REGIONAL DEMAND AND SUPPLY COMPARISON

• US 20100070342A1
• Filed: 08/31/2009
• Published: 03/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Wu, Xiaoyuan, Hu, Wenyan, Wang, Qiang, Bolivar, Alvaro
• Application Number:
  US12/551,408
• Publication Number:
  US 20100070342A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration

Abstract

A computerized method and a system for comparing regional demand and supply are provided. Example embodiments may include receiving a criterion to identify an item and searching a database for data associated with demand and/or supply for the item identified by the criterion. The computerized method may also include presenting a geographic distribution of demand, supply, and/or net-demand for the item on a map. The map may display multiple geographic areas; each one of the multiple geographic areas may be displayed with a first and a second attribute. The first and the second attributes may be associated with the demand, supply, and/or the net-demand.

Claims

1. A computerized method comprising:

receiving, at a server computer, a criterion, the criterion identifying an item;

searching a database for at least one of demand or supply data relating to the item identified by the criterion; and

presenting, on a map to be displayed on a display device, a geographic distribution of the at least one of demand, supply, or a net-demand, derived based on the demand or supply data, for the item, the map to display a plurality of geographic areas, each of the plurality of geographic areas to be displayed with at least one of a first or a second attribute, the first and the second attributes relating to at least one of the demand, supply, or net-demand for the item.

2. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the receiving of the criterion includes receiving the criterion over a network from a seller associated with a commerce system.

3. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the supply is derived from a number of listings associated with at least one of the item or one or more items substantially similar to the item.

4. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the presenting of the geographic distribution occurs responsive to the searching of the database delivering a positive result.

5. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the searching of the database comprises searching a commerce system database including statistics derived from listing logs of a commerce system, the statistics relating to at least one of:

an implicit demand, a satisfied demand, or the supply for the item.

6. The computerized method of claim 5, wherein the implicit demand is derived from a number of searches and views of the item, and the satisfied demand is derived from at least one of:

purchasing amounts associated with bids, or purchasing amounts associated with fixed price purchases.

7. The computerized method of claim 5, wherein the statistics derived from the listing logs of the commerce system include statistics associated with each of the plurality of geographic areas.

8. The computerized method of claim 5, including defining the demand for the item as a function of the implicit demand and the satisfied demand for the item.

9. The computerized method of claim 5, including defining a net satisfied demand for the item as a surplus of the satisfied demand with respect to the supply for the item.

10. The computerized method of claim 5, including defining a net implicit demand for the item as a surplus of the implicit demand with respect to the supply for the item.

11. The computerized method of claim 1, including defining a net-demand for the item as a surplus of the demand with respect to the supply for the item.

12. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the first attribute comprises a level indicator including at least one of a demand level indicator, a supply level indicator, or a net-demand indicator.

13. The computerized method of claim 12, wherein the level indicator includes a color, and wherein the color depends on a level of at least one of the demand, the supply, or the net-demand for the item in each one of the geographic areas displaying the color.

14. The computerized method of claim 12, wherein the first attribute includes a number, the number being an indicator of at least one of the demand, the supply, or the net-demand for the item in each one of the geographic areas displaying the number.

15. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the second attribute includes a trend indicator.

16. The computerized method of claim 15, wherein the trend indicator displays an up or a down trend in at least one of a present demand, supply, or net-demand for the item as compared with at least one of a demand, supply, or net-demand, respectively, at a predefined past date.

17. The computerized method of claim 15, wherein the trend indicator includes an up or a down arrow indicating an up or a down trend.

18. A system comprising:

an interface device to receive a criterion, the criterion identifying an item;

memory to store data relating to at least one of a demand or a supply for the item identified by the criterion;

a processor-implemented search engine to search the data stored in the memory; and

the interface device to present, on a map, a geographic distribution of at least one of the demand, the supply, or a net-demand, derived based on the data for the item, the map to display a plurality of geographic areas, each one of the plurality of geographic areas to be displayed with a first and a second attribute, the first and the second attributes being associated with at least one of the demand, the supply, or the net-demand for the item.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the interface device is to receive the criterion over a network from a seller associated with a commerce system.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor-implement search engine is to search a commerce system database including statistics derived from listing logs of a commerce system, the statistics being relating to at least one of:

an implicit demand, a satisfied demand, or a supply.

21. The system of claim 18, including a processor-implemented supply definer module to define the supply based on a number of listings associated with at least one of the item or one or more items substantially similar to the item.

22. The system of claim 20, including a processor-implemented demand definer module to define the demand for the item as a function of the implicit demand and the satisfied demand for the item.

23. The system of claim 18, including a processor-implemented net-demand definer module to define the net-demand as a surplus of the demand with respect to the supply for the item.

24. The system of claim 18, wherein the interface device is to facilitate display of the first attribute, the first attribute including a level indicator indicating a level of at least one of the demand, supply, or net demand for the item.

25. The system of claim 18, wherein the interface device is to facilitate display of the second attribute, the second attribute including a trend indicator.

26. A system comprising:

means for receiving a criterion, the criterion identifying an item;

means for searching a database for data relating to at least one of a demand or a supply for the item identified by the criterion; and

means for presenting, on a map, a geographic distribution of at least one of the demand, the supply, or a net-demand, derived based on the data, for the item, the map to display a plurality of geographic areas, each one of the plurality of geographic areas to be displayed with a first and a second attribute, the first and the second attributes being associated with at least one of the demand, the supply, or the net-demand for the item.

27. A machine-readable medium comprising instructions, which when implemented by one or more processors perform following operations:

receiving a criterion, the criterion identifying an item;

searching a database for data relating to at least one of a demand or supply for the item identified by the criterion; and

presenting on a map a geographic distribution of at least one of the demand, supply, or a net-demand, derived based on the data, for the item, the map displaying a plurality of geographic areas, each one of the plurality of geographic areas being displayed with a first and a second attribute, the first and the second attributes being associated with at least one of the demand, supply, or net-demand for the item.

28. A computerized method comprising:

receiving a query from a user of a commerce system, the query including a criterion identifying an item;

searching a commerce system database for first data relating to at least one of a demand or supply for the item identified by the criterion;

deriving second data relating to a net-demand based on the first data;

sorting the first and second data based on geographic locations associated with the first and second data; and

presenting at least some of the sorted first and second data on a map, the map displaying a plurality of geographic areas, at least some of the plurality of geographic areas being displayed with a first and a second attribute relating to the at least some of the sorted first and second data, the first attribute indicating a level and the second attribute indicating an up or a down trend.