SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONDUCTING SALES

• US 20100262482A1
• Filed: 07/01/2009
• Published: 10/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Netstartups LLC
• Original Assignee: Joseph Bous
• Inventors: Bous, Joseph
• Granted Patent: US 8,224,694 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.350
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0235 constrained by time limit or expiration date
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

Disclosed are systems, computer-implemented methods, and tangible computer-readable storage media for conducting sales. The method embodiment receives a time agnostic inquiry with at least one parameter from a user associated with a sale of an item, identifies one or more discount items that satisfy the inquiry, identifies comparable items for each discount item at nondiscount rates dynamically using real-time data, presents one or more comparable groups, each comparable group including one discount item and the respective comparable items, and furthers the sales process based on user input responding to the presented one or more comparable groups. Also disclosed is a method further including receiving a request from the user for multiple sub-items associated with the item, and engaging in a dialog with the user to enable payment for each of the sub-items with one of multiple payment types. The user can indicate a set of personalized comparable items.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of conducting sales, the method comprising:

receiving a time agnostic inquiry with at least one parameter from a user associated with a sale of an item;

identifying via a processor one or more discount items that satisfy the inquiry;

identifying comparable items for each discount item at nondiscount rates dynamically using real-time data;

presenting one or more comparable groups to the user, each comparable group comprising one discount item and the respective comparable items including a time associated with each item in the presented one or more comparable groups; and

advancing the sale of the discount item based on user acceptance of one of the presented one or more comparable groups.

2. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

receiving comparable item parameters from a user; and

updating the one or more comparable groups based on the received comparable item parameters.

3. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

receiving a list of personalized comparable items from the user; and

wherein identifying comparable items is further based on the list of personalized comparable items.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein advancing the sale of the discount item further comprises disclosing to the user that the user has committed to purchase the discount item.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the discount item and respective comparable items comprise at least one of a product, a service, or a combination thereof.

6. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

allowing the user to select a number of items in the comparable group; and

quoting a nondiscount price for the user for each of the number of items in the comparable group.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein each items in the comparable group is quoted at a nondiscount price.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein items in the comparable group are not identified to the user as the discount item or one of the respective comparable items until after the sale.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein items in the comparable group are not identified to the user as the discount item or one of the respective comparable items until a predetermined time after the sale.

10. The method of claim 8, the method further comprising:

determining a number of items, if any, that can be removed from the comparable group that ensures that at least one discount item remains; and

presenting the user with the option to remove any number up to the determined number of items from the comparable group.

11. The method of claim 8, the method further comprising:

before receiving user input, offering the user an option for free or in exchange for a fee to terminate the sales process at a later point.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more comparable groups are generated by steps comprising:

creating an array of all discount items and an array of all comparable items;

identifying each discount item in the array of all discount items which satisfies the at least one parameter of the inquiry from the user;

creating a subset of comparable items for each identified discount item, each subset based on at least one attribute of each respective discount item; and

combining each discount item with its respective comparable items into the comparable group.

13. The method of claim 12, the method further comprising:

filtering each subsets of comparable items using at least one filter parameter to include or exclude specific attributes.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one filter parameter can be expanded if insufficient comparable items are returned after the subsets are filtered.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein at least one subset is sorted based on at least one attribute value associated with the subset contents.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request from the user for multiple sub-items associated with the item; and

engaging in a dialog with the user to enable payment for each of the multiple sub-items with one of a multiple payment types.

17. A system for conducting sales, the system comprising:

a processor;

a module configured to control the processor to receive a time agnostic inquiry with at least one parameter from a user associated with a sale of an item;

a module configured to control the processor to identify one or more discount items that satisfy the inquiry;

a module configured to control the processor to identify comparable items for each discount item at nondiscount rates dynamically using real-time data;

a module configured to control the processor to present one or more comparable groups to the user, each comparable group comprising one discount item and the respective comparable items including a time associated with each item in the presented one or more comparable groups; and

a module configured to control the processor to advance the sale of the discount item based on user acceptance of one of the presented one or more comparable groups.

18. The system of claim 17, the system further comprising:

a module configured to control the processor to receive comparable item parameters from a user; and

a module configured to control the processor to update the one or more comparable groups based on the received comparable item parameters.

19. A tangible computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program having instructions for conducting sales, the instructions comprising:

receiving a time agnostic inquiry with at least one parameter from a user associated with a sale of an item;

identifying one or more discount items that satisfy the inquiry;

identifying comparable items for each discount item at nondiscount rates dynamically using real-time data;

presenting one or more comparable groups to the user, each comparable group comprising one discount item and the respective comparable items including a time associated with each item in the presented one or more comparable groups; and

advancing the sale of the discount item based on user acceptance of one of the presented one or more comparable groups.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, the instructions further comprising:

receiving comparable item parameters from a user; and

updating the one or more comparable groups based on the received comparable item parameters.