Methods and systems for developing market intelligence
First Claim
1. A method for characterizing market distribution of a business, the method comprising:
- determining a location of each of a plurality of business representatives comprised by the business and situated at different geographical locations to provide sales of the business'"'"'s products;
determining a location of each of a plurality of competitor representatives comprised by one or more competitors and situated at different geographical locations to provide sales of competitor products, wherein each of the one or more competitors competes for sales of products with the business;
populating at least one database with the locations of the business representatives and the locations of the competitor representatives;
from location information in the at least one populated database, calculating a probability that quantifies a level of competition to the business for sales of the business'"'"'s products, the competition being provided by the one or more competitors providing sales of the competitor products, and the level of competition being quantified in terms of a distance measure between the business and competitor representatives;
correlating the quantified level of competition with demographic data corresponding to the location information in the at least one populated database; and
outputting the quantified level of competition.
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Abstract
Methods and systems are provided for characterizing market distribution for a business having multiple business representatives. The business is considered to be in competition with one or more competitors, each of which also has multiple representatives. Locations are determined both for the business representatives and for the competitor representatives, and these locations are used to populate one or more databases. A locator identification is assigned to each distinct location and used as a pointer within the databases. The locator identification may be unique to specific street addresses, permitting improved analysis of the market information, particularly analysis derived from the geographical distributions of the business representatives and of the competitor representatives.
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Citations
29 Claims
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1. A method for characterizing market distribution of a business, the method comprising:
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determining a location of each of a plurality of business representatives comprised by the business and situated at different geographical locations to provide sales of the business'"'"'s products; determining a location of each of a plurality of competitor representatives comprised by one or more competitors and situated at different geographical locations to provide sales of competitor products, wherein each of the one or more competitors competes for sales of products with the business; populating at least one database with the locations of the business representatives and the locations of the competitor representatives; from location information in the at least one populated database, calculating a probability that quantifies a level of competition to the business for sales of the business'"'"'s products, the competition being provided by the one or more competitors providing sales of the competitor products, and the level of competition being quantified in terms of a distance measure between the business and competitor representatives; correlating the quantified level of competition with demographic data corresponding to the location information in the at least one populated database; and outputting the quantified level of competition. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A computer system comprising:
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a communications system; a storage device; a processor in communication with the communications system and the storage device; and a memory coupled with the processor, the memory comprising a computer readable storage medium having a computer-readable program embodied therein to operate the computer system to characterize market distribution of a business, the computer-readable program including; instructions to maintain at least one database on the storage device to store a location of each of a plurality of business representatives comprised by the business and situated at different geographical locations to provide sales of the business'"'"'s products, and to store a location of each of a plurality of competitor representatives comprised by one or more competitors and situated at different geographical locations to provide sales of competitor products, wherein each of the one or more competitors competes for sales of products with the business; instructions to calculate, from location information in the at least one database, a probability that quantifies a level of competition to the business for sales of the business'"'"'s products, the competition being provided by the one or more competitors providing sales of the competitor products, and the level of competition being quantified in terms of a distance measure between the business and competitor representatives; and instructions to correlate the quantified level of competition with demographic data corresponding to the location information in the at least one database. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer-readable program embodied therein to direct operation of a computer system including a communications system, a processor, and a storage device, wherein the computer readable program includes instructions to operate the computer system to characterize market distribution of a business in accordance with the following:
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maintaining at least one database on the storage device to store a location of each of a plurality of business representatives comprised by the business and situated at different geographical locations to provide sales of the business'"'"'s products, and to store a location of each of a plurality of competitor representatives comprised by one or more competitors and situated at different geographical locations to provide sales of competitor products, wherein each of the one or more competitors competes for sales of products with the business; from location information in the at least one database, calculating a probability with the processor that quantifies a level of competition to the business for sales of the business'"'"'s products, the competition being provided by the one or more competitors providing sales of the competitor products, and the level of competition being quantified in terms of a distance measure between the business and competitor representatives; correlating, with the processor, the quantified level of competition with demographic data corresponding to the location information in the at least one database; and outputting the quantified level of competition. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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Specification