COMMUNICATING PRICE DISCOUNTS
First Claim
1. At a computer system, the computer system including a processor and system memory, the computer system communicatively coupled to a product life cycle database, a discount database, and a contact database, the product life cycle database containing inventory level data and life cycle data for one or more items, the inventory level data indicating how many of each of the one or more items are for sale and the life cycle data indicating when the life cycle of each of the one or more items is to expire, the discount database containing discount data indicating the amount and timing of price discounts for the one or more items, and the contact database containing contact data indicating how to notify entities of price discounts for the one or more items, the computer system including a life cycle monitoring module that monitors the life cycle data for expiring items and inducing a discount record generation module for generating discount records for expiring items, a method communicating a price reduction for an item, the method comprising:
- an act of determining that generation of a price discount for an item is appropriate to mitigate revenue loss related to the item, the determination based on the inventory level data indicating that the amount of the item in inventory exceeds a predefined number and based on the life cycle data indicating that the item is within a predefined time period of expiring;
an act of the processor generating a discount record for the item in response to the determination, the discount record constructed from data contained in the product life cycle database, the discount database, and the contact database, the discount record containing;
a price discount for the item, the price discount indicating how much the price of the item is discounted from a list price, the price discount formulated from the discount data;
a notification time, the notification time indicating when relevant entities are to be notified of the price discount, the notification time formulated from the discount data;
a number of units of the item being offered in accordance with the price discount, the number of units formulated from the inventory level data for the item; and
communication information indicating how relevant entities interested in price discounts for the item are to be made aware of the price discount and the number of items being offered, the communication information formulated from the contact data; and
an act of, at the notification time, using electronic network based communication to send notification information contained in the discount record to the relevant entities in accordance with the communication information, the notification information notifying the relevant entities of the number of units of the item being offered in accordance with the price discount.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for communicating price discounts. Embodiments include alerting customers (e.g., to an imminent or impending) price reduction on (e.g., perishable) items. More particularly, embodiments include compiling product and consumer data to determine which consumers are to receive notifications of impending price discounts. This compilation of data is transmitted to a communications system, which then transmits via instantaneous electronic means, such as SMS text message, picture message, e-mail, or micro-blogging, a price discount notification. Computer systems enabled to practice the present invention, comprising one or more databases and a communications system configured to transmit price discount notifications, are also described.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. At a computer system, the computer system including a processor and system memory, the computer system communicatively coupled to a product life cycle database, a discount database, and a contact database, the product life cycle database containing inventory level data and life cycle data for one or more items, the inventory level data indicating how many of each of the one or more items are for sale and the life cycle data indicating when the life cycle of each of the one or more items is to expire, the discount database containing discount data indicating the amount and timing of price discounts for the one or more items, and the contact database containing contact data indicating how to notify entities of price discounts for the one or more items, the computer system including a life cycle monitoring module that monitors the life cycle data for expiring items and inducing a discount record generation module for generating discount records for expiring items, a method communicating a price reduction for an item, the method comprising:
-
an act of determining that generation of a price discount for an item is appropriate to mitigate revenue loss related to the item, the determination based on the inventory level data indicating that the amount of the item in inventory exceeds a predefined number and based on the life cycle data indicating that the item is within a predefined time period of expiring; an act of the processor generating a discount record for the item in response to the determination, the discount record constructed from data contained in the product life cycle database, the discount database, and the contact database, the discount record containing; a price discount for the item, the price discount indicating how much the price of the item is discounted from a list price, the price discount formulated from the discount data; a notification time, the notification time indicating when relevant entities are to be notified of the price discount, the notification time formulated from the discount data; a number of units of the item being offered in accordance with the price discount, the number of units formulated from the inventory level data for the item; and communication information indicating how relevant entities interested in price discounts for the item are to be made aware of the price discount and the number of items being offered, the communication information formulated from the contact data; and an act of, at the notification time, using electronic network based communication to send notification information contained in the discount record to the relevant entities in accordance with the communication information, the notification information notifying the relevant entities of the number of units of the item being offered in accordance with the price discount. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. A computer program product for use at a computer system, the computer system communicatively coupled to a product life cycle database, a discount database, and a contact database, the product life cycle database containing inventory level data and life cycle data for one or more items, the inventory level data indicating how many of each of the one or more items are for sale and the life cycle data indicating when the life cycle of each of the one or more items is to expire, the discount database containing discount data indicating the amount and timing of price discounts for the one or more items, and the contact database containing contact data indicating how to notify entities of price discounts for the one or more items, the computer system including a life cycle monitoring module that monitors the life cycle data for expiring items and inducing a discount record generation module for generating discount records for expiring items, the computer program product of for implementing a method communicating a price reduction for an item, the computer program product comprising a computer storage device having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the computer system to perform the method, including the following:
-
determine that generation of a price discount for an item is appropriate to mitigate revenue loss related to the item, the determination based on the inventory level data indicating that the amount of the item in inventory exceeds a predefined number and based on the life cycle data indicating that the item is within a predefined time period of expiring; generate a discount record for the item in response to the determination, the discount record constructed from data contained in the product life cycle database, the discount database, and the contact database, the discount record containing; a price discount for the item, the price discount indicating how much the price of the item is discounted from a list price, the price discount formulated from the discount data; a notification time, the notification time indicating when relevant entities are to be notified of the price discount, the notification time formulated from the discount data; a number of units of the item being offered in accordance with the price discount, the number of units formulated from the inventory level data for the item; and communication information indicating how relevant entities interested in price discounts for the item are to be made aware of the price discount and the number of items being offered, the communication information formulated from the contact data; and at the notification time, use electronic network based communication to send notification information contained in the discount record to the relevant entities in accordance with the communication information, the notification information notifying the relevant entities of the number of units of the item being offered in accordance with the price discount. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
-
17. A system, the system for communicating product price discounts in essentially real time, the system comprising:
-
one or more processors; system memory; one or more computer storage devices having stored thereon a product life cycle database, a discount database, a contact database, a life cycle monitoring module, a discount record generation module, and a communication module, the product life cycle database containing inventory level data and life cycle data for one or more products, the inventory level data indicating how many of each of the one or more products are for sale and the life cycle data indicating when the life cycle of each of the one or more products is to expire, the discount database containing discount data indicating the amount and timing of price discounts for the one or more products, and the contact database containing contact data indicating how to notify entities of price discounts for the one or more products, wherein the life cycle monitor module is configured to; determine when generation of a price discount for a product is appropriate to mitigate revenue loss related to the product, the determination based on the inventory level data indicating that the amount of the product in inventory exceeds a predefined number and based on the life cycle data indicating that the product is within a predefined time period of expiring; wherein the discount record generator module is configured to; generate a discount record for the product in response to the determination, the discount record constructed from data contained in the product life cycle database, the discount database, and the contact database, the discount record containing a price discount for the product, the price discount indicating how much the price of the product is discounted from a list price, the price discount formulated from the discount data; a number of units of the product being offered in accordance with the price discount, the number of units formulated from the inventory level data for the product; and communication information indicating how relevant entities interested in price discounts for the product are to be made aware of the price discount and the number of products being offered, the communication information formulated from the contact data; and wherein the communication module is configured to; use electronic network based communication to send notification information contained in the discount record to the relevant entities in essentially real time in accordance with the communication information, the notification information notifying the relevant entities of the number of units of the product being offered in accordance with the price discount. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
-
Specification