On-line marketing system and method

• US 6,269,343 B1
• Filed: 08/18/1999
• Issued: 07/31/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Comdisco, Inc (Comdisco Holding Co., Inc.), Groupon Incorporated
• Original Assignee: MobShop, Inc.
• Inventors: Pallakoff, Matthew G.
• Primary Examiner(s): THOMPSON JR, FOREST
• Application Number:
  US09/376,884
• Time in Patent Office: 713 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/4, 705/28, 705/37, 705/39, 705/1, 380/4, 380/25
• US Class Current: 705/26.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0605 Supply or demand aggregation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and system that allows sellers to communicate conditional offers to potential buyers. The conditions include prices that depend on the aggregate amount of goods or services that buyers collectively agree to purchase by a given time and date. The invention facilitates “demand aggregation”, that is, aggregating demand by potential buyers (who may or may not know each other), for products offered by sellers. This invention allows sellers conveniently to offer “Demand-Based Pricing”, that is, prices which go down as the volume of units sold in any given offer goes up. A seller can therefor offer volume discounts to buyers acting as a group, even when the buyers may not have any formal relationship with one another.

Claims

1. A system for aggregating demand for the purchase of at least one product by a plurality of individual buyers comprising:

a controller;

seller terminals which communicate with said controller whereby sellers can enter and transmit, prior to the beginning of a specified and limited time period, to said controller, a conditional sales offer for said at least one product, said conditional sales offer specifying prices which are dependent upon the total number of said at least one product associated with said conditional sales offer purchased in the specified and limited time period;

web pages which display said conditional sales offer;

a plurality of individual buyer terminals which communicate with said controller whereby said plurality of individual buyers can indicate to said controller an acceptance of said conditional sales offer for the at least one product, and;

said controller calculating the price from among the specified prices for said at least one product dependent upon said conditional sales offer and an aggregate amount of said at least one product that said plurality of individual buyers have collectively indicated a willingness to purchase during said specified and limited time period.

2. The system recited in claim 1 operating in accordance with said specified and limited time period whereby orders for a particular product are only accepted for said specified and limited time period.

3. The system recited in claim 1 wherein said system makes available said conditional sales offer to a plurality of web sites.

4. The system recited in claim 1 wherein said seller terminals are terminals connected to the Internet.

5. The system recited in claim 1 where said conditional sales offer includes different prices for different quantities of products.

6. The system recited in claim 1 wherein said controller comprises a server.

7. The system recited in claim 1 wherein said seller terminals and said plurality of individual potential buyer terminals communicate with said controller via the Internet.

8. A method for marketing at least one product to a plurality of individual buyers that operates in accordance with a specified and limited time period, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving, prior to the beginning of a specified and limited time period, from sellers at a controller, connected to a network, a conditional sales offer for said at least one product, said conditional sales offer specifying prices which are dependent upon the total number of said at least one product associated with the respective conditional sales offer purchased in said specified and limited time period;

providing said plurality of individual potential buyers with said conditional sales offer for said at least one product through said network;

receiving from said plurality of individual potential buyers at the controller an indication of an acceptance of said conditional sales offer for said at least one product;

said controller calculating a price from among the specified prices for said at least one product dependent upon the conditional sales offer and an aggregate amount of said at least one product that said plurality of individual potential buyers have collectively indicated a willingness to purchase in said specified and limited time period; and

communicating to said plurality of individual potential buyers and said sellers the price of said at least one product at the end of said specified and limited time period.

9. The method recited in claim 8 wherein a system operator provides a system for communicating conditional sales offers from said sellers to said plurality of individual potential buyers.

10. The method recited in claim 9 wherein the system operator receives a commission on the price paid by said plurality of individual potential buyers to said sellers.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein said conditional sales offer is displayed on web sites operated by site operators, and wherein said system operator and said site operators receive a commission on the price paid by said plurality of individual potential buyers to said sellers.