Social product promotion

• US 10,580,050 B2
• Filed: 07/31/2015
• Issued: 03/03/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Transform Sr Brands, LLC (ESL Investments, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Transform Sr Brands, LLC (ESL Investments, Inc.)
• Inventors: Haimovitch, Guy
• Primary Examiner(s): Shui, Ming
• Application Number:
  US14/815,524
• Publication Number:
  US 20150339742A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,677 Days
• Field of Search: 705 261- 272
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0605 Supply or demand aggregation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/00 Information and communication technology [ICT] specially adapted for implementation of business processes of specific business sectors, e.g. utilities or tourism healthcare informatics G16H
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are disclosed regarding an e-commerce system having social networking aspects. The e-commerce system leverages such social networking aspects to help promote the sale of products.

Claims

1. A method of a computing system, the method comprising:

storing a customer profile for each customer of a plurality of customers in an electronic database of the computing system, wherein each customer profile comprises an owned catalog identifying products that are owned by the respective customer and a wanted catalog identifying products that the respective customer wants to own;

receiving a product listing request for a first product from a client computing device of a first customer of the plurality of customers; and

in response to receiving the product listing request;

selecting, with the computing system, a second customer of the plurality of customers with the first product in their respective owned catalog;

identifying a plurality of products that are present in the wanted catalog for the first customer and in the owned catalog for the second customer; and

presenting, to the first customer via the client computing device, a user interface comprising;

information regarding the plurality of products identified as being present in the wanted catalog of the first customer and in the owned catalog of the second customer;

an indication that the plurality of products are wanted by the first customer and owned by the second customer; and

a user interface control configured, in response to being activated by the first customer, to initiate an electronic communication directed to the second customer that requests product feedback from the second customer regarding products of the plurality of products.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing, in the customer profile for each customer of the plurality of customers, relationship designations that identify personal relationships between the respective customer and other customers of the plurality of customers; and

selecting the second customer based on relationship designations of the first customer identifying a personal relationship between the first customer and the second customer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface control is further configured to initiate the electronic communication by directing an e-mail message to the second customer.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface control is further configured to initiate the electronic communication by directing an instant message to the second customer.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface control is further configured to initiate the electronic communication by placing a comment in a page associated with the second customer.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said presenting comprises simultaneously displaying both the information regarding the plurality of products and the user interface control of the user interface.

7. A computing system, comprising:

a mass storage device configured to store a customer profile for each customer of a plurality of customers, wherein each customer profile comprises an owned catalog identifying products that are owned by the respective customer and a wanted catalog identifying products that the respective customer wants to own;

a network interface configured to receive and transmit information; and

a processor configured to;

receive, from a client computing device of a first customer of the plurality of customers via the network interface, a product listing request for a first product;

in response to the product listing request, select, via the processor, a second customer of the plurality of customers with the first product in their respective owned catalog, and identify a plurality of products that are present in the wanted catalog for the first customer and in the owned catalog for the second customer; and

transmit signals, via the network interface, that cause the client computing device of the first customer to present a user interface comprising information regarding the plurality of products identified as being present in the wanted catalog of the first customer and in the owned catalog of the second customer, an indication that the plurality of products are wanted by the first customer and owned by the second customer, and a user interface control configured, in response to being activated by the first customer, to initiate an electronic communication directed to the second customer that requests product feedback from the second customer regarding products of the plurality of products.

8. The computing system of claim 7, wherein the user interface control is further configured to initiate the electronic communication by sending an e-mail message to the second customer.

9. The computing system of claim 7, wherein the user interface control is further configured to initiate the electronic communication by sending an instant message to the second customer.

10. The computing system of claim 7, wherein the user interface control is further configured to initiate the electronic communication by placing a comment in a page associated with the second customer.

11. The computing system of claim 7, wherein said processor is configured to transmit the signals so as to cause the client computing device to simultaneously display both the information regarding the plurality of products and the user interface control of the user interface.

12. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a plurality of instructions, that in response to being executed, cause a computing system to:

store a customer profile for each customer of a plurality of customers in an electronic database of the computing system, wherein each customer profile comprises an owned catalog identifying products that are owned by the respective customer and a wanted catalog identifying products that the respective customer wants to own;

receive, from a client computing device of a first customer of the plurality of customers, a product listing request for a first product;

in response to the product listing request, select, via the computing system, a second customer of the plurality of customers with the first product in their respective owned catalog, and identify a first product that is present in the wanted catalog for the first customer and in the owned catalog for the second customer; and

present, to the first customer via the client computing device, a user interface comprising;

information regarding the first product identified as being present in the wanted catalog of the first customer and in the owned catalog of the second customer;

an indication that the first product is wanted by the first customer and owned by the second customer; and

a user interface control configured, in response to being activated by the first customer, to initiate an electronic communication directed to the second customer that requests product feedback from the second customer regarding the first product.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the computing system to:

identify additional products that are present in the wanted catalog for the first customer and in the owned catalog for the second customer; and

present, to the first customer via the user interface, further information regarding the identified additional products including an indication that the identified additional products are also in the wanted catalog of the first customer and the owned catalog of the second customer.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the computing system to present the user interface control such that the user interface control initiates the electronic communication by sending an e-mail message to the second customer.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the computing system to present the user interface control such that the user interface control initiates the electronic communication by sending an instant message to the second customer.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the computing system to present the user interface control such that the user interface control initiates the electronic communication by placing a comment in a page associated with the second customer.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the computing system to simultaneously display both the information regarding the first product and the user interface control of the user interface.