a par value and an inventory value associated with each of the products, determining, an inventory order based, on the associated par value and the associated inventory value of each of the products, receiving, from a second user device connected to the distributed network, a set of available promotions, transmitting, the set of available promotions associated with at least one of the products to the first user device, receiving, from the first user device, a selection of at least one promotion of the set of available promotions, and automatically adjusting, a price of at least one of the products associated with the at least one promotion to the inventory order.

Claims

1. A method of optimizing computerized inventory orders over a distributed network comprising:

receiving, from a first user device connected to the distributed network, a list of one or more products, the list including a par value and an inventory value associated with each of the one or more products, the par value and inventory value corresponding to a single delivery location;

responsive to receiving the list of one or more products, determining, by one or more processors, an inventory order for the single delivery location based, at least in part, on the associated par value and the associated inventory value of each of the one or more products;

receiving, from a second user device connected to the distributed network, a set of available promotions;

responsive to receiving the set of available promotions, transmitting, over the distributed network by the one or more processors, the set of available promotions associated with at least one of the one or more products to the first user device;

receiving, from the first user device, a selection of at least one promotion of the set of available promotions;

automatically adjusting, by the one or more processors, a price of at least one of the one or more products associated with the at least one promotion to the inventory order;

outputting to a display on the first user device, an updated inventory order including the adjusted price of the at least one of the one or more products associated with the at least one promotion;

receiving, by the one or more processors, a user confirmation for the updated inventory order for delivery of the one or more products to the single delivery location;

identifying, by the one or more processors, respective distributors associated with each product of the one or more products within the updated inventory order, wherein each of the products is associated with a single distributor;

generating, by the one or more processors, a plurality of distributor specific inventory orders for each distributor identified as providing a product within the updated inventory order, wherein the plurality of distributor specific inventory orders each include a different format; and

transmitting by the one or more processors, the plurality of distributor specific inventory orders to each of the identified distributors for fulfillment of the updated inventory order for the delivery location.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the one or more processors, that at least one associated inventory value for a product is less than the associated par value; and

transmitting, by the one or more processors, an alert to the first user device that the at least one associated inventory value is less than the associated par value.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the one or more processors, that at least one promotion in the set of available promotions is applicable to a product in the inventory order;

determining, by the one or more processors, that the applicable promotion has not been applied to the inventory order; and

responsive to determining that the applicable promotion has not been applied to the inventory order, transmitting an alert to the first user device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second user device is associated with a beverage distributor.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the first user device, a selection of one or more approved distributors; and

transmitting, by the one or more processors, the plurality of distributor specific inventor orders to the approved distributors.

6. A method of identifying a product distributor based on electronic location information comprising:

registering, by one or more processors, a merchant with a content management system containing beverage products, distributor, sales representative, and supplier information;

responsive to registering the merchant, determining a location of the merchant based on electronic location information;

providing, over a network, the merchant with access to at least one of the beverage inventory, distributor, sales representative, and supplier information stored on the content management system;

receiving, by the one or more processors, a purchase request for a first beverage product and a second beverage product from the merchant;

responsive to receiving the purchase request, automatically identifying, by the one or more processors, a first distributor for fulfilling a first portion of the purchase request corresponding to the first beverage product based on the electronic location information, and a second distributor for fulfilling a second portion of the purchase request corresponding to the second beverage product, wherein each beverage product is associated with a single distributor; and

transmitting, via the network, the purchase request to the first identified distributor and the second identified distributor for fulfilment of the purchase request and delivery of the first beverage product and the second beverage product to the location of the merchant.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein identifying the first distributor and the second distributor is based, at least in part, on the location of the merchant.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining a geographical region based on the electronic location information

determining a set of rules based on the geographical region; and

providing the merchant with access and receiving the purchase request are performed in accordance with the set of rules.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein identifying the first distributor and the second distributor comprises receiving user input from the merchant identifying at least one of the first distributor or the second distributor.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving, from the first distributor, an indication that a promotion is available for the the first beverage product and that the promotion is not applied to the purchase request; and

transmitting, by the one or more processors, a notification to the merchant that the promotion is not applied to the purchase request.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

transmitting, by the one or more processors, a request to the merchant to apply the promotion to the purchase request; and

responsive to receiving instructions from the merchant to apply the promotion to the purchase request, transmitting the purchase request with the applied promotion to the identified distributor.

12. The method of claim 6, wherein registering the merchant comprises:

receiving, by the one or more processors, a credit application from the merchant; and

transmitting, by the one or more processors, the credit application to the first distributor for approval.

13. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

responsive to identifying the first distributor, determining a purchase request software format used by the first identified distributor; and

converting the purchase request into a format that is compatible with the purchase request software format used by the first identified distributor.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored therein computer program instructions for automatically generating beverage product sub-orders based on associated metadata, the computer program instructions comprising:

program instructions to receive from a merchant device a beverage product order from a single geographic location comprising a plurality of beverage products, each beverage product of the plurality of beverage products having associated metadata;

program instructions to identify a distributor offering the selected beverage for each of the beverage products in the plurality of beverage products based, at least in part on the associated metadata, wherein each of the plurality of beverage products is offered by a single distributor;

program instructions to generate one or more sub-orders, wherein each sub-order includes the selected beverage products offered by the respective distributor, corresponds to one identified distributor;

program instructions to transmit each sub-order to the corresponding identified distributor; and

program instructions to output to the merchant device a confirmation of the beverage product order placement for the single geographic location.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the program instructions for ordering beverage products further comprise:

program instructions to receive a confirmation from at least one of the identified distributors or a sales representative associated with the identified distributor; and

program instructions to transmit the confirmation to the merchant device.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the program instructions for ordering beverage products further comprise program instructions to determine whether a promotional offer is available for any of the plurality of beverage products.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the program instructions for ordering beverage products further comprise:

program instructions to determine whether an available promotional offer is applied to a first beverage product of the plurality of beverage products; and

program instructions to transmit an alert to the merchant device, responsive to determining that the available promotional offer is not applied to the first beverage product.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the associated metadata includes data associating a particular beverage product of the plurality of beverage products with a particular distributor.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein beverage product order corresponds to a single merchant.