Demand aggregation through online buying groups

• US 6,631,356 B1
• Filed: 03/15/1999
• Issued: 10/07/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Ventures Fund 81 LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Vulcan Portals Incorporated
• Inventors: Gustafsson, Niklas, Woodford, Dale, Van Horn, Tom
• Primary Examiner(s): Coggins, Wynn
• Assistant Examiner(s): THOMPSON JR, FOREST
• Application Number:
  US09/270,219
• Time in Patent Office: 1,667 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/14, 705/26, 705/27
• US Class Current: 705/26.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0605 Supply or demand aggregation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0609 Buyer or seller confidence or verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

An online buying group (referred to herein as a “co-op”) is formed for the specific purpose of purchasing a particular product at (102) by defining a start time, end time, critical mass, any minimum number of units offered, any maximum number of units offered, starting price and product cost curve. As data is gathered from buyers, by means of their making binding purchase offers, the co-op is modified at (108) using a pricing tool, so as to take into account for this market data in the definition of the price curve. A buyer chooses a product co-op of interest at (114). The buyer is presented with the following essential co-op information: current price, closing time, next price level (as defined by a price curve visibility window and the price curve) sufficient to entice the buyer to make an offer. Once a buyer has made up his mind, the decision must be made at (116) to offer a purchase price which includes the current price, guaranteeing availability if critical mass has been achieved, or to make an offer at a lower price range that can be accepted only if the co-op price drops to that level, which may not occur. Given a decision to make an offer at such lower price, the buyer enters such maximum price at which he is willing to purchase the product at (118). Should the current price drop to the level at which the offer was made, the price contingency is removed from such offer and assuming critical mass is achieved, the offer is accepted at at the close of the co-op at (122), and processed accordingly. Inventory is allocated to fulfill the accepted offer at (126) following the closing of the co-op at (124).

Claims

1. A system for aggregating demand through an on-line buying group, which comprises:

(a) an e-commerce server data processing system, said e-commerce server data processing system including e-commerce server software executable on said e-commerce server data processing system and configured to define a buying co-op for a featured product by specifying the featured product for the co-op, a time interval during which the co-op is available, any minimum or maximum quantities of the featured product available through the co-op, and one or more price curves for the featured product available through the co-op, said e-commerce server software further being configured to receive offers from buyers and to take orders for the featured product upon seller acceptance of received buyer offers and said e-commerce server software also configured to notify a buyer who has made an unsuccessful offer and urge the buyer to make a new irrevocable offer at a higher price, prior to closing the buyer'"'"'s co-op, which the seller may find acceptable; and

(b) a buyer client data processing system coupled to said e-commerce server data processing system, said buyer client data processing system including first client software executable on said buyer client data processing system and configured to receive data from said e-commerce data processing system describing the buying co-op for the featured product, to display the data describing the buyer'"'"'s co-op for the featured product on the buyer client data processing system, and to receive buyer order inputs that include the buyer'"'"'s offer for the featured product and to transmit the buyer order inputs for the featured product to said e-commerce server data processing system.

2. The system of claim 1 additionally comprising:

(c) a merchandising staff client data processing system, said merchandising staff client data processing system including second client software executable on said merchandising staff client data processing system and configured to receive merchandising staff inputs for defining a buying co-op for the featured product.

3. The system of claim 2 in which said second client software is further configured by including a pricing tool to establish a price curve for the featured product in the buying co-op.

4. The system of claim 3 in which said second client software is further configured by including data entry tools to establish a start time and an end time for the buyer'"'"'s co-op, any minimum or maximum quantities of the featured product and a starting price for the featured product.

5. The system of claim 1 in which said first client software is further configured to receive irrevocable purchase offers from buyers wherein they commit to buy the featured product within a price range, the maximum of which is the current price established for the featured product in the buying co-op.

6. The system of claim 5 in which said first client software is further configured to receive a buyer order input in terms of an irrevocable, non-cancelable offer to purchase the featured product within a price range, the maximum of which is below the current price established for the featured product in the buying co-op.

7. The system of claim 6 in which said e-commerce software is further configured to accept the irrevocable, noncancelable offer in response to additional increased volume of binding offers to purchase the featured product in the buying co-op.

8. The system for an on-line buying co-op of claim 5 in which said first client software is further configured to receive credit card numbers from buyers to guarantee received irrevocable purchase offers.

9. The system of claim 1 in which said e-commerce server software is further configured to close the buyer'"'"'s co-op when either the time interval for the co-op has expired, or the maximum quantity of the featured product has been allocated to irrevocable purchase offers falling within a range deemed acceptable by the one or more price curves for the featured product.

10. The system of claim 9 in which said e-commerce software is further configured to calculate a final sales price for the featured product based on acceptable offers received and the quantity of the featured product that has been committed, to provide order fulfillment instructions for offers that have been accepted, and to notice successful buyers that their offers have been accepted.

11. The system of claim 1 in which said first client software is configured to receive buyer inputs suggesting one or more products or product categories for a future buying co-op.

12. The system of claim 1 in which said e-commerce server software is further configured to notify a buyer when a critical mass has been reached in order for a price for the featured product to drop to a level that equals a price offered by the buyer.

13. An e-commerce server data processing system for implementing an online buying co-op, said e-commerce server data processing system including e-commerce server software executable on said e-commerce server data processing system and configured to define a buying co-op for a featured product by specifying the featured product for the co-op, a time interval for which the co-op is available, any minimum or maximum quantity of the featured product available through the co-op, one or more price curves for the featured product available through the co-op, said e-commerce server software further being configured to accept offers from buyers for the featured product, and said e-commerce server being further configured to modify the one or more price curves during the time interval for which the co-op is available.

14. The e-commerce data processing system for implementing an on-line buying co-op of claim 13 in which said e-commerce server software is further configured to close the buyer'"'"'s co-op when either the time interval for the co-op has expired and the minimum quantity of the featured product has been committed through acceptable purchase offers, or the maximum quantity of the featured product has been committed through acceptable purchase offers.

15. The e-commerce data processing system for implementing an on-line buying co-op of claim 14 which said e-commerce software is further configured to calculate a final sales price for the featured product based on the quantity of the featured product that has been allocated to acceptable offers from buyers, to provide order fulfillment instructions for offers that have been accepted and to notify those who submitted successful offers that their offers lave been accepted.

16. The e-commerce data processing system for implementing an on-line buying co-op of claim 15 in which said e-commerce software is further configured to notify those who submitted successful offers an amount of the final sales price for the featured product.

17. The e-commerce data processing system for implementing an on-line buying co-op of claim 15 in which said e-commerce software is further configured to notify those who submitted unsuccessful offers that their offers have been rejected.

18. The e-commerce data processing system for implementing an on-line buying co-op of claim 13 in which said e-commerce software is further configured to render a buyer'"'"'s offer for the featured product acceptable once the current price equals the offer price.

19. The e-commerce data processing system for implementing an on-line buying co-op of claim 13 in which said e-commerce server software is further configured to notify a buyer when a critical mass has been reached such that the seller will accept offers for a price that equals a price offered by the buyer.

20. The e-commerce data processing system for implementing an on-line buying co-op of claim 13 in which said e-commerce server software is further configured to notify a buyer who has made an unsuccessful offer for a price falling within a reasonable range prior to closing the buyer'"'"'s co-op to urge the buyer to make a new irrevocable offer.

21. A process for operating an on-line buying co-op, which comprises:

(a) defining a buying co-op for a featured product at an e-commerce server data processing system by specifying the featured product for the co-op, a time interval for which the co-op is available, any minimum or maximum quantity of the featured product available though the co-op, and one or more price curves for the featured product available through the co-op;

(b) transmitting data describing the buying co-op for the featured product from the e-commerce data processing system to a buyer'"'"'s data processing system;

(c) displaying the data describing the buying co-op for the featured product on the buyer'"'"'s data processing system;

(d) receiving a buyer'"'"'s purchase offer for the featured product on the buyer'"'"'s data processing system;

(e) transmitting the buyer'"'"'s purchase offer for the featured product from the buyer'"'"'s data processing system to the e-commerce server data processing system;

(f) recording the buyer'"'"'s purchase offer for the featured product in the e-commerce data processing system; and

(g) modifying the one or more price curves during the time interval for which the co-op is available.

22. The process for operating an on-line buying co-op of claim 21 additionally comprising:

(g) closing the buying co-op when either the time interval for the co-op has expired, as the same may be extended from time to time, or the maximum quantity of the featured product has been allocated to acceptable offers from buyers, and

(h) accepting the offers from the buyers to purchase the featured product at a price no lower than the price of the featured product when the co-op is closed.

23. The process for operating an on-line buying co-op of claim 22 additionally comprising:

(i) calculating the final sales price for the featured product based on the ending co-op price;

(j) providing order fulfillment instructions for accepted offers;

(k) notifying successful buyers that their offers were accepted, an ending price at which their credit card will be charged at time of shipping, and the estimated time of shipping; and

(l) notifying unsuccessful buyers that their offers have been declined.

24. The process for operating an on-line buying co-op of claim 21 in which defining the buying co-op includes receiving merchandising staff inputs in the e-commerce server data processing system for defining the buying co-op for the featured product.

25. The process for operating an on-line buying co-op of claim 21 in which the recorded buyer'"'"'s purchase offer is an offer to buy the featured product within a price range that includes a current price established for the featured product in the buying co-op.

26. The process for operating an on-line buying co-op of claim 21 in which the recorded buyer'"'"'s purchase offer is an irrevocable offer to purchase the featured product within a price range that is below the current price.

27. The process for operating an on-line buying co-op of claim 21 additionally comprising:

(g) receiving a buyer input on the buyer'"'"'s data processing system suggesting a product, product category, brand, acceptable price or any other information relevant to the formation of future buying co-ops; and

(h) transmitting the buyer input suggesting a product or other information relating to a future buying co-op from the buyer'"'"'s data processing system to the e-commerce sewer data processing system.

28. A process for defining an on-line buying co-op for a featured product in an e-commerce server data processing system, which comprises:

(a) specifying the featured product for the co-op;

(b) specifying a time interval during which the co-op is available; and

(c) defining one or more price curves for the featured product available through the co-op; and

(d) modifying the one or more price curves during the time interval for which the co-op is available.

29. The process for defining an on-line buying co-op of claim 28 additionally comprising:

(d) receiving merchandising staff inputs in the e-commerce server data processing system for defining the buying co-op for the featured product prior to specifying the featured product for the co-op.

30. The process for defining an on-line buying co-op of claim 28, further comprising:

(d) specifying at least a minimum quantity of the featured product available through the co-op that must be allocated to buyers through irrevocable offers to purchase the featured product for the co-op to achieve a critical mass.

31. An article of manufacture, which comprises a computer readable storage medium having stored therein a computer program for defining an on-line buying co-op, which comprises:

(a) a first code segment which, when executed in a computer, specifies the featured product for the co-op;

(b) a second code segment which, when executed in the computer, specifies a time interval for which the co-op is available;

(c) a third code segment which, when executed in the computer, specifies at least a minimum quantity of the featured product available through the co-op;

(d) a fourth code segment which, when executed in the computer, defines a price curve for the featured product available through the co-op; and

(e) a fifth code segment which, when executed in the computer, defines whether buyer offers for the featured product arc acceptable.

32. The article of manufacture of claim 31 in which the software additionally comprises:

(f) a sixth code segment which, when executed in the computer, receives merchandising staff inputs in the computer for defining the buying co-op for the featured product.

33. A system for aggregating demand through an on-line buying group, which comprises:

(a) an e-commerce sewer data processing system, said e-commerce server data processing system including e-commerce server software executable on said e-commerce server data processing system and configured to define a buying co-op for a featured product by specifying the featured product for the co-op, a time interval during which the co-op is available, any minimum or maximum quantities of the featured product available through the co-op, and one or more price curves for the featured product available through the co-op, said e-commerce server software further being configured to accept offers from buyers for the featured product and said e-commerce server being further configured to modify the one or more price curves during the time interval for which the co-op is available; and

(b) a buyer client data processing system coupled to said e-commerce server data processing system, said buyer client data processing system including first client software executable on said buyer client data processing system and configured to receive data from said e-commerce data processing system describing the buying co-op for the featured product, to display the data describing the buyer'"'"'s co-op for the featured product on the buyer client data processing system, to receive buyer order inputs that include the buyer'"'"'s offer for the featured product and to transmit the buyer order inputs for the featured product to said e-commerce server data processing system, and to receive buyer inputs for sending an e-mail message to other potential buyers who the buyer believes might be interested in the buying co-op.