Reporting metrics for online marketplace sales channels

• US 20050203804A1
• Filed: 03/09/2004
• Published: 09/15/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Suzuki, Masami, Klenske, Greg, Van Der Hulst, Nicole, Danly, Martha, Kozuki, Katherine
• Granted Patent: US 7,739,148 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06393 Score-carding, benchmarking or key performance indicator [KPI] analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0247 Calculate past, present or future revenues
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis

Abstract

In an online marketplace environment, a connection provider can provide metrics to a seller of items relating to items for sale on one or more online sales channels. In one implementation, a method describes receiving information that describes one or more items for sale by the seller, and facilitating a sale of the items through one or more online sales channels. Metrics are reported to the seller regarding the one or more items for sale on the one or more online sales channels, in which the metrics include top-line highlights, bottom-line highlights, SKU-level information, and an executive summary.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving information describing one or more items for sale by a seller;

facilitating a sale of the items through one or more online sales channels; and

reporting metrics to the seller regarding the one or more items for sale on the one or more online sales channels, wherein the metrics comprise top-line highlights, bottom-line highlights, SKU-level information, and an executive summary.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein an item comprises a good or a service or a combination of goods and services.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the reporting provides the seller with a central source for measuring and assessing information.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the metrics comprises recommendations to improve any of the top-line highlights and bottom-line highlights.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the reporting provides feedback on a condition of sales in comparison to one or more sales targets, wherein a performance of actual sales is tracked relative to the one or more sales targets.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the one or more sales targets are determined by the seller.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein reporting the metrics facilitates sales adjustments responsive to a dynamic sales environment.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing a software infrastructure that enables the seller to provide information describing one or more items to be sold on the one or more online sales channels.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising keeping track of information related to the one or more items for sale, wherein the information comprises financial information and quantity of goods sold, wherein the financial information comprises fees and costs.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the reporting of metrics comprises providing the seller with insights and strategic recommendations on sales activities, and showing interrelationships of sales activities and cause-and-effect patterns.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein access to one or more reporting metrics is provided at the seller'"'"'s convenience, wherein the one or more reporting metrics are customized based on the seller'"'"'s preferences.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving one or more of the following:

business-specific information;

data within objects, spreadsheets, and text files; and

business-related applications and logic.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a product data file (PDF), the PDF comprising data entries for the one or more items for sale; and

validating the PDF.

14. A system comprising:

one or more reports providing information from a connection provider to a seller of one or more items for sale on one or more sales channels, the one or more reports being generated by the connection provider;

one or more targets relating to goals and forecasts for the one or more items for sale, the one or more targets being determined by the seller; and

a reporting tool to present the one or more reports to the seller, wherein the reporting tool comprises a dashboard with an executive summary with qualitative subjective information that provides value to quantitative information in any one of the one or more reports and the dashboard.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the one or more reports comprise one or more benchmarks of the seller'"'"'s one or more targets.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the executive summary comprises insights, recommendations, performance alerts and analysis for the seller.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein the dashboard comprises top line highlights and bottom line highlights.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the top line highlights present a comparison of sales performance and sales forecasts.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein the bottom line highlights presents bottom line performance and reveals insights to costs.

20. The system of claim 14 wherein the reporting tool is configured to allow the seller to assess the performance of any of one or more sales, inventory, pricing, and marketing parameters relative to one or more specified targets, wherein the reporting tool comprises self-servicing functionality to allow the seller to access information at the seller'"'"'s convenience.

21. The system of claim 14 wherein the one or more reports to the seller comprise any of a presentation of issues, alerts, news, customer feedback, and recommendations to provide value to the seller.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein the information presented in one or more reports are adapted to be customized by the seller.

23. The system of claim 14 further comprising an Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) capability configured to facilitate organized views of auction data.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein the OLAP capability includes functionality that enables a user to view a web-based presentation of the auction data, the web-based presentation including a format that is organized into logical groups of information.

25. The system of claim 23 wherein the auction information presented includes one or more of gross merchandise sales (GMS), net merchandise sales (NMS), and an auction conversion rate for the one or more listings.

26. An article comprising a machine-readable medium storing instructions operable to cause a machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving information describing one or more items for sale by a seller;

facilitating a sale of the items through one or more online sales channels; and

reporting metrics to the seller regarding the one or more items for sale on the one or more online sales channels, wherein the metrics comprise top-line highlights, bottom-line highlights, SKU-level information, and an executive summary.