Methods for determining customer motivations in purchasing decisions

• US 20070005444A1
• Filed: 08/31/2006
• Published: 01/04/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Advanced Transactions, LLC (IP Investments Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: Meyer Cordless LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Fuisz, Richard, Fuisz, Joseph
• Granted Patent: US 7,970,656 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0253 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0266 based on the position of the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

Methods provide for auditing of on-line commercial transactions to determine what products are the primary motivations for a customer to begin an on-line shopping session. When a purchase is made during a shopping session, the method determines whether a purchased product is related to a previous “prime motivator” product. If so, the product is designated as a derivative product and a derivative count associated with the product is incremented. If not, the product itself is designated a prime motivator product and a prime motivator count associated with the product is incremented. The method may be repeated for every purchase fielded by an on-line commercial site

Claims

1. A system of determining customer motivations in an on-line shopping session, comprising:

means for retrieving product information for one or more products from the database, said database including a plurality of product records having respective product information;

means for forwarding the retrieved product information to a remotely-located requestor;

means for receiving a plurality of purchase selections from the requester for a respective particular product;

means for recording the time of the beginning of the on-line shopping session;

means for recording the time of each purchase selection throughout the on-line shopping session;

means for determining the average time between purchase selections at the conclusion of the on-line shopping session;

means for incrementing in the database a prime motivator count associated with a product of the first purchase selection at the conclusion of the on-line shopping session;

means for incrementing in the database a prime motivator count associated with a product of any other purchase selection having an incremental purchase time that is greater than the average time between purchase selections at the conclusion of the on-line shopping session; and

means for incrementing in the database a derivative count associated with products purchased in those purchase selections for all other purchase selections.

2. A system of determining customer motivation in an on-line shopping session, comprising:

means for retrieving product information for one or more products from the database, said database including a plurality of product records having respective product information;

means for presenting the retrieved product information to a remotely-located requestor via a plurality of web pages;

means for receiving a plurality of purchase selections from the requester for a respective particular product;

means for maintaining a count of web pages presented to the requester;

means for recording the web page count associated with the purchase selection for each purchase selection received during the on-line shopping session;

means for determining the average web page count between purchase selections at the conclusion of the on-line shopping session;

means for incrementing in the database a prime motivator count associated with a product of the first purchase selection at the conclusion of the on-line shopping session;

means for incrementing in the database a prime motivator count associated with a product of any other purchase selection having an incremental web page count that is greater than the average web page count at the conclusion of the on-line shopping session; and

means for incrementing in the database a derivative count associated with products purchased in those purchase selections for all other purchase selections.

3. A method of determining customer motivations in an on-line shopping session, comprising:

retrieving product information for one or more products from a database, said database including a plurality of product records having respective product information;

forwarding the retrieved product information to a remotely-located requester;

receiving a plurality of purchase selections from the requestor for a respective particular product;

recording the time of the beginning of the on-line shopping session;

recording the time of each purchase selection throughout the on-line shopping session;

determining the average time between purchase selections at the conclusion of the on-line shopping session;

incrementing in the database a prime motivator count associated with a product of the first purchase selection at the conclusion of the on-line shopping session;

incrementing in the database a prime motivator count associated with a product of any other purchase selection having an incremental purchase time that is greater than the average time between purchase selections at the conclusion of the on-line shopping session; and

incrementing in the database a derivative count associated with products purchased in those purchase selections for all other purchase selections.

4. A method of determining customer motivation in an on-line shopping session, comprising:

retrieving product information for one or more products from a database, said database including a plurality of product records having respective product information;

presenting the retrieved product information to a remotely-located requestor via a plurality of web pages;

receiving a plurality of purchase selections from the requestor for a respective particular product;

maintaining a count of web pages presented to the requestor;

recording the web page count associated with the purchase selection for each purchase selection received during the on-line shopping session;

determining the average web page count between purchase selections at the conclusion of the on-line shopping session;

incrementing in the database a prime motivator count associated with a product of the first purchase selection at the conclusion of the on-line shopping session;

incrementing in the database a prime motivator count associated with a product of any other purchase selection having an incremental web page count that is greater than the average web page count at the conclusion of the on-line shopping session; and

incrementing in the database a derivative count associated with products purchased in those purchase selections for all other purchase selections.

5. A system in communication with a network, the network providing access to the system to on-line customers, comprising:

a server computer;

a database operatively coupled to the server computer, said database including a plurality of product records having respective product information; and

executable program instructions stored on a computer readable medium, the executable program instructions causing the server to perform the following steps;

retrieving product information for one or more products from said database;

forwarding the retrieved product information to a remotely-located requester;

receiving a plurality of purchase selections from the requester for a respective particular product;

recording the time of the beginning of the on-line shopping session;

recording the time of each purchase selection throughout the on-line shopping session;

determining the average time between purchase selections at the conclusion of the on-line shopping session;

incrementing in the database a prime motivator count associated with a product of the first purchase selection at the conclusion of the on-line shopping session;

incrementing in the database a prime motivator count associated with a product of any other purchase selection having an incremental purchase time that is greater than the average time between purchase selections at the conclusion of the on-line shopping session; and

incrementing in the database a derivative count associated with products purchased in those purchase selections for all other purchase selections.

6. A system in communication with a network, the network providing access to the system to on-line customers, comprising:

a server computer;

a database operatively coupled to the server computer, said database including a plurality of product records having respective product information; and

executable program instructions stored on a computer readable medium, the executable program instructions causing the server to perform the following steps;

retrieving product information for one or more products from said database;

presenting the retrieved product information to a remotely-located requestor via a plurality of web pages;

receiving a plurality of purchase selections from the requestor for a respective particular product;

maintaining a count of web pages presented to the requestor;

recording the web page count associated with the purchase selection for each purchase selection received during the on-line shopping session;

determining the average web page count between purchase selections at the conclusion of the on-line shopping session;

incrementing in the database a prime motivator count associated with a product of the first purchase selection at the conclusion of the on-line shopping session;

incrementing in the database a prime motivator count associated with a product of any other purchase selection having an incremental web page count that is greater than the average web page count at the conclusion of the on-line shopping session; and

incrementing in the database a derivative count associated with products purchased in those purchase selections for all other purchase selections.