Inventory and price decision support
First Claim
1. Software stored on a machine-readable medium that configures a machine to do the following:
- from data that includes prices and unit sales of an item of commerce for a succession of time periods during which the item was sold, derive a relationship of the form
S(t)=No*Nc*tγ
*[e−
(t−
tpk)α
+C]
where S(t) represents gross sales revenues of the item;
t is time;
No is a curve fitting parameter;
Nc is a demand multiplier representing an increase in sales that occurs when price is reduced;
tpk is a time of peak sales;
α and
γ
are curve fitting constants;
C is a residual sales rate at large values of t; and
Nc is a function representing a demand multiplier that is a function of price, predict a maximum profit by optimizing the price or inventory or both over time in accordance with the aforesaid relationship and in accord with a relationship wherein profit is equal to sales revenues minus costs, and use the optimized price or inventory or both over time in connection with making price decisions or inventory decisions or both with respect to marketing the item of commerce.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
From data that includes prices and unit sales of an item of commerce for a succession of time periods during which the item was sold, a relationship is derived that represents variation of unit sales of the item as a function of price and time of sale. A maximum profit is predicted by optimizing the price or inventory or both over time in accordance with the relationship. The optimized price or inventory or both over time are used in connection with making price decisions or inventory decisions or both with respect to marketing the item of commerce. A group of the data is aggregated, the group being chosen so that the aggregated data for the group will have an enhanced signal-to-noise ratio with respect to information about sales trends. The aggregated data for the group is analyzed for use in making price decisions with respect to marketing the items of commerce. A series of charts illustrating variations in sales over time are generated automatically, different charts being for different selected sets of the data.
365 Citations
24 Claims
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1. Software stored on a machine-readable medium that configures a machine to do the following:
-
from data that includes prices and unit sales of an item of commerce for a succession of time periods during which the item was sold, derive a relationship of the form
S(t)=No*Nc*tγ
*[e−
(t−
tpk )α +C]
where S(t) represents gross sales revenues of the item;
t is time;
No is a curve fitting parameter;
Nc is a demand multiplier representing an increase in sales that occurs when price is reduced;
tpk is a time of peak sales;
α and
γ
are curve fitting constants;
C is a residual sales rate at large values of t; and
Nc is a function representing a demand multiplier that is a function of price,predict a maximum profit by optimizing the price or inventory or both over time in accordance with the aforesaid relationship and in accord with a relationship wherein profit is equal to sales revenues minus costs, and use the optimized price or inventory or both over time in connection with making price decisions or inventory decisions or both with respect to marketing the item of commerce.
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-
2. A system comprising
means for deriving, from data that includes prices and unit sales of an item of commerce for a succession of time periods during which the item was sold, a relationship of the form: -
S(t)=No*Nc*tγ
*[e−
(t−
tpk )α +C]
where S(t) represents gross sales revenues of the item;
t is time;
No is a curve fitting parameter;
Nc is a demand multiplier representing an increase in sales that occurs when price is reduced;
tpk is a time of peak sales;
α and
γ
are curve fitting constants;
C is a residual sales rate at large values of t; and
Nc is a function representing a demand multiplier that is a function of price,means for predicting a maximum profit by optimizing the price or inventory or both over time in accordance with the aforesaid relationship and in accord with a relationship wherein profit is equal to sales revenues minus costs, and means for using the optimized price and sales data over time in connection with making price decisions or inventory decisions or both with respect to marketing the time of commerce.
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3. A machine-based method for making price decisions or inventory decisions or both with respect to the marketing of an item of commerce, the method comprising
A. executing, on a machine, software that configures the machine to perform the following steps i. from data that includes prices and unit sales of the item of commerce for a succession of time periods during which the item was sold, deriving a relationship of the form
S(t)=No*Nc*tγ-
*[e−
(t−
tpk )α +C]
where S(t) represents gross sales revenues of the item;
t is time;
No is a curve fitting parameter;
Nc is a demand multiplier representing an increase in sales that occurs when price is reduced;
tpk is a time of peak sales;
α and
γ
are curve fitting constants;
C is a residual sales rate at large values of t; and
Nc is a function representing a demand multiplier that is a function of price,ii. predicting a maximum profit for the item of commerce by optimizing price or inventory or both over time in accordance with the aforesaid relationship and in accord with a relationship wherein profit is a function of sales revenues minus costs, and B. using the optimized price or inventory or both in connection with making price decisions or inventory decisions or both with respect to marketing the item of commerce. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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*[e−
-
15. The method of 14 in which the demand multiplier term comprises a decay factor which reflects a declining impact of a price drop with time, and an exponential factor based on the size of the price drop.
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23. A machine-based method for making price decisions or inventory decisions or both with respect to the marketing of an item of commerce, the method comprising
A. executing, on a machine, software that configures the machine to perform the following steps i. from data that includes prices and unit sales of the item of commerce for a succession of time periods during which the item was sold, deriving a relationship of the form
S(t)=No*Nc*tγ-
*[e−
(t−
tpk )α +C]
where S(t) represents gross sales revenues of the item;
t is time;
No is a curve fitting parameter;
Nc is a demand multiplier representing an increase in sales that occurs when price is reduced;
tpk is a time of peak sales;
α and
γ
are curve fitting constants;
C is a residual sales rate at large values of t; and
Nc is a function representing a demand multiplier that is a function of price,ii. performing curve-fitting using a non-linear least-squares fit to determine one or more of the aforesaid constants, iii. determining Nc is a function of the relation
Nc=e(m/j)β ·
e−
((t−
tmd )/hmd )κ
where β
is a constant, m is a markdown fraction, j is a constant, tmd is a time of markdown, t is time, hmd is a constant that depends on merchandise types and brand, and κ
is a constant,iv. predicting a maximum profit for the item of commerce by optimizing price or inventory or both over time in accordance with the aforesaid relationship and in accord with a relationship wherein profit is a function of sales revenues minus costs, and B. using the optimized price or inventory or both in connection with making price decisions or inventory decisions or both with respect to marketing the item of commerce. - View Dependent Claims (24)
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*[e−
Specification