SOCIAL NETWORKING PLATFORM FOR BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS INTERACTION
First Claim
1. A network for business-to-business method, comprising the steps of:
- identifying a tiered vertical market defined by a market space, said potential tiered vertical market including vendors of products or services within said market space, consumers of said products or services, and potential affiliates having a business interest complementary to an industry of said market space;
establishing an e-commerce platform that can be linked to affiliate platforms of said potential affiliates for electronic transfer of information between said e-commerce platform and said affiliate platforms, and that can be linked to vendor platforms of said potential vendors for electronic transfer of information between said e-commerce platform and said vendor platforms;
establishing links between said first e-commerce platform and a first number of said affiliate platforms and between said e-commerce platform and a second number of said vendor platforms;
receiving, at said e-commerce platforms, an order including order information from one of said consumers directed to said e-commerce platform via a referring affiliate platform of said linked affiliate platforms, said order information identifying for purchase one or more of said products or services from one or more of said linked vendors; and
operating said e-commerce platform to communicate with said referring affiliate platform and/or one or more of said linked vendors in relation to fulfillment of said order.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A social network for business-to-business platform using an e-commerce platform and system consolidate a tiered vertical market space by connecting multiple vendors to a target audience or consumer class through an affiliate network. In one embodiment, an affiliate network (200) includes consumer platforms (220), vendor platforms (230) and affiliate platforms (240), all connected via a social network for business-to-business platform (210). The social network for business-to-business platform (210) includes a number of web pages that may include content (213) of interest to the consumers (220), as well as a market place (212) by which consumers (220) can purchase products from the various vendors (230). In addition, consumers (220) may be referred to the platform (210) by the affiliate platforms (240). In such cases, affiliate branding information may be displayed in connection with the interfaces of the social network for business-to-business platform (210), and referral fees may be generated for the affiliates. The social network for business-to-business platform (210) may provide a variety of administrative functions, as well as generating content for use by the affiliate platforms (240).
60 Citations
62 Claims
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1. A network for business-to-business method, comprising the steps of:
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identifying a tiered vertical market defined by a market space, said potential tiered vertical market including vendors of products or services within said market space, consumers of said products or services, and potential affiliates having a business interest complementary to an industry of said market space; establishing an e-commerce platform that can be linked to affiliate platforms of said potential affiliates for electronic transfer of information between said e-commerce platform and said affiliate platforms, and that can be linked to vendor platforms of said potential vendors for electronic transfer of information between said e-commerce platform and said vendor platforms; establishing links between said first e-commerce platform and a first number of said affiliate platforms and between said e-commerce platform and a second number of said vendor platforms; receiving, at said e-commerce platforms, an order including order information from one of said consumers directed to said e-commerce platform via a referring affiliate platform of said linked affiliate platforms, said order information identifying for purchase one or more of said products or services from one or more of said linked vendors; and operating said e-commerce platform to communicate with said referring affiliate platform and/or one or more of said linked vendors in relation to fulfillment of said order. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A social network for business-to-business method, comprising the steps of:
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First operating an affiliate platform to access an e-commerce platform for linking vendors of products within a product space, consumers of said products, and affiliates having a business interest complementary to an industry of said products; second operating said affiliate platform to establish a link between said e-commerce platform and an affiliate platform; and third operating said affiliate platform to communicate with said e-commerce platform. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A social network for business-to-business method, comprising the steps of:
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accessing an e-commerce platform for linking vendors of products within said product space, consumers of said products and affiliates having a business interest complementary to an industry of said products; establishing a link between said e-commerce platform and a vendor platform of one of said vendors; and operating said vendor platform to communicate with said e-commerce platform. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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47. A social network for business-to-business method, comprising the steps of:
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first accessing an e-commerce platform for linking vendors of products within a products base, consumers of said products and affiliates having a business interest complementary to an industry of said products; second accessing an affiliate platform associated with said e-commerce platform, wherein one of said steps of first accessing and second accessing comprises activating a link between said e-commerce platform and said affiliate platform; and submitting product order information via said e-commerce platform, said product order information identifying for purchase one or more of said products from one or more of said linked vendors.
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48. A social network for business-to-business method, comprising the steps of:
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establishing an e-commerce platform in connection with a tiered vertical market defined by a specialty product space, said tiered vertical market space including vendors of specialty products within said product space, consumers of said specialty products and potential affiliates having a business interest complementary to an industry of said specialty products, wherein said e-commerce platform can be linked to affiliate platforms of said potential affiliates for electronic transfer of information between said e-commerce platform and said affiliate platforms, and said e-commerce platform can further be linked to vendor platforms of said potential vendors for electronic transfer of information between said e-commerce platform and said vendor platforms all participating within the social network for business-to-business platform; obtaining, via said platform, consumer identification information and consumer location information regarding a consumer; and using, at said e-commerce platform, said consumer location information to provide location-specific information to said consumer.
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49. Asocial network for business-to-business apparatus, comprising:
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an e-commerce platform for consolidating a tiered vertical market defined by a market space, said tiered vertical market including vendors or products of services within said market space, consumers of said products or services, and potential affiliates having a business interest complementary to an industry of said market space; said e-commerce platform being operative for establishing links to affiliate platforms of said potential affiliates for electronic transfer of information between said e-commerce platform and said affiliate platforms and for establishing links to vendor platforms of said potential vendors for electronic transfer of information between said e-commerce platform and said vendor platforms; an input port, associated with said e-commerce platform, for receiving an order, including order information from one of said consumers directed to said e-commerce platform via a referring affiliate platform, so the order information identifying for purchase one or more of said products or services from one or more of said vendors; and an output port, associated with said e-commerce platform, for communicating with said referring affiliate platform and/or one or more said vendors in relation to fulfillment of said order. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62)
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Specification