INFORMING CUSTOMERS REGARDING ITEMS ON THEIR SHOPPING LIST

• US 20140180865A1
• Filed: 12/20/2012
• Published: 06/26/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Wal Mart Stores Inc (WalMart Inc.)
• Inventors: Argue, Stuart, Marcar, Anthony Emile
• Granted Patent: US 10,002,378 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26.7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for alerting a customer when an item is out of stock or in stock. In embodiments, the customer may add items to a shopping list within a shopping list software application (commonly known as an “app”) installed on a mobile computing device such as a smart phone. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, if one or more items on the shopping list become out-of-stock, and/or later become in-stock, the system may transmit an alert to be displayed on the shopping list app to notify the customer. The system may notify the customer regarding relevant changes in product inventories at selected retail store branches where the customer is most likely to shop and/or has recently shopped.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of notifying a customer comprising:

receiving, at a notification module, a list of one or more product identification codes corresponding to a product in a shopping list of the customer;

determining, by the notification module, an inventory status of the product that corresponds to the one or more product identification codes; and

transmitting, by a shopping list application server to a mobile computing device, a signal regarding the inventory status of the product.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, by the notification module, an inventory status of the product comprises:

selecting a store branch for the customer and

determining, by the notification module, the inventory status of the product at the store branch.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein selecting a store branch for the customer comprises analyzing customer location data gathered by the mobile computing device.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein determining, by the notification module, an inventory status of the product is undertaken upon the customer approaching the store branch.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein determining, by the notification module, an inventory status of the product is undertaken upon the customer making a product selection on the mobile computing device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, by the notification module, an inventory status of the product comprises determining that the product is out of stock at a selected store branch.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising transmitting a list of at least one potential substitute item for the product.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, by the notification module, an inventory status of the product comprises analyzing transaction data.

9. A shopping list item notification system, comprising:

a product inventory database adapted to record an inventory status for at least one product listed on a customer'"'"'s shopping list;

a notification module comprising one or more notification processors and one or more notification memory devices operably coupled to the one or more notification processors and storing executable and operational notification data, the executable and operational notification data effective to cause the one or more notification processors to cause a notification to be displayed by a mobile computing software application in response to a change in the inventory status for at least one product.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising an application server comprising one or more application server processors and one or more application server memory devices operably coupled to the one or more application server processors and storing executable and operational application server data, the executable and operational application server data effective to cause the one or more application server processors to interface with the mobile computing software application by receiving an item identifier code from the mobile computing software application.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the executable and operational application server data is effective to cause the one or more application server processors to transmit a signal to the mobile computing software application, wherein the signal causes the mobile computing software application to display the notification.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the notification is adapted to alert the customer regarding the inventory status for at least one product listed on the customer'"'"'s shopping list.

13. The system of claim 9, further comprising a customer location module comprising one or more customer location processors and one or more customer location memory devices operably coupled to the one or more customer location processors and storing executable and operational customer location data, the executable and operational customer location data effective to cause the one or more customer location processors to receive location data from the mobile computing software application.

14. The system of claim 9, further comprising an update module comprising one or more update processors and one or more update memory devices operably coupled to the one or more update processors and storing executable and operational update data, the executable and operational update data effective to cause the one or more update processors to determine the inventory status for at least one product listed on the customer'"'"'s shopping list.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the executable and operational update data is effective to cause the one or more update processors to analyze transaction data to determine the inventory status for at least one product listed on the customer'"'"'s shopping list.