METHOD, SYSTEM AND PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR DISTRIBUTION OF FEEDBACK AMONG CUSTOMERS IN REAL-TIME

• US 20090112683A1
• Filed: 10/24/2007
• Published: 04/30/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hamilton, Rick A. II, Pickover, Clifford A., Li, Jenny S., Huie, William J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,527,307 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products

Abstract

A method, system and program product for providing distribution of customer feedback pertaining to an aspect of a retail environment. The method includes creating either a text, an audio or visual tag for inputting into a tool, feedback from customers using a plurality of devices, the tag including either a product-related or a location-related tag that can be used to extrapolate on the feedback. The method further includes identifying respective locations of customers, collecting in real-time the feedback inputted by the customers and providing a user, a customer that has provided feedback or not, access to the feedback collected based on either an inquiry submitted to the tool by the user or based on a current location of the user identified by the tool. The method further includes retrieving in real-time a subset of the feedback collected based on either the inquiry submitted or the current location of the user.

Claims

1. A method for providing distribution of customer feedback in a retail environment, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving, into a tool, feedback inputted by one or more customers using a plurality of devices that are configured to communicate with said tool, said feedback inputted pertaining to one or more aspects of a retail environment;

identifying, using said tool, respective locations of said one or more customers;

collecting, using said tool, said feedback inputted by said one or more customers pertaining to said one or more aspects of said retail environment; and

providing a user access to said feedback collected based on either an inquiry submitted to said tool by said user or based on a current location of said user identified by said tool, wherein said user comprises at least one of;

a customer of said one or more customers that has inputted said feedback and a customer, other than said one or more customers, that has not inputted said feedback.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said receiving step further comprises the step of:

creating a respective first tag for inputting a respective feedback into said tool, said respective first tag being configured to extrapolate on said respective feedback inputted, wherein said respective first tag comprises at least one of;

an image tag, an audio tag and a textual tag, and wherein said respective first tag comprises at least one of;

a product-related tag and a location-related tag.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein said identifying step further comprises the step of:

tracking, using said tool, a respective location of said user for identifying a respective location of said user.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein said collecting step further comprises the step of:

recording said feedback inputted by said one or more customers pertaining to said one or more aspects of said retail environment in real-time.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein said collecting step further comprises the steps of:

determining whether said feedback inputted pertains to either a product or a location within said retail environment; and

adding, by said tool, one or more additional tags to said feedback inputted based on said determining step in order to facilitate retrieval of said feedback collected.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein said providing step further comprises the step of:

retrieving in real-time a subset of said feedback collected based on either said inquiry submitted to said tool by said user or based on said current location of said user identified by said tool.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein said providing step further comprises the step of:

presenting said user with additional information besides said feedback collected based on either said inquiry submitted to said tool by said user or based on said current location of said user identified by said tool.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein said aspect of said retail establishment of said one or more retail establishments comprises at least one of:

product, service, store operation, recommendation, review, overall shopping experience and miscellaneous.

9. A system for providing distribution of customer feedback in real-time, comprising:

a network communications channel;

one or more servers connected to said network communications channel and to a trans-retail establishment server connected to said network communications channel, each of said one or more servers corresponding to one or more retail establishments, each of said one or more servers having deployed thereon a tool for distributing feedback received in real-time from one or more customers of said one or more retail establishments, said tool comprising;

a location tracking module configured to detect a location of a customer of said one or more customers providing feedback for an aspect of a retail establishment of said one or more retail establishments;

an item identifier module configured to identify one or more products in said one or more retail establishments; and

a collection module configured to collect in real-time, utilizing said location tracking module and said item identifier module, said feedback received in real-time from said one or more customers for said aspect of said retail establishment of said one or more retail establishments, wherein said tool is further configured to allow a user access to said feedback collected, and wherein said user comprises at least one of;

a customer of said one or more customers that has inputted said feedback and a customer, other than said one or more customers, that has not inputted said feedback.

10. The system according to claim 9, further comprising:

one or more clients connected to said network communications channel, said one or more clients being configured to allow input of said feedback for said aspect of said retail establishment of said one or more retail establishments, said one or more clients being configured to send inquiries from said user with respect to said one or more retail establishments;

said one or more clients being configured to communicate to a server of said one or more servers a respective location of said user.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein said trans-retail establishment server has deployed thereon said tool for enabling real-time distribution of said feedback collected to said user of said one or more retail establishments and to additional users of other retail establishments different than said one or more retail establishments, and wherein said additional users comprise at least one of:

customers that have inputted said feedback and customers that have not inputted said feedback collected.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein each of said one or more servers and said trans-retail establishment server further comprises:

an input module configured to receive input of said feedback into said tool;

a storage module configured to store said feedback collected; and

a retrieval module configured to access and retrieve said feedback collected and stored in said storage module.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein each of said one or more servers and said trans-retail establishment server further comprises:

an update module configured to update said feedback collected and stored within said storage module.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein said aspect of said retail establishment of said one or more retail establishments comprises at least one of:

product, service, store operation, recommendation, review, overall shopping experience and miscellaneous, wherein said feedback is collected using at least one tag, said tag comprising at least one of;

a text tag, an audio tag and a visual tag, and wherein said tag comprises at least one of;

product-related data and location-related data.

15. A computer program product for distributing retail information in a retail environment, said computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium;

first program instructions to collect feedback pertaining to one or more aspects of a retail environment inputted by one or more customers using a plurality of devices, said first program instructions including instructions to receive a tag corresponding to said feedback inputted, said tag comprising at least one of;

an image tag, an audio tag and a text tag;

second program instructions to identify respective locations of said one or more customers and to identify one or more products in said retail environment;

third program instructions to search said feedback collected based on either an inquiry submitted by said user or based on a current location of said user identified, wherein said user comprises at least one of;

a customer of said one or more customers that has inputted said feedback and a customer other than said one or more customers that has not inputted said feedback, and wherein said first, second and third program instructions are recorded on said computer recordable medium.

16. The computer program product according to claim 15, further comprising:

fourth program instructions to retrieve a subset of said feedback collected based on either said inquiry submitted by said user or based on said current location identified, wherein said fourth program instructions are recorded on said computer recordable medium.

17. The computer program product according to claim 16, wherein said first program instructions include instructions to collect said feedback in real-time.

18. The computer program product according to claim 17, wherein said first program instructions include instructions to create additional tags for said feedback inputted in order to facilitate retrieval of said feedback collected.

19. The computer program product according to claim 18, wherein said third program instructions include instructions to search additional retail information besides said feedback collected and to retrieve a subset of said additional retail information searched based on either said inquiry submitted by said user or based on a current location of said user identified.

20. The computer program product according to claim 19, wherein said fourth program instructions include instructions to retrieve said feedback in real-time, wherein said one or more aspects of said retail environment comprises at least one of:

product, service, store operation, recommendation, review, overall shopping experience and miscellaneous, and wherein said tag comprises at least one of;

product-related data and location-related data.

21. A process for deploying computing infrastructure comprising integrating computer-readable code into a computing system, wherein said code in combination with said computing system is capable of performing a process of distributing customer feedback in a retail environment, said process comprising:

creating a tag corresponding to feedback to be inputted into a tool, said tag being configured to extrapolate on said feedback, wherein said tag comprises at least one of;

an image tag, an audio tag and a textual tag, and wherein said tag comprises at least one of;

a product-related tag and a location-related tag;

collecting by said tool in real-time said feedback inputted by one or more customers using a plurality of devices that are configured to communicate with said tool, said feedback inputted pertaining to one or more aspects of a retail environment;

identifying, using said tool, respective locations of said one or more customers and identifying one or more products in said retail environment;

storing by said tool said feedback collected from said one or more customers;

providing a user access to said feedback stored based on either an inquiry submitted to said tool by said user or based on a current location of said user identified by said tool; and

retrieving in real-time by said tool a subset of said feedback collected based on either said inquiry submitted to said tool by said user or based on a current location of said user identified by said tool, wherein said user comprises at least one of;

a customer of said one or more customers that has inputted said feedback and a customer other than said one or more customers that has not inputted said feedback.

22. The process according to claim 21, wherein said collecting step further comprises the steps of:

identifying whether said feedback inputted pertains to either a product or a location within said retail environment; and

adding, by said tool, one or more additional tags to said feedback collected based on said determining step in order to facilitate retrieval of said feedback collected, wherein said aspect of said retail establishment comprises at least one of;

product, service, store operation, recommendation, review, overall shopping experience and miscellaneous.

23. A method of selling products to customers in a selling environment, said method comprising the steps of:

providing, on a subscription basis, a tool to be deployed on a system utilized by a subscribed seller among one or more subscribed sellers in a selling environment, said tool being configured to catalog a plurality of products sold by a respective subscribed seller according to a respective location within said respective subscribed seller;

inputting feedback using tags created by one or more customers utilizing one or more electronic devices within said respective subscribed seller, wherein said one or more electronic devices communicate said feedback inputted to said tool deployed on said system utilized by said respective subscribed seller;

identifying, using said tags created, respective locations of said one or more customers within said respective subscribed seller;

allowing a user access to said feedback collected based on either an inquiry submitted to said tool by said user or based on a current location of said user identified by said tool, wherein said user comprises at least one of;

a customer of said one or more customers that has inputted said feedback and a customer other than said one or more customers that has not inputted said feedback; and

recommending to said user one or more products based on either said inquiry submitted by said user or based on proximate locations of said one or more products to said current location of said user identified by said tool, wherein said one or more products recommended to said user promote sale of said one or more products.

24. The method according to claim 23, further comprising the step of:

calculating a respective subscription fee for said tool provided to said respective subscribed seller among said one or more subscribed sellers based at least in part on usage history of said tool by said respective subscribed seller over a specified time duration.

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein said calculating step further comprises the step of:

calculating said subscription fee for said tool provided to said respective subscribed seller among said one or more subscribed sellers based at least in part on sale history of said one or more products recommended by said tool within said respective subscribed seller over a specified time duration.