Multi-tier pricing of individual products based on volume discounts

• US 8,260,670 B2
• Filed: 11/20/2009
• Issued: 09/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Inventor Holdings LLC (Walker Innovation Inc. (f/k/a Patent Properties, Inc.))
• Original Assignee: Walker Digital LLC (Walker Innovation Inc. (f/k/a Patent Properties, Inc.))
• Inventors: Walker, Jay S., Van Luchene, Andrew S., Mik, Magdalena, Tedesco, Daniel E.
• Primary Examiner(s): ADE, OGER GARCIA
• Application Number:
  US12/592,220
• Publication Number:
  US 20100106587A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,019 Days
• Field of Search: 705/21
• US Class Current: 705/21
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/387 Payment using discounts or coupons relating to marketing G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/145 PLU-management

Abstract

A point of sale system or other computer system stores a product pricing database in which a full price and discount prices corresponding to one or more discount pricing tiers are stored for each product available for sale. Each of the discount prices for a given product has an associated historical transaction amount associated therewith, such that in order to qualify for a given pricing tier and thus a given price for a product, a customer must be associated with the appropriate historical transaction amount corresponding to the pricing tier.

Claims

1. A method of operating a shopping Web site, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving, by a processor of a Web server computer, an access attempt from a customer device used by a customer, the access attempt including a provision of a customer identifier associated with the customer;

retrieving, based on the identifier, a historical transaction amount representing monetary amounts spent in the past on previous purchases, thereby determining a historical transaction amount associated with the customer;

responding to the access attempt by sending to the customer device display data, the display data representing information to be displayed on a monitor component of the customer device, the information to be displayed on the monitor component including;

(a) a plurality of product entries, each of the product entries including (i) product information indicative of a product available for sale via the Web site and (ii) pricing information indicative of a plurality of prices applicable to the product indicated by the product information of the respective product entry, each of the prices corresponding to a respective pricing tier, wherein each pricing tier corresponds to a respective historical transaction amount representing a respective monetary amount spent in the past to qualify for the pricing tier and wherein a given pricing tier is not representative of a particular percentage discount off a non-discounted price for the particular product purchased under the given pricing tier; and

(b) a monetary amount that indicates to the customer an additional amount to be spent, the additional amount to be spent to be incorporated into the historical transaction amount associated with the customer, to qualify the customer for one of the respective pricing tiers on a future purchase;

determining, by the processor, at least one product the customer desires to purchase in a current transaction;

applying, by the processor, one of the plurality of prices applicable to the product by selecting the price corresponding to the pricing tier the customer currently qualifies for, based on the historical transaction amount associated with the customer;

after completing the current transaction, updating the historical transaction amount associated with the customer by incorporating into it an amount based on a total of the current transaction, thereby determining an updated historical transaction amount; and

storing the updated historical transaction amount in association with the customer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the historical transaction amount comprises a cumulative amount spent in the past by the customer over a predetermined period of time.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the historical transaction amount comprises a cumulative amount spent by a group of customers over a predetermined period of time, the customer being a member of the group.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the cumulative amount spent in the past by the group comprises a cumulative amount spent by the group in the past and maintained by the group over a second predetermined period of time.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the historical transaction amount comprises an average transaction amount spent by the customer over at least one of a predetermined period of time or a predetermined number of transactions.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the historical transaction amount comprises an average transaction amount spent by a group of customers of which the customer is a member, the average transaction amount being an average transaction amount over at least one of a predetermined period of time or a predetermined number of transactions.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the historical transaction amount is based on purchases of qualifying products, such that not all products purchased in the past necessarily contribute towards a determination of the historical transaction amount.

8. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions for directing a processor to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving an access attempt from a customer device used by a customer, the access attempt including a provision of a customer identifier associated with the customer;

retrieving, based on the identifier, a historical transaction amount representing monetary amounts spent in the past on previous purchases, thereby determining a historical transaction amount associated with the customer;

responding to the access attempt by sending to the customer device display data, the display data representing information to be displayed on a monitor component of the customer device, the information to be displayed on the monitor component including;

(a) a plurality of product entries, each of the product entries including (i) product information indicative of a product available for sale via the Web site and (ii) pricing information indicative of a plurality of prices applicable to the product indicated by the product information of the respective product entry, each of the prices corresponding to a respective pricing tier, wherein each pricing tier corresponds to a respective historical transaction amount representing a respective monetary amount spent in the past to qualify for the pricing tier and wherein a given pricing tier is not representative of a particular percentage discount off a non-discounted price for the particular product purchased under the given pricing tier; and

(b) a monetary amount that indicates to the customer an additional amount to be spent, the additional amount to be spent to be incorporated into the historical transaction amount associated with the customer, to qualify the customer for one of the respective pricing tiers on a future purchase;

determining at least one product the customer desires to purchase in a current transaction;

applying one of the plurality of prices applicable to the product by selecting the price corresponding to the pricing tier the customer currently qualifies for, based on the historical transaction amount associated with the customer;

after completing the current transaction, updating the historical transaction amount associated with the customer by incorporating into it an amount based on a total of the current transaction, thereby determining an updated historical transaction amount; and

storing the updated historical transaction amount in association with the customer.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the historical transaction amount comprises a cumulative amount spent in the past by the customer over a predetermined period of time.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the historical transaction amount comprises a cumulative amount spent by a group of customers over a predetermined period of time, the customer being a member of the group.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the cumulative amount spent in the past by the group comprises a cumulative amount spent by the group in the past and maintained by the group over a second predetermined period of time.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the historical transaction amount comprises an average transaction amount spent by the customer over at least one of a predetermined period of time or a predetermined number of transactions.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the historical transaction amount comprises an average transaction amount spent by a group of customers of which the customer is a member, the average transaction amount being an average transaction amount over at least one of a predetermined period of time or a predetermined number of transactions.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the historical transaction amount is based on purchases of qualifying products, such that not all products purchased in the past necessarily contribute towards a determination of the historical transaction amount.

15. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor;

a memory storing a program for directing the processor, the processor being operative with the program to perform a method, the method comprising;

receiving an access attempt from a customer device used by a customer, the access attempt including a provision of a customer identifier associated with the customer;

retrieving, based on the identifier, a historical transaction amount representing monetary amounts spent in the past on previous purchases, thereby determining a historical transaction amount associated with the customer;

responding to the access attempt by sending to the customer device display data, the display data representing information to be displayed on a monitor component of the customer device, the information to be displayed on the monitor component including;

(a) a plurality of product entries, each of the product entries including (i) product information indicative of a product available for sale via the Web site and (ii) pricing information indicative of a plurality of prices applicable to the product indicated by the product information of the respective product entry, each of the prices corresponding to a respective pricing tier, wherein each pricing tier corresponds to a respective historical transaction amount representing a respective monetary amount spent in the past to qualify for the pricing tier and wherein a given pricing tier is not representative of a particular percentage discount off a non-discounted price for the particular product purchased under the given pricing tier; and

(b) a monetary amount that indicates to the customer an additional amount to be spent, the additional amount to be spent to be incorporated into the historical transaction amount associated with the customer, to qualify the customer for one of the respective pricing tiers on a future purchase;

determining at least one product the customer desires to purchase in a current transaction;

applying one of the plurality of prices applicable to the product by selecting the price corresponding to the pricing tier the customer currently qualifies for, based on the historical transaction amount associated with the customer;

after completing the current transaction, updating the historical transaction amount associated with the customer by incorporating into it an amount based on a total of the current transaction, thereby determining an updated historical transaction amount; and

storing the updated historical transaction amount in association with the customer.