Method of testing item availability and delivery performance of an e-commerce site

• US 20100191663A1
• Filed: 03/22/2010
• Published: 07/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: John Nicholas and Kristin Gross Trust U/A/D April 13 2010
• Original Assignee: John Nicholas and Kristin Gross Trust U/A/D April 13 2010
• Inventors: GROSS, John N.
• Granted Patent: US 8,249,955 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/341
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0838 Historical data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products

Abstract

An inventory management, and a shipping/returns management system can be analyzed to determine various performance characteristics of an e-commerce operator, such as whether the latter maintains sufficient items to meet demand, whether distribution is occurring in a timely fashion, etc. The systems are analyzed using one or more anonymous proxy accounts.

Claims

1-15. -15. (canceled)

16. A method of testing item delivery performance of items ordered from an e-commerce site, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) generating a request with a computing system for a first item from a user account to a server supporting the e-commerce site;

(b) receiving a first notification with said computing system that said first item has been shipped to a first location associated with said user account;

(c) determining with said computing system a processing time and delivery time required for the e-commerce site to process said request for the first item, distribute the first item to a first location associated with the user account, process a return of the first item from said first location, and generate a second notification that a second item has been shipped to said first location.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein during step (c), the following times are computed:

a. a first processing time associated with the e-commerce site preparing said first item for shipment;

b. a first transit time associated with delivery of the first item to said first location;

c. a second transit time associated with returning the first item back from said first location;

d. a second processing time associated with the e-commerce site processing a return for said first item and identifying that said second item is available for shipment to said first location.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein a plurality of user accounts across a plurality of separate geographical locations are tested.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein a report is generated for a plurality of separate items requested by the user account.

20. The method of claim 16, further including a step:

generating a notification to the e-commerce site when said processing time and delivery time exceed a predetermined threshold.

21. The method of claim 16, further including a step:

(d) testing a shipping and returns management system used by the e-commerce site, to determine delays and latencies associated with distributing inventory items, handling returns of old inventory items, and shipping new items as replacements for said old inventory items.

22. The method of claim 16, further including a step:

(d) identifying any selection bias introduced by a recommender system at the e-commerce site and generating a report automatically to the e-commerce site and to a publicly viewable site.

23. The method of claim 16, further including a step:

adjusting a compensation paid by a third provider of said first item to the e-commerce site based on a performance rating derived from evaluating steps (b) and (c).

24. The method of claim 16 wherein each of the above steps are performed over a network by a client device without directly accessing a database of transaction records maintained by the server for inventory or sales of such first item.

25. A method of testing item delivery performance of items ordered from an e-commerce site, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) generating a request for a user with a computing system for a first item to a server supporting the e-commerce site;

(b) confirming that said first item is available at the e-commerce site with said computing system;

(c) repeating steps (a) to (b) with said computing system for a separate e-commerce site when said first item is not available at the e-commerce site;

(d) when said first item is available at the e-commerce site, receiving a first notification with the computing system from the e-commerce site of a target delivery time for said first item to be shipped to a first location associated with said user;

(e) measuring an actual delivery time of said first item from the e-commerce site;

(f) generating a performance rating for the e-commerce site based on steps (d) to (e).

26. The method of claim 25, further including a step:

(d) identifying any selection bias introduced by a recommender system at the e-commerce site and generating a report automatically to the e-commerce site and to a publicly viewable site.

27. The method of claim 25, further including a step:

(f) adjusting a compensation paid by a third provider of said first item to the e-commerce site based on said performance rating.

28. The method of claim 25, further including a step:

(d) identifying any selection bias introduced by the recommender system and reporting the same automatically to the e-commerce site.

29. The method of claim 25 wherein each of the above steps are performed over a network by a client device without directly accessing a database of transaction records maintained by the server for inventory or sales of such item.

30. A method of testing item delivery performance of items ordered from an e-commerce site, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) generating a request for a user with a computing system for a first item to a server supporting the e-commerce site;

(b) confirming that said first item is available at the e-commerce site with said computing system;

(c) repeating steps (a) to (b) with said computing system for a separate e-commerce site when said first item is not available at the e-commerce site;

(d) when said first item is available at the e-commerce site, determining a processing time and delivery time required for the e-commerce site to process said request for the first item, distribute the first item to a first location associated with said user, process a return of the first item from said first location, and generate a second notification that a second item has been shipped to said first location;

(e) wherein said user is a test user associated with a proxy account.

31. The method of claim 30, further including a step:

(d) identifying any selection bias introduced by a recommender system at the e-commerce site and generating a report automatically to the e-commerce site and to a publicly viewable site.

32. The method of claim 30, further including a step:

(f) adjusting a compensation paid by a third provider of said first item to the e-commerce site based on said performance rating.

33. The method of claim 30 wherein each of the above steps are performed over a network by a client device without directly accessing a database of transaction records maintained by the server for inventory or sales of such first item.