PRECISE REAL TIME MARKETING OF A PRODUCT

• US 20180046982A1
• Filed: 08/11/2016
• Published: 02/15/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DoorDash, Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Li, Jialin, Nanjundaswamy, Pradeep K.
• Granted Patent: US 10,592,850 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0836 Recipient pick-ups
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0639 Item locations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

An approach is provided for marketing a product in real time. A presence of a social contact in a physical store is determined. The contact is connected to a shopper by a social networking service. Based on contextual information about a shopper, it is determined that the shopper intends to purchase the product. A promotion of the product is sent to the shopper. The promotion specifies an online purchase of the product and a selection of a delivery option by which the contact picks up the purchased product at the store. An indication of the online purchase and the selection of the delivery option are received. The contact is notified to pick up the purchased product at the store on behalf of the shopper. A verification that the contact picked up the product is received. The shopper avoids paying a shipping fee and avoids visiting the store.

Claims

1. A method of marketing a product in real time, the method comprising the steps of:

a computer determining a presence of a social contact in a physical store associated with a seller of the product, the social contact being a person connected to a shopper by a social networking service;

based on contextual information about the shopper, the computer determining that the shopper intends to purchase the product;

the computer sending a promotion of the product to the shopper, the promotion specifying an online purchase of the product and a selection of a delivery option for the online purchase by which the social contact picks up the product at the physical store;

the computer receiving an indication of a completion of the online purchase of the product by the shopper via an ecommerce website associated with the seller and receiving the selection of the delivery option for the online purchase by which the social contact picks up the product at the physical store;

the computer sending a notification to the social contact to pick up the purchased product from the physical store on behalf of the shopper; and

the computer receiving a verification from the social contact that the social contact picked up the purchased product from the physical store on behalf of the shopper, wherein the steps of determining the presence, determining that the shopper intends to purchase the product, sending the promotion, receiving the indication of the completion of the online purchase, receiving the selection of the delivery option, sending the notification to the social contact, receiving the verification from the social contact, and the social contact delivering to the shopper the product that the social contact picked up result in the shopper avoiding a payment of a fee for shipping the product to the shopper and avoiding a visit to the physical store by the shopper to pick up the product.

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

subsequent to the step of sending the promotion of the product, the computer receiving an indication that the shopper accepts the promotion and requests a verification from the social contact that the social contact agrees to pick up the product at the physical store on behalf of the shopper;

the computer requesting the verification from the social contact that the social contact agrees to pick up the product at the physical store on behalf of the shopper; and

the computer receiving the requested verification that the social contact agrees to pick up the product, wherein the completion of the online order is based in part on the requested verification being received.

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

the computer receiving a permission from the social contact to share social connections to the social contact that are managed by the social networking service and to share a current presence of the social contact in the store or a plan that the social contact has to visit the store within a time period, wherein the step of determining the presence is performed in response to the step of receiving the permission and the determined presence is based on the shared current presence of the social contact or the shared plan to visit the store; and

in response to the step of receiving the permission to share the social contacts and to share the current presence in the store or the plan to visit the store, the computer sending a reward to the social contact.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of in response to the steps of receiving the indication of the completion of the online purchase of the product and receiving the selection of the delivery option by which the social contact picks up the product at the physical store, the computer sending a reward to the shopper and sending a reward to the social contact.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of the computer determining (1) content that the shopper is browsing in real time via a web browser, (2) an online wish list of the shopper, or (3) historical data about prior purchases made by the shopper, wherein the step of determining that the shopper intends to purchase the product is based on the content the shopper is browsing, the online wish list, or the historical data about prior purchases, and wherein the step of determining that the shopper intends to purchase the product is performed without requiring a placement of the product in an online shopping cart.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of sending the promotion of the product to the shopper includes displaying the promotion in a space on a webpage which specifies one or more products being sold by the seller, the space being reserved for displaying marketing information to customers of the seller and the space being viewed by the shopper via a web browser.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

the computer receiving order information from an order management system or an ecommerce system managed by the seller; and

based on the received order information, the computer determining the social contact plans to pick up or return one or more items in the physical store, wherein the step of determining the presence is based on the social contact planning pick up or return the one or more items in the physical store.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

providing at least one support service for at least one of creating, integrating, hosting, maintaining, and deploying computer-readable program code in the computer, the program code being executed by a processor of the computer to implement the steps of determining the presence, determining that the shopper intends to purchase the product, sending the promotion, receiving the indication of the completion of the online purchase of the product, receiving eh selection of the delivery option, sending the notification, and receiving the verification.

9. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium; and

a computer-readable program code stored in the computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable program code containing instructions that are executed by a central processing unit (CPU) of a computer system to implement a method of marketing a product in real time, the method comprising the steps of;

the computer system determining a presence of a social contact in a physical store associated with a seller of the product, the social contact being a person connected to a shopper by a social networking service;

based on contextual information about the shopper, the computer system determining that the shopper intends to purchase the product;

the computer system sending a promotion of the product to the shopper, the promotion specifying an online purchase of the product and a selection of a delivery option for the online purchase by which the social contact picks up the product at the physical store;

the computer system receiving an indication of a completion of the online purchase of the product by the shopper via an ecommerce website associated with the seller and receiving the selection of the delivery option for the online purchase by which the social contact picks up the product at the physical store;

the computer system sending a notification to the social contact to pick up the purchased product from the physical store on behalf of the shopper; and

the computer system receiving a verification from the social contact that the social contact picked up the purchased product from the physical store on behalf of the shopper, wherein the steps of determining the presence, determining that the shopper intends to purchase the product, sending the promotion, receiving the indication of the completion of the online purchase, receiving the selection of the delivery option, sending the notification to the social contact, receiving the verification from the social contact, and the social contact delivering to the shopper the product that the social contact picked up result in the shopper avoiding a payment of a fee for shipping the product to the shopper and avoiding a visit to the physical store by the shopper to pick up the product.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises the steps of:

subsequent to the step of sending the promotion of the product, the computer system receiving an indication that the shopper accepts the promotion and requests a verification from the social contact that the social contact agrees to pick up the product at the physical store on behalf of the shopper;

the computer system requesting the verification from the social contact that the social contact agrees to pick up the product at the physical store on behalf of the shopper; and

the computer system receiving the requested verification that the social contact agrees to pick up the product, wherein the completion of the online order is based in part on the requested verification being received.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises the steps of:

the computer system receiving a permission from the social contact to share social connections to the social contact that are managed by the social networking service and to share a current presence of the social contact in the store or a plan that the social contact has to visit the store within a time period, wherein the step of determining the presence is performed in response to the step of receiving the permission and the determined presence is based on the shared current presence of the social contact or the shared plan to visit the store; and

in response to the step of receiving the permission to share the social contacts and to share the current presence in the store or the plan to visit the store, the computer system sending a reward to the social contact.

12. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises the step of in response to the steps of receiving the indication of the completion of the online purchase of the product and receiving the selection of the delivery option by which the social contact picks up the product at the physical store, the computer system sending a reward to the shopper and sending a reward to the social contact.

13. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises the step of the computer system determining (1) content that the shopper is browsing in real time via a web browser, (2) an online wish list of the shopper, or (3) historical data about prior purchases made by the shopper, wherein the step of determining that the shopper intends to purchase the product is based on the content the shopper is browsing, the online wish list, or the historical data about prior purchases, and wherein the step of determining that the shopper intends to purchase the product is performed without requiring a placement of the product in an online shopping cart.

14. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the step of sending the promotion of the product to the shopper includes displaying the promotion in a space on a webpage which specifies one or more products being sold by the seller, the space being reserved for displaying marketing information to customers of the seller and the space being viewed by the shopper via a web browser.

15. A computer system comprising:

a central processing unit (CPU);

a memory coupled to the CPU; and

a computer readable storage device coupled to the CPU, the storage device containing instructions that are executed by the CPU via the memory to implement a method of marketing a product in real time, the method comprising the steps of;

the computer system determining a presence of a social contact in a physical store associated with a seller of the product, the social contact being a person connected to a shopper by a social networking service;

based on contextual information about the shopper, the computer system determining that the shopper intends to purchase the product;

the computer system sending a promotion of the product to the shopper, the promotion specifying an online purchase of the product and a selection of a delivery option for the online purchase by which the social contact picks up the product at the physical store;

the computer system receiving an indication of a completion of the online purchase of the product by the shopper via an ecommerce website associated with the seller and receiving the selection of the delivery option for the online purchase by which the social contact picks up the product at the physical store;

the computer system sending a notification to the social contact to pick up the purchased product from the physical store on behalf of the shopper; and

the computer system receiving a verification from the social contact that the social contact picked up the purchased product from the physical store on behalf of the shopper, wherein the steps of determining the presence, determining that the shopper intends to purchase the product, sending the promotion, receiving the indication of the completion of the online purchase, receiving the selection of the delivery option, sending the notification to the social contact, receiving the verification from the social contact, and the social contact delivering to the shopper the product that the social contact picked up result in the shopper avoiding a payment of a fee for shipping the product to the shopper and avoiding a visit to the physical store by the shopper to pick up the product.

16. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises the steps of:

subsequent to the step of sending the promotion of the product, the computer system receiving an indication that the shopper accepts the promotion and requests a verification from the social contact that the social contact agrees to pick up the product at the physical store on behalf of the shopper;

the computer system requesting the verification from the social contact that the social contact agrees to pick up the product at the physical store on behalf of the shopper; and

the computer system receiving the requested verification that the social contact agrees to pick up the product, wherein the completion of the online order is based in part on the requested verification being received.

17. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises the steps of:

the computer system receiving a permission from the social contact to share social connections to the social contact that are managed by the social networking service and to share a current presence of the social contact in the store or a plan that the social contact has to visit the store within a time period, wherein the step of determining the presence is performed in response to the step of receiving the permission and the determined presence is based on the shared current presence of the social contact or the shared plan to visit the store; and

in response to the step of receiving the permission to share the social contacts and to share the current presence in the store or the plan to visit the store, the computer system sending a reward to the social contact.

18. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises the step of in response to the steps of receiving the indication of the completion of the online purchase of the product and receiving the selection of the delivery option by which the social contact picks up the product at the physical store, the computer system sending a reward to the shopper and sending a reward to the social contact.

19. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises the step of the computer system determining (1) content that the shopper is browsing in real time via a web browser, (2) an online wish list of the shopper, or (3) historical data about prior purchases made by the shopper, wherein the step of determining that the shopper intends to purchase the product is based on the content the shopper is browsing, the online wish list, or the historical data about prior purchases, and wherein the step of determining that the shopper intends to purchase the product is performed without requiring a placement of the product in an online shopping cart.

20. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the step of sending the promotion of the product to the shopper includes displaying the promotion in a space on a webpage which specifies one or more products being sold by the seller, the space being reserved for displaying marketing information to customers of the seller and the space being viewed by the shopper via a web browser.