METHOD IN SUPPORT OF PRE-COMMERCE DECISION MAKING AND AUTOMATED PRODUCT LISTING GENERATION

• US 20070265934A1
• Filed: 04/30/2007
• Published: 11/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sitoa Corporation (Logiq, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Sitoa Corporation (Logiq, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hull, Jackson, Lai, Calbert, Fiechter, Frederick, Sheppard, Daniel, Hassman, Eric
• Application Number:
  US11/742,523
• Publication Number:
  US 20070265934A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

Pre-commerce decision making support that generates a product listing of an item for sale. An electronic catalog is received from a supplier containing an item to be offered for sale at a predetermined supplier price. A price markup is determined for the item based on markup-criteria, which is then utilized to compute a resale price for the item. The product listing is then generated offering the item for sale at the resale price. Additional product information concerning the item can be received from a third-party source and integrated into the product listing. The generated product listing can be published to a retailer as an interactive product listing for inclusion by a retailer in an inventory-less product offering, and can be customized, automatically, for each retailer using its markup criteria.

Claims

1. A method in support of pre-commerce decision making for generating a product listing through which an item is offered for sale, comprising the steps of:

receiving an electronic-catalog from a supplier, the electronic-catalog containing an item to be for sale by the supplier at a predetermined supplier-price;

determining a price markup for the item based on a markup-criteria;

automatically computing a resale price for the item that includes the supplier-price plus the price markup;

generating the product listing for the item being offered for sale at the resale price;

publishing the product listing.

2. The method of claim 1, including the additional steps of:

receiving product information concerning the item;

extracting descriptive information from the product information concerning the item; and

integrating the extracted descriptive information into the product listing.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the product information is received from a source other than the supplier.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the product listing is published to a retailer, the method including the additional step of enabling customer acceptance of the item at the retail price through interaction with the product listing.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the retailer is associated with a preferred publishing format, the method including the additional step of formatting the product listing in the retailer preferred publishing format prior to the publishing step.

6. The method of claim 4, including the additional step of determining a retailer preference rating, wherein the markup-criteria uses the retailer preference rating in computing the price markup.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the markup-criteria uses retailer-specific criteria in computing the price markup.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the markup-criteria uses the predetermined supplier-price in computing the price markup.

9. The method of claim 1, including the additional step of associating the item for sale within a category, wherein the markup-criteria uses the category of the item for sale in computing the price markup.

10. The method of claim 1, including the additional step of determining a supplier preference rating, wherein the markup-criteria uses the supplier preference rating in computing the price markup.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the product listing includes a web-page.

12. The method of claim 1, including the additional step of subscribing to the electronic-catalog from the supplier.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined price markup comprises a negative value.

14. A method in support of pre-commerce decision making to generate a product listing through which an item is offered for sale, and processing a purchase transaction for the item by a customer in an inventory-less manner, comprising the steps of:

receiving an electronic-catalog from a supplier, the electronic-catalog containing an item being offered for sale by the supplier at a predetermined supplier-price;

determining a price markup the item based on a markup-criteria;

automatically computing a resale price for the item that includes the supplier-price plus the price markup;

generating an interactive listing for the item at the resale price;

publishing to a retailer the interactive listing;

receiving an order from the retailer for the item included in the interactive listing in response to a purchase by the customer at the retailer;

charging the retailer the resale price for the item;

obtaining an address of the customer;

purchasing the item from the supplier at the supplier-cost; and

instructing the supplier to ship the product to the address of the customer.