Systems and Methods for Selecting a Product Sales Channel

• US 20150193791A1
• Filed: 01/08/2014
• Published: 07/09/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/08/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Global Franchising Corp., Radioshack Online IPCO LLC
• Original Assignee: RadioShack Legacy Corporation
• Inventors: Gao, Yuan, Long, Huey Paul Jr., Reddy, Srikanth Keelapudi
• Granted Patent: US 10,152,725 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0202 Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities

Abstract

Methods and systems for determining a sales channel for a product in a brick and mortar store include displaying to customers in a brick and mortar store information on an interactive data collection system relating to a product; collecting, via the data collection system, information indicative of customer interest in the product by tracking inputs at the interactive data collection system; collecting, via an online website, information indicative of customer interest relating to the product; and based upon both the information obtained at the brick and mortar store and the information obtained by the online website, determining a sales channel from a plurality of channels to offer the product for purchase by a customer.

Claims

1. A method for determining a sales channel for a product in a brick and mortar store, comprising:

displaying to customers in a brick and mortar store information on an interactive data collection system relating to a product;

collecting, via the data collection system, information indicative of customer interest in the product by tracking inputs at the interactive data collection system;

collecting, via an online website, information indicative of customer interest relating to the product; and

based upon both the information obtained at the brick and mortar store and the information obtained by the online website, determining a sales channel from a plurality of channels to offer the product for purchase by a customer.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising:

collecting information relating to customer interest in the product by tracking connections made by customer devices in the brick and mortar store to a wireless network in the brick and mortar store.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein tracking inputs at the interactive data collection system comprises:

tracking the number of searches relating to the product and tracking the number of views of the product.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising displaying a SKU on the interactive data collection system and tracking the number of views of the product at the online website attributable to customers accessing the SKU.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising:

receiving information indicative of customer interest from a plurality of interactive data collection systems respectively disposed in a plurality of brick and mortar stores;

segmenting the information into information obtained from first and second geographical regions; and

determining a first sales channel to offer the product for purchase by a customer in the first region; and

determining a second sales channel different from the first sales channel to offer the product for purchase by a customer in the second region.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising:

calculating a product profitability profile indicative of profitability for the product based at least in part on both the information obtained at the brick and mortar store and the information obtained by the online website;

based on the calculated product profitability profile, determining that the product is more profitable in a second sales channel different from the first sales channel; and

offering the product for sale to a customer in the second sales channel and removing the product from the first sales channel.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of channels comprises a plurality of in-store channels and a plurality of online channels, and wherein determining a sales channel from a plurality of channels to offer the product for purchase by a customer comprises selecting one of the plurality of in-store channels when the customer interest is relatively higher and selecting one of the plurality of online channels when the customer interest is relatively lower.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the plurality of in-store channels comprises:

a first channel including areas within the brick and mortar store having a higher visibility to customers; and

a second channel including areas within the brick and mortar store having a lower visibility to customers,

wherein determining a sales channel from a plurality of channels includes determining whether to offer the product for purchase in the first channel or the second channel based on both the information obtained at the brick and mortar store and the information obtained by the online website.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the interactive data collection system comprises a touch screen display disposed within the brick and mortar store accessible to customers.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

collecting third party metrics indicative of customer interest relating to the product; and

determining the sales channel from the plurality of channels to offer the product for purchase by a customer based in part on the third party metrics.

11. A system for determining a sales channel for a product in a brick and mortar store, comprising:

an interactive data collection system on display to customers in a brick and mortar store, the interactive data collection system displaying information relating to a product;

a customer insight and competitive management (CICM) engine configured to collect, via the data collection system, information indicative of customer interest in the product by tracking inputs at the interactive data collection system, the CICM engine also being configured to collect information from an online website indicative of customer interest relating to the product; and

a profitability profile engine configured to receive the information indicative of customer information from the data collection system and determine a sales channel from a plurality of channels to offer the product for purchase by a customer.

12. The system of claim 11, comprising:

a wireless network in the brick and mortar store, the wireless network collecting information relating to customer interest in the product by tracking connections made by customer devices in the brick and mortar store.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the CICM engine is configured to track inputs at the interactive data collection system by tracking the number of searches relating to the product and tracking the number of views of the product.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the interactive data collection system is configured to display a SKU, wherein the CICM engine is configured to track the number of views of the product at the online website attributable to customers accessing the SKU.

15. The system of claim 11, comprising:

a plurality of interactive data collection systems respectively disposed in a plurality of brick and mortar stores, wherein the CICM engine is configured to segment information from the plurality of interactive data collection systems into information obtained from brick and mortar stores in first and second geographical regions; and

an analytics engine configured to determine a first sales channel to offer the product for purchase by a customer in the first region; and

configured to determine a second sales channel different from the first sales channel to offer the product for purchase by a customer in the second region.

16. The system of claim 11, comprising:

an analytics engine configured to calculate a product profitability profile indicative of profitability for the product based at least in part on both the information obtained at the brick and mortar store and the information obtained by the online website,

wherein the analytics engine is configured to, based on the calculated product profitability profile, determine that the product is more profitable in a second sales channel different from the first sales channel; and

wherein the analytics engine is configured to recommend offering the product for sale to a customer in the second sales channel and removing the product from the first sales channel.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the plurality of channels comprises a plurality of in-store channels and a plurality of online channels, the system comprising:

an analytics engine configured to determine a sales channel from a plurality of channels to offer the product for purchase by a customer, the analytics engine being configured to select one of the plurality of in-store channels when the customer interest is relatively higher and being configured to select one of the plurality of online channels when the customer interest is relatively lower.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the plurality of in-store channels comprises:

a first channel including areas within the brick and mortar store having a higher visibility to customers; and

a second channel including areas within the brick and mortar store having a lower visibility to customers,

wherein the analytics engine is configured to determine whether to offer the product for purchase in the first channel or the second channel based on both the information obtained at the brick and mortar store and the information obtained by the online website.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the interactive data collection system comprises a touch screen display disposed within the brick and mortar store accessible to customers.

20. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

an engine configured to collect third party metrics indicative of customer interest relating to the product and configured to determine the sales channel from the plurality of channels to offer the product for purchase by a customer based in part on the third party metrics.

22. The method of claim 20, comprising:

displaying to customers in a brick and mortar store information on an interactive data collection system relating to a product;

collecting, via the data collection system, information indicative of customer interest in the product by tracking inputs at the interactive data collection system; and

based upon the information obtained at the data collection system, determining a sales channel from a plurality of channels to offer the product for purchase by a customer.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein tracking inputs at the interactive data collection system comprises:

tracking the number of searches relating to the product and tracking the number of views of the product.

24. The method of claim 22, comprising displaying a SKU on the interactive data collection system and tracking the number of views of the product at the online website attributable to customers accessing the SKU.

25. The method of claim 22, comprising:

receiving information indicative of customer interest from a plurality of interactive data collection systems respectively disposed in a plurality of brick and mortar stores;

segmenting the information into information obtained from first and second geographical regions;

determining a first sales channel to offer the product for purchase by a customer in the first region; and

determining a second sales channel different from the first sales channel to offer the product for purchase by a customer in the second region.

21. A method for determining a sales channel for a product in a brick and mortar store, comprising:

collecting information indicative of customer interest in a product by tracking searches made through a wireless network in the brick and mortar store;

collecting, via an online website, information indicative of customer interest relating to the product; and

based upon both the information obtained at the brick and mortar store and the information obtained by the online website, determining a sales channel from a plurality of channels to offer the product for purchase by a customer.