Method of controlling product inventory

• US 7,801,776 B2
• Filed: 08/01/2005
• Issued: 09/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cabi, LLC (CAbi Holding Co. LLC)
• Original Assignee: Cabi, LLC (CAbi Holding Co. LLC)
• Inventors: Inskeep, Kimberly, Farquhar, Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Zeender; F. Ryan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Amsdell; Dana
• Application Number:
  US11/194,211
• Publication Number:
  US 20060085298A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,877 Days
• Field of Search: 235/385, 705/9, 705/16, 705/24, 705/26, 705/28, 709/223, 715/500, 209/563, 209/564, 209/583, 700/216, 700/240
• US Class Current: 705/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/903 Querying for retrieval from the web G06F16/953
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders

Abstract

A business method and system for executing the method that involves gathering merchandise orders at a show in the home of a hostess. The method compiles the merchandise orders while maintaining a relationship between each individual order and information pertaining to the guest making the order. The guest information maintains an association with the order throughout the method such that each order made at the show may be individually packaged and labeled, obviating the need for the hostess to sort the ordered items upon receiving them from a warehouse. The system stores records of all purchased items and maintains a running inventory of each item, accessible by the consultants so they may warn customers of potentially low inventories. The database also facilitates returns and exchanges of purchased items.

Claims

1. A method of conducting sales transactions of women'"'"'s outer garments using a party plan method of marketing comprising:

requiring the purchase, at least twice annually, of a sample line of women'"'"'s outer garments at a cost substantially equal to or below a cost of production of said sample line of women'"'"'s outer garments, said sample line of women'"'"'s outer garments representative of styles and sizes of women'"'"'s outer garments available for sale during a selling season;

showing said sample line of women'"'"'s outer garments at a show held in a home;

providing, during said show, a running available inventory of women'"'"'s outer garments by using a computer in data flow communication via a network with a database associated with an inventory of women'"'"'s outer garments;

receiving order forms from a plurality of customers at said show, said customers comprising hostesses and guests, the order forms having data including;

customer name;

customer address;

customer order, the customer order including one or more women'"'"'s outer garments;

entering said data from the order forms into said database associated with said inventory of women'"'"'s outer garments via said computer;

storing said data from the order forms in said database associated with said inventory of women'"'"'s outer garments via said computer;

processing said data such that said one or more women'"'"'s outer garments is subtracted from the running available inventory of women'"'"'s outer garments;

assembling the women'"'"'s outer garments from each of said order forms into individual packages prior to a shipment of said packages to said home;

shipping said individual packages to said home; and

distributing said women'"'"'s outer garments from said home to said customers without using postal services, thereby avoiding the incurrence of additional shipping costs.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing a warning message if said inventory of women'"'"'s outer garments is low or empty for a given women'"'"'s outer garment.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising establishing a lower inventory limit for each women'"'"'s outer garment available for sale at said shows and generating a watch list, accessible remotely, comprising those women'"'"'s outer garments having an inventory at or below said lower inventory limit.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating a sold out list, accessible remotely, comprising women'"'"'s outer garments for sale at said shows having an inventory of zero.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein generating a watch list further comprises providing data pertaining to each women'"'"'s outer garment regarding whether said women'"'"'s outer garment will be available in the future.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein providing data pertaining to each women'"'"'s outer garment regarding whether said women'"'"'s outer garment will be available in the future comprises providing a date when said women'"'"'s outer garment is expected to be in stock.

7. A system for effecting sales transactions of women'"'"'s out garments using a party plan method of marketing comprising:

a show hosted by a hostess and attended by at least one customer and a consultant;

a sample line of women'"'"'s outer garments, required to be purchased at least twice annually, by a consultant at a cost substantially equal to or below a cost of production of said sample line of women'"'"'s outer garments, said sample line of women'"'"'s outer garments representative of styles and sizes of women'"'"'s outer garments available for sale during the selling season;

a computer into which customer orders initiated at said show are entered, said customer orders including at least one women'"'"'s outer garment;

a database associated with an inventory of women'"'"'s outer garments and in data flow communication via a network with said computer and configured to store said customer orders;

a server in data flow communication via a network with said database associated with an inventory of women'"'"'s outer garments and configured to subtract said women'"'"'s outer garment from a running inventory of available merchandise items women'"'"'s outer garments, said running inventory of available women'"'"'s outer garments accessible from said computer during said show, said server further configured to direct formation of an individual package for each of said customer orders initiated at said show, said individual package including said women'"'"'s outer garments from a single customer order

an output device in data flow communication with said server and configured to generate a shipping label for shipment of all said packages to said hostess.

8. The system of claim 7 further comprising data flow communication with the internet.

9. The system of claim 7 further comprising data flow communication to an intranet.

10. The system of claim 7 wherein the server is further configured to receive customer return data from the computer, said customer return data including at least one women'"'"'s outer garment return request.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the server is further configured to add the at least one women'"'"'s outer garment return request to the running inventory of available women'"'"'s outer garments in the event that the computer indicates the women'"'"'s outer garment item is unused.

12. The system of claim 7 wherein the server is further configured to receive customer exchange data from the computer, said customer exchange data including at least one women'"'"'s outer garment exchange request indicating a women'"'"'s outer garment to be sent by the customer and a women'"'"'s outer garment to be sent to the customer.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the server is further configured to add the women'"'"'s outer garment to be sent by the customer to the running inventory of available women'"'"'s outer garments in the event that the computer indicates the women'"'"'s outer garment is unused.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the server is further configured to subtract the women'"'"'s outer garment to be sent to the customer from the running inventory of available women'"'"'s outer garments.