Virtual retail assistant

• US 7,658,327 B2
• Filed: 10/03/2006
• Issued: 02/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Teletech Holdings Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Teletech Holdings Incorporated
• Inventors: Tuchman, Kenneth D., Truong, Henry
• Primary Examiner(s): Labaze; Edwyn
• Application Number:
  US11/538,259
• Publication Number:
  US 20070138268A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,225 Days
• Field of Search: 235/381, 235/375, 235/487, 705/8, 705/5
• US Class Current: 235/381
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering

Abstract

The present invention, as embodied in the claims, relates to customer care management via a communications systems and methods including, in embodiments, a combination of automated and human services to be provided to a customer in a retail store environment in real time. For example, one embodiment of the present invention provides an automated method for assisting a customer in a retail store comprising: identifying the customer; periodically identifying the customer'"'"'s position in the store; identifying a product of interest to the customer; and communicating information to the customer via a remote specialized sales agent or other audio, visual and/or computer data relevant to the customer.

Claims

1. An information system for providing event relevant information to a customer in a retail store, the information system comprising:

a wireless kiosk;

a position engine in electrical communication with the wireless kiosk, the position engine periodically determining the location of the wireless kiosk in the retail store;

an event management component in electrical communication with the position engine and the wireless kiosk, the event management component operable to identify an event from information received from the wireless kiosk or the position engine;

a content delivery system in electrical communication with the wireless kiosk, the content delivery system operable to provide information to the customer on the wireless kiosk associated with the event identified by the event management component;

an application delivery manager in electrical communication with the content delivery system, the application delivery manager operable to obtain the information provided to the customer;

a business partner network in electrical communication with the application delivery manager;

a store ecommerce system in electrical communication with the business partner network, the store ecommerce system operable to provide information about online interactions with the customer at a manufacturer'"'"'s website to the application delivery manager;

a product information system in electrical communication with the business partner network, the product information system operable to provide product information from a manufacturer to the application delivery manager; and

an agent desktop in electrical communication with the business partner network, the agent desktop operable to provide information from an agent to the application delivery manager.

2. The information system defined claim 1, further comprising a video streaming system in electrical communication with the application delivery manager, the video streaming system operable to stream video to the application delivery manager.

3. The information system defined in claim 1, further comprising a visitor experience database in electrical communication with the wireless kiosk, the visitor experience database operable to store information associated with one or more customer visits for one or more customers.

4. The information system defined in claim 3, further comprising an inline analytics engine in electrical communication with the wireless kiosk, the inline analytics engine operable to evaluate one or more of a position of a customer, bit stream activity of the customer on the wireless kiosk, or information stored in the visit experience database against one or more business rules, the inline analytics engine to identify an event based on the evaluation against the one or more business rules.

5. The information system defined in claim 3, further comprising an off-line analytics engine in electrical communication with the visit experience database, the off-line analytics engine operable to evaluate information stored in the visit experience database and modify one or more business rules evaluated by an inline analytics engine.

6. The information system defined in claim 1, wherein the wireless kiosk comprises:

an input device operable to allow the customer input requests;

a communication device in electrical communication with the input device, the communication device operable to transmit the input requests and to transmit and receive voice communications with a remote specialized sales agent; and

an output device in electrical communication with the communication device, the output device operable to display product information receive from the remote specialized agent.

7. The information system defined in claim 6, further comprising a scanner in electrical communication with the communication device, the scanner operable to means for scan information associated with a product and to transmit that information to the communication device.

8. An automated method for assisting a customer in a retail store, comprising:

initiating an information session with the customer;

periodically identifying the customer'"'"'s position in the retail store;

identifying a product of interest to the customer based on the customer'"'"'s position; and

communicating information to the customer based on one or more of identified information regarding the customer, the customer'"'"'s position or movement from in the retail store or the identity of the product, communicating the information provided to the customer via an application delivery manager in electrical communication with a content delivery system, communicating with a business partner network in the electrical communication the application delivery manager;

communicating with a store ecommerce system in electrical communication with the business partner network the store ecommerce system operable to provide information about online interactions with the customer at a manufacturer'"'"'s website to the application delivery manager;

communicating with a product information system in electrical communication with the business partner network, the product information system operable to provide product information from a manufacturer to the application delivery manager; and

communicating with an agent desktop in electrical communication with the business partner network, the agent desktop operable to provide information from an agent to the application delivery manager.

9. The automated method defined in claim 8, wherein the communicated information is one or more of audio, visual or computer data.

10. The automated method defined in claim 8, further comprising:

identifying an event based on one or more of identified information regarding the customer, the customer'"'"'s position or movement from in the retail store or the identity of the product; and

matching the event to a source of information.

11. The automated method defined in claim 8, further comprising connecting a wireless kiosk associated with the customer with the source of information.

12. A communications system for providing a virtual sales agent to assist a customer in a retail store including a network, the communication system comprising:

an identification and personalization component operable to identify the customer using a wireless kiosk in the retail store;

a tracking and analysis component operable to collect information on the customer including periodically identifying a position of the customer within the retail store;

a predictive opportunity identification component operable to identify an event associated with the customer by using information collected by the tracking and analysis component, a customer-defined preferences and a retailer-defined business rules;

an agent-skills based matching component operable to associate an agent having event information to be sent to the customer with the identified event; and

a chat and collaborative browsing component operable to connect the agent with the wireless kiosk to allow the agent to communicate the event information to the customer.

13. The communication system defined in claim 12, further comprising a content matching and delivery component operable to match event information with the identified event and communicate the event information to the wireless kiosk for presentation to the customer.

14. The communication system defined in claim 12, further comprising:

a visitor experience database to store information collected by the tracking and analysis component; and

an analysis, refinement and tuning component to modify one or more business rules based on the stored information in the visitor experience database.

15. The communication system defined in claim 14, further comprising an enhance store operation component for extracting the information collected by the tracking and analysis component and improving operations in the retail store based on the collected information.

16. The communication system defined in claim 12, further comprising a dispatching component to dispatch one or more services in response to the event.

17. The communication system defined in claim 16, wherein the service is one or more of retrieving a product from inventory, dispatching an in-store assistant to a customer'"'"'s position, scheduling a follow-on service, ordering an assembly of a product, or ordering loading of the product into a customer'"'"'s vehicle.