System for on-line merchant price setting

• US 8,050,976 B2
• Filed: 11/15/2006
• Issued: 11/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: STB Enterprises
• Original Assignee: STB Enterprises
• Inventors: Staib, William E., Mlejnek, Raymond J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Garg, Yogesh C
• Application Number:
  US11/560,345
• Publication Number:
  US 20070130090A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,812 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.23, 705/14.38, 705/20, 705/26.1, 705/35, 705/400
• US Class Current: 705/26.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/201 Price look-up processing, e.g. updating
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0206 Price or cost determination based on market factors
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0211 Determining the effectiveness of discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0238 at point-of-sale [POS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0245 Surveys
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

A method for setting a price for a product sold online by a subject merchant is provided. The method comprises accessing price information of at least one other merchant of the same product by applying a shopping robot to two or more shopping sites, including at least one price comparison site, with other offerings of the same product by other merchants; accessing pricing rules for the subject merchant that cover sales originating from the comparison site; applying the pricing rules to adjust the current product price at which the subject merchant offers the product on the two or more shopping sites to be more competitive; and responsive to a price adjustment that would reduce the product price so as to violate a specified profitability goal, increasing the shipping charges with which the merchant offers the product with the price adjustment on the two or more shopping sites.

Claims

1. A computer system-implemented method for setting a price for a product sold online by a subject merchant using the internet and listed on at least one internet site sales channel with other offerings of the same product by other merchants, comprising:

accessing from a database available subject merchant'"'"'s sales status data for the product including sales trends originating from the at least one channel;

implementing in a price analyzer module pricing rules with parameters adjustable by product and specific sales channel;

accessing implemented pricing rules for the subject merchant that cover sales originating from the at least one channel, and responsive to the available sales status data and such implemented pricing rules, determining whether or not a price adjustment should be explored for the at least one channel;

accessing using a robot module price information of at least one other merchant offer for the same product in the at least one internet site sales channel;

upon determining a price adjustment should be explored, using the price analyzer module and the price information of the at least one other merchant offer, applying the pricing rules for the at least one channel to maintain or compute an adjustment to the current product price at which the subject merchant offers the product on the at least one channel; and

providing the maintained or an adjusted price via the internet to a potential buyer as an offer of the subject merchant.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to a base price adjustment that would reduce the total product price so as to violate a specified profitability goal, increasing the shipping charges with which the merchant offers the product with the base price adjustment on the channel.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising increasing the shipping charges with which the merchant offers the product by an amount sufficient to satisfy a specified profitability goal.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising increasing the shipping charges with which the merchant offers the product by an amount sufficient to offset a base price reduction resulting from application of the pricing rules.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of accessing price information comprises determining whether other merchants on the channel offer the same product and, using stored shopping rules and the robot module, calculating a product price, a shipping price and total price for a plurality of merchants on the channel that offer the same product.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the subject merchant'"'"'s pricing rules include a selectable minimum profitability criterion.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the subject merchant'"'"'s pricing rules perform a filtering analysis and include a rule configurable to remove a particular seller'"'"'s offering from a competitive analysis for at least one product.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the subject merchant'"'"'s pricing rules include a rule that applies cost analysis for the costs involved in making a sale via a sales channel that has one or more of the following cost elements:

listing fees, insertion fees, final value fee at sale, upload fee, store fee, picture fee, fees based on category, credit card fee and transaction fees.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the subject merchant'"'"'s pricing rules include a rule configurable to embody solutions to demand curve analysis based on demand curves derived from the subject merchant'"'"'s test marketing by simultaneously offering different prices to different customers of a given e-commerce store.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the subject merchant'"'"'s pricing rules include a rule configurable to embody selecting product offerings with offering factors selected from the group consisting of:

sales channel, product, time of day, and page placement of an offering on a site.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of accessing price information of at least one other merchant comprises discovering more than one price for at least one product of that at least one other merchant and the step of applying the pricing rules to compute an adjustment to the current product price comprises applying a pricing rule to adjust for the subject merchant more than one price associated with the subject merchant'"'"'s offering for the at least one product.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of performing test marketing to develop demand curves for use in the implemented pricing rules, wherein the test marketing comprises simultaneously offering different prices to different customers of a given e-commerce store.

13. The method claim 12, wherein the step of performing test marketing to develop demand curves comprises developing two or more demand curves in which the pricing is held the same and other selling parameters are varied.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the implemented pricing rules include an overall adjustment factor for the at least one channel to optimize profitability of a plurality of products the subject merchant offers in the at least one channel.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the subject merchant'"'"'s sale status data for a product include at least one of inventory level, storage costs, and sales trends.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the implemented pricing rules provide for an adjusted price is lower than the merchant'"'"'s normal profit margin requirements.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein implemented pricing rules provide that if the subject merchant'"'"'s sales status data for the product show that there is high inventory for the product and that sales trends are down, the product is put on clearance and a lower profit margin requirement is used.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein implemented pricing rules provide that if the subject merchant'"'"'s sales status data for the product show that there is low inventory for the product and that sales trends are up, the price of the product is increased.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein implemented pricing rules provide that if the subject merchant'"'"'s sales trends for the product show that there is normal inventory for the product and that sales trends are up, the price is adjusted in order to ensure strong performance.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein implemented pricing rules provide that if the subject merchant'"'"'s sales trends for the product show that there is normal inventory for the product and that sales trends are down, the price is adjusted in order to gain market share.

21. The computer system-implemented method for setting a price for a product sold online by a subject merchant using the internet of claim 1, wherein the product is sold on two or more channels and the steps of accessing sales status data, accessing pricing rules, accessing price information and applying the pricing rules are performed for the product in two or more channels and the pricing rules for the two or more channels cause the price analyzer module to maintain or compute an adjustment to the current price differently in the two or more channels.

22. The computer system-implemented method for setting a price for a product sold online by a subject merchant using the internet of claim 21, wherein the pricing rules of each of the two or more sales channels are configured with the fees of the respective sales channels.

23. The computer system-implemented method for setting a price for a product sold online by a subject merchant using the internet of claim 21, wherein the pricing rules of each of the two or more sales channels are configured with the total cost of sales of the respective sales channels.

24. The computer system-implemented method for setting a price for a product sold online by a subject merchant using the internet of claim 21, wherein the pricing rules of each of the two or more sales channels are configured with the times when the most traffic comes to the respective sales channels.

25. A data processing system for setting a price for a product sold online by a subject merchant using a site on the internet and listed on at least one internet site sales channel with other offerings of the same product by other merchants, comprising:

a module executing on a processor and accessing from a database available subject merchant'"'"'s sales status data for the product including sales trends originating from the at least one channel;

a module implementing pricing rules with parameters adjustable by product and specific sales channel;

a module executing on a processor accessing implemented pricing rules for the subject merchant that cover sales originating from the at least one channel, and responsive to the available stored sales status data and such implemented pricing rules, said module determining whether or not a price adjustment should be explored for the at least one channel;

a robot module executing on a processor accessing price information of at least one other merchant offer for the same product in the at least one internet site sales channel;

a module executing on a processor and responsive to a determination that a price adjustment should be explored and further responsive to the price information of the at least one other merchant offer, applying the pricing rules for the at least one channel to maintain or compute an adjustment to the current product price at which the subject merchant offers the product on the at least one channel; and

a module executing on a processor for providing the maintained or an adjusted price via the internet to a potential buyer as an offer of the subject merchant.

26. The data processing system for setting a price for a product sold online by a subject merchant using a site on the internet of claim 25, wherein the product is sold on two or more channels and the modules accessing sales status data, accessing pricing rules, accessing price information and applying the pricing rules are performed for the product in two or more channels and the pricing module for applying price analyzer rules for the two or more channels maintains or computes an adjustment to the current price differently in the two or more channels.

27. The data processing system for setting a price for a product sold online by a subject merchant using a site on the internet of claim 26, wherein the pricing rules of each of the two or more sales channels are configured with the fees of the respective sales channels.

28. The data processing system for setting a price for a product sold online by a subject merchant using a site on the internet of claim 26, wherein the pricing rules of each of the two or more sales channels are configured with the total cost of sales of the respective sales channels.

29. The data processing system for setting a price for a product sold online by a subject merchant using a site on the internet of claim 26, wherein the pricing rules of each of the two or more sales channels are configured with the times when the most traffic comes to the respective sales channels.