Online merchandising system, online catalog presenting method, server, computer program product, and computer data signal

• US 8,103,557 B2
• Filed: 01/23/2003
• Issued: 01/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Fushimi, Hiroshi, Misumi, Sachiko, Shinohara, Eiji, Ono, Hiroaki, Yamane, Noriko, Otsuka, Atsumi, Sakita, Keiko, Yuasa, Kohichi, Itoh, Keiichi, Hanai, Atsushi, Kataoka, Keisuke, Satoh, Maki
• Primary Examiner(s): Gort, Elaine
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hayles, Ashford S.
• Application Number:
  US10/349,182
• Publication Number:
  US 20030139976A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,288 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27, 705/20
• US Class Current: 705/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/201 Price look-up processing, e.g. updating
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

The shopping server provides an online shopping service with retrieving information of items handled, relations among the items, user'"'"'s purchase history, user'"'"'s request, and the like via the internet or the intrafirm network. The shopping server generates electronic catalogs personalized for each user based on the retrieved information so as to show useful and helpful information to each user. The catalogs are categorized in accordance with the purposes. Some of the categories are fulfilled by the automatic entry in accordance with the item relations or the user'"'"'s purchase through the online shopping service, while the others are fulfilled by the user'"'"'s arbitrary designation. The shopping server presents the generated catalogs to the users via the internet, so that the categories are switchable and customizable by the user.

Claims

1. An online merchandising system for an online shopping service using a telecommunications network comprising:

an item information storage for storing information of items to be merchandised;

a bundle information storage for storing information representing relations between a main item stored in said item information storage and other sub items which should be bundled with the main item;

a customer information storage for storing customer information including identification data of users of the online shopping service and data representing at least items designated and/or being owned by each of the users;

an item information presenter for presenting the item information stored in said item information storage the users of the online shopping service via said telecommunications network;

a catalog generator for generating user'"'"'s own electronic catalogs based on the information stored in said item information storage, said bundle information storage and said customer information storage;

a catalog presenter for presenting the electronic catalog to the user concerned via said telecommunications network; and

an order receptor for receiving order instructions from the user through the electronic catalog presented by said catalog presenter, wherein, said item information presenter;

accepts users'"'"' designations of items and asking prices of the items via said telecommunications network;

constantly obtains current actual sales prices information of the items designated by the user;

compares the obtained current actual sales prices with the users'"'"' asking prices to detect whether the obtained current actual sales price is equal to or close to the user'"'"'s asking price in accordance with a predetermined allowable range of a difference therebetween,

said catalog generator generates multiple catalogs for each user showing both the current actual sales prices and the user'"'"'s asking prices so as to be comparable with each other on a same page and so as to enable a user to order the item by the user'"'"'s operation,

said catalog presenter sends to the user concerned an email including a direct linkage to the catalog generated by said catalog generator when said item information presenter detects that the difference between the current actual sales price and the asking price is within the predetermined range and presents the multiple catalogs so as to be switchable by the user concerned,

said order receptor adds an item ordered through the presented catalog to the data stored in said customer information storage as item being owned by the user concerned so that said catalog generator generates a different user'"'"'s own catalog showing items being owned by the user concerned and having a linkage to information relating to each of the shown items, and,

contents of the user'"'"'s own catalog are customizable by duplicating contents of the user'"'"'s own catalog on different user'"'"'s catalogs selected from a list by the user.

2. The online merchandising system according to claim 1, wherein,

said catalog generator generates the user'"'"'s own catalogs including information of the items designated by the user concerned.

3. The online merchandising system according to claim 1, wherein

said catalog generator generates the user'"'"'s own catalogs including information of the items in accordance with the purchase history of the user concerned.

4. An online catalog presenting method being applicable to an online shopping service, comprising the steps of:

storing information of items being handled by the online shopping service;

storing information representing relations between a main item represented by the stored item information and other sub items which should be bundled with the main item;

storing customer information including identification data of users of the online shopping service and data representing at least items designated and/or being owned by each of the users;

selecting items regarding to the users of the online shopping service from the stored items information;

accepting user'"'"'s designation of item and asking prices of the items concerned via said telecommunications network;

constantly obtaining current actual sales prices of the items designated by the user;

comparing the obtained current actual sales prices with the users'"'"' asking prices to detect whether the obtained current actual sales price is equal to or close to the user'"'"'s asking price in accordance with predetermined allowable range of the difference therebetween;

generating multiple catalogs based on the stored information, personalized for each of the users to show information of the selected items with both the current actual sales prices and the user'"'"'s asking prices so as to be comparable with each other;

presenting the generated catalogs to the users via a telecommunications network, so that multiple catalogs are switchable by the user and the items shown in the presented catalog are purchasable by the user through the online shopping service, and notifies the user that the sales price is close to the asking price when it is detected that the difference between the current actual sales price and the asking price being within the predetermined range by an email including a direct linkage to the generated catalog showing both the current actual sales prices and the asking prices,

receiving order instructions from the user through the presented electronic catalog and adding item ordered through the presented catalog to the customer information as item being owned by the user concerned so that said catalog generator generates a different user'"'"'s own catalog showing items being owned by the user concerned having linkage to information relating to each of the shown items, and,

contents of the user'"'"'s own catalog are customizable by duplicating contents of the user'"'"'s own catalog on different user'"'"'s catalogs selected from a list the user.

5. The method according to claim 4 further comprising the step of detecting purchase history of each user, and

said selecting step selects the items purchased by the user concerned through the online shopping service.

6. The method according to claim 4 further comprising the steps of:

detecting what items being owned by the users; and

finding relations among the items handled by the online shopping service, and

said selecting step selects the items relating to the items owned by the user concerned.

7. The method according to claim 4 further comprising the step of detecting purchase history of each user, and

said selecting step selects items frequently purchased by the user concerned.

8. The method according to claim 4, wherein,

said selecting step selects the items in accordance with designation given by the user concerned via said telecommunications network.

9. the method according to claim 4 further comprising the step of updating stored item information, and

said generating step generates the catalogs based on the updated item information.

10. The method according to claim 4, wherein,

said presenting step presents the catalogs to the user so that the contents of the catalogs are exchangeable with each other by the user.

11. A server applicable to a provider of an online shopping service using a telecommunications network, comprising:

an item information storage which stores information of items to be handled by the online shopping service;

a bundle information storage which stores information representing relations between a main item stored in said item information storage and other sub items which should be bundled with the main item;

a customer information storage which stores customer information including identification data of users of the online shopping service and data representing at least items designated and/or being owned by each of the users;

a users'"'"' instruction accepting unit which accepts users'"'"' instructions given by user terminals of the users of the online shopping service via said telecommunications network, an item selecting unit which selects items regarding to users from the items represented by the information stored in said item information storage;

a selected item memory which stores information of the items selected by said item selecting unit with categorizing the information by the users;

a catalog generating unit which generates personalized electronic catalogs based on the information stored in said item information storage, said bundle information storage and said customer data storage to be presented to the users through the online shopping service, showing items represented by the information stored in said selected item memory; and

a catalog presenting unit which presents the personalized catalogs generated by said catalog generating unit to said user terminal concerned via said telecommunications network, so as to enable the user concerned to order the items shown in the presented catalog through the online shopping service; and

an order receiving unit which receives order instructions from the user through the electronic catalog presented by said catalog presenting unit, wherein, said item information storage constantly updates the item information therein so that the item information represents current sales prices of the items, said user'"'"'s instruction accepting unit accepts users'"'"' designations of items and asking prices of the items via said telecommunications network, said item selecting unit;

constantly obtains the current actual sales prices of the items designated by the user;

compares the obtained current actual sales prices with the user'"'"'s asking prices to detect whether the obtained current actual sales price is equal to or close to the user'"'"'s asking price in accordance with a predetermined allowable range of the difference therebetween,

said catalog generator generates multiple catalogs for each user showing both the current actual sales prices and the user'"'"'s asking prices so as to be comparable with each other on a same page and so as to enable a user to order the item by the user'"'"'s operation, and

said catalog presenting unit sends to the user concerned an email including a direct linkage to the catalog generated by said catalog generator when said item information presenter detects that the difference between the current actual sales price and the asking price is within the predetermined range and presents the multiple catalogs so as to be switchable by the user concerned, and

said order receiving unit adds an item ordered through the presented catalog to the data stored in said customer information storage as an item being owned by the user concerned so that said catalog generator generates a different user'"'"'s own catalog showing items being owned by the user concerned and having a linkage to information relating to each of the items shown, and

contents of the user'"'"'s own catalog are customizable by duplicating contents of the user'"'"'s own catalog on different user'"'"'s catalogs selected from a list the user.

12. The server according to claim 11 further comprising a purchase detecting unit which detects purchases of the users through the online shopping service, wherein,

said item selecting unit selects items in accordance with the purchases of the users detected by said purchase detecting unit, and

said catalog generating unit generates a personalized catalog showing purchase history of the user concerned.

13. The server according to claim 11 further comprising:

a possession detecting unit which detects what items owned by the users; and

an item linking unit which links items with relational items in said item information storage, wherein,

said catalog generating unit generates a personalized catalog showing the relational items linked to the items owned by the user concerned.

14. The server according to claim 11, wherein

said item information storage constantly updates the item information therein,

said selected item memory updates the selected item information in accordance with the update by said item information storage, and

said catalog generating unit generates the personalized catalogs showing the latest item information.

15. The server according to claim 11, wherein

said catalog presenting unit presents the personalized catalogs to the terminal devices of the users so that the contents of the catalogs are customizable by the users, and

said selected item memory further categorizes the information into plural kinds of the catalogs to be generated by said catalog generating unit, and updates the information in accordance with the customization by the users.

16. The server according to claim 11, wherein,

said users'"'"' instruction accepting unit accepts a user'"'"'s order instruction through the catalog presented by said catalog presenting unit, and

said selected item memory updates the selected item information in accordance with the order instruction accepted by said users'"'"' instruction accepting unit.

17. A computer program product storing a program which functions a computer as an online merchandising server for providing a online shopping service via a telecommunications network, comprising:

an item information storage which stores information of items to be handled by the online shopping service;

a bundle information storage which stores information representing relations between a main item stored in said item information storage and other sub items which should be bundled with the main item;

a customer information storage which stores customer information including identification data of users of the online shopping and data representing at least items designated and/or being owned by each of the users;

a users'"'"' instruction accepting unit which accepts users'"'"' instructions given by user terminals of the users of the online shopping service via said telecommunications network, an item selecting unit which selects items regarding to users from the items represented by the information stored in said item information storage;

a selected item memory which stores information of the items selected by said item selecting unit with categorizing the information by the users;

a catalog generating unit which generates personalized electronic catalogs based on the information stored in said item information storage, said bundle information storage and said customer data storage to be presented to the users through the online shopping service, showing items represented by the information stored in said selected item memory; and

a catalog presenting unit which presents the personalized catalogs generated by said catalog generating unit to said user terminal concerned via said telecommunications network, so as to enable the user concerned to order the items shown in the presented catalog through the online shopping service, and an order receiving unit which receives order instructions from the user through the electronic catalog presented by said catalog presenting unit, wherein, said item information storage constantly updates the item information therein so that the item information represents current sales prices of the items, said user'"'"'s instruction accepting unit accepts users'"'"' designations of items and asking prices of the items via said telecommunications network, said item selecting unit;

constantly obtains the current actual sales prices, of the items designated by the user;

compares the obtained current actual sales prices with the user'"'"'s asking prices to detect whether the obtained current actual sales price is equal to or close to the user'"'"'s asking price in accordance with predetermined allowable range of the difference therebetween,

said catalog generator generates multiple catalogs for each user showing both the current actual sales prices and the user'"'"'s asking prices so as to be comparable with each other on a same page and so as to enable a user to order the item by the user'"'"'s operation, and

said catalog presenting unit sends to the user concerned an email including a direct linkage to the catalog generated by said catalog generator when said item information presenter detects that the difference between the current actual sales price and the asking price is within the predetermined range and presents the multiple catalogs so as to be switchable by the user concerned, and

said order receiving unit adds an item ordered through the presented catalog to the data stored in said customer information storage as an item being owned by the user concerned so that said catalog generator generates a different user'"'"'s own catalog showing items being owned by the user concerned and having a linkage to information relating to each of the items shown, and

contents of the user'"'"'s own catalog are customizable by duplicating contents of the user'"'"'s own catalog on different user'"'"'s catalogs selected from a list by the user.