Method and system for interactively negotiating an item price in a physical store while shopping
First Claim
1. A product purchasing method that enables a customer to interactively negotiate the purchase price of an item in a business location while the customer is in that location, the negotiations occurring over a wireless connection and comprising the steps of:
- connecting to a merchant server in that physical location that contains information about the products for sell at that location;
choosing a product for which the customer desires to negotiate a purchase price;
negotiating a purchase price for the chosen product through dynamic interaction with the merchant offering the chosen product for sale; and
establishing a final purchase price for the chosen product.
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Accused Products
Abstract
This invention provides a method and system to support dynamic pricing at a reasonable cost. In this context, dynamic pricing means there may be different prices for individual customers that want to purchase the same product. The price discounts in stores are typically for all customers or for a group or member customers. Stores usually do not have a practice of granting individualized pricing for particular items. However, for some products that may have slow sales, the store may be willing to consider a price by an individual customer that desires that product. This invention enables a store to tailor price discounts to an individual person.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A product purchasing method that enables a customer to interactively negotiate the purchase price of an item in a business location while the customer is in that location, the negotiations occurring over a wireless connection and comprising the steps of:
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connecting to a merchant server in that physical location that contains information about the products for sell at that location;
choosing a product for which the customer desires to negotiate a purchase price;
negotiating a purchase price for the chosen product through dynamic interaction with the merchant offering the chosen product for sale; and
establishing a final purchase price for the chosen product. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12)
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- 10. The method as described in claim further comprising the steps of generating a response to the offer by the customer and submitting that response to the customer.
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13. A computer program product in a computer readable medium to enable a customer to interactively negotiate the purchase price of an item in a business location while the customer is in that location, the negotiations occurring over a wireless connection and comprising:
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instructions for connecting to a merchant server in that physical location that contains information about the products for sell at that location;
instructions for choosing a product for which the customer desires to negotiate a purchase price;
instructions for negotiating a purchase price for the chosen product through dynamic interaction with the merchant offering the chosen product for sale; and
instructions for establishing a final purchase price for the chosen product.
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19. A product purchasing system for a customer to interactively negotiate the purchase price of an item from a merchant in a business site while the customer is in that location comprising:
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a product purchasing manager located at the business site, said purchasing manager being able to interface with a customer for the purpose of supplying information about a product to a customer;
a wireless interface between said product purchasing manager and a customer, said wireless interface being used by the customer to communicate with said product purchasing manager;
a communication protocol that enables communication between said product purchasing manager and the customer; and
a decision-making entity that negotiates a purchase price for product with the customer.
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25. The product purchasing system as described in 19 wherein said decision-making entity comprises price negotiation logic.
Specification