System and method for defining a sales promotion

• US 8,478,632 B2
• Filed: 08/26/2004
• Issued: 07/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Veit, Thomas, Walle, Andreas
• Primary Examiner(s): Boyce, Andre
• Assistant Examiner(s): FEACHER, LORENA R
• Application Number:
  US10/926,843
• Publication Number:
  US 20050197899A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,232 Days
• Field of Search: 705/10, 705/7.11, 705/7.35
• US Class Current: 705/7.35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements

Abstract

A method of defining a sales promotion for a plurality of products includes determining a group of sales promotion sites to be included in the sales promotion from a plurality of sites using a computerized system, wherein the plurality of sites have been previously organized according to a predetermined grouping structure, and wherein the group of sales promotion sites is independent of the predetermined grouping structure. The method also includes determining a list of products associated with the group of sales promotion sites, and determining the products to be included in the sales promotion from the list of products associated with the group of sales promotion sites.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions stored therein that, when executed, cause one or more processors to implement a method of defining a sales promotion for a plurality of items, the method comprising:

determining a group of sales promotion sites to be included in the sales promotion from a plurality of sites, wherein the plurality of sites have been previously organized according to a predetermined site grouping structure, and wherein the group of sales promotion sites is independent of the predetermined site grouping structure;

determining a list of items associated with the group of sales promotion sites, wherein the list of items associated with the group of sales promotion sites is a hierarchical list of items, and wherein the hierarchical list is structured according to a hierarchical structure which includes a plurality of levels;

determining the items to be included in the sales promotion from the list of items associated with the group of sales promotion sites, wherein the items to be included in the sales promotion are determined based on a user selection of at least one of the plurality of levels of the hierarchical structure, wherein the items to be included in the sales promotion include items in a lower level of the at least one selected level in the hierarchical structure;

determining an automatic retail pricing procedure for the group of sales promotion sites; and

overriding the automatic retail pricing procedure for a first site for merchandise related to a trend;

wherein the sales promotion comprises a general sales promotion and a specific sales promotion, the general sales promotion having a plurality of parameters associated therewith including a first sales discount and a first validity period and the specific sales promotion having a plurality of parameters associated therewith including a second sales discount and a second validity period, wherein the second validity period of the specific sales promotion differs from the first validity period for the general sales promotion, wherein a first set of one or more dates associated with the second validity period for the specific sales promotion is included within a second set of one or more dates associated the first validity period for the general sales promotion, wherein determining the items to be included in the sales promotion comprises;

determining a list of items to be included in the general sales promotion from the list of items associated with the group of sales promotion sites, wherein the list of items to be included in the general sales promotion is determined based on a user selection of at least one of the plurality of levels of the hierarchical structure, wherein the items to be included in the general sales promotion include items in a lower level than the at least one selected level in the hierarchical structure; and

determining a list of items to be included in the specific sales promotion from the list of items to be included in the general sales promotion, wherein the list of items to be included in the specific sales promotion is determined based on a user selection of at least one node in a lower level than the at least one selected level in the hierarchical structure.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the group of sales promotion sites is determinable based on a geographic location of each site.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the group of sales promotion sites is determinable in response to user input.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 3, wherein the group of sales promotion sites is determinable in response to user input received from a graphical user interface.

5. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the group of sales promotion sites is determinable based on the predetermined site grouping structure.

6. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the list of items includes at least one of a service and a retail product.

7. A program product for defining a sales promotion for a plurality of items, said program product comprising non-transitory computer-readable storage media including program code for causing, when executed, one or more machines to perform the following method steps:

determining a group of sales promotion sites to be included in the sales promotion from a plurality of sites, wherein the plurality of sites have been previously organized according to a predetermined site grouping structure, and wherein the group of sales promotion sites is independent of the predetermined site grouping structure;

determining a list of items associated with the group of sales promotion sites, wherein the list of items associated with the group of sales promotion sites is a hierarchical list of items, and wherein the hierarchical list is structured according to a hierarchical structure which includes a plurality of levels;

determining the items to be included in the sales promotion from the list of items associated with the group of sales promotion sites, wherein the items to be included in the sales promotion are determined based on a user selection of at least one of the plurality of levels of the hierarchical structure, wherein the items to be included in the sales promotion include items in a lower level of the at least one selected level in the hierarchical structure;

determining an automatic retail pricing procedure for the group of sales promotion sites; and

overriding the automatic retail pricing procedure for a first site for merchandise related to a trend;

wherein the sales promotion comprises a general sales promotion and a specific sales promotion, the general sales promotion having a plurality of parameters associated therewith including a first sales discount and a first validity period and the specific sales promotion having a plurality of parameters associated therewith including a second sales discount and a second validity period, wherein the second validity period of the specific sales promotion differs from the first validity period for the general sales promotion, wherein a first set of one or more dates associated with the second validity period for the specific sales promotion is included within a second set of one or more dates associated the first validity period for the general sales promotion, wherein determining the items to be included in the sales promotion comprises;

determining a list of items to be included in the general sales promotion from the list of items associated with the group of sales promotion sites, wherein the list of items to be included in the general sales promotion is determined based on a user selection of at least one of the plurality of levels of the hierarchical structure, wherein the items to be included in the general sales promotion include items in a lower level than the at least one selected level in the hierarchical structure; and

determining a list of items to be included in the specific sales promotion from the list of items to be included in the general sales promotion, wherein the list of items to be included in the specific sales promotion is determined based on a user selection of at least one node in a lower level than the at least one selected level in the hierarchical structure.

8. The program product of claim 7, wherein the group of sales promotion sites is determinable based on the geographic location of each site.

9. The program product of claim 7, wherein the group of sales promotion sites is determinable in response to user input.

10. The program product of claim 9, wherein the group of sales promotion sites is determinable in response to user input received from a graphical user interface.

11. The program product of claim 7, wherein the group of sales promotion sites is determinable based on the predetermined site grouping structure.

12. The program product of claim 7, wherein the list of items includes at least one of a service and a retail product.

13. A system for defining a sales promotion for a plurality of items, the system comprising:

means for determining a group of sales promotion sites to be included in the sales promotion from a plurality of sites, wherein the plurality of sites have been previously organized according to a predetermined site grouping structure, and wherein the group of sales promotion sites is independent of the predetermined site grouping structure;

means for determining a list of items associated with the group of sales promotion sites, wherein the list of items associated with the group of sales promotion sites is a hierarchical list of items, and wherein the hierarchical list is structured according to a hierarchical structure which includes a plurality of levels;

means for determining the items to be included in the sales promotion from the list of items associated with the group of sales promotion sites, wherein the items to be included in the sales promotion are determined based on a user selection of at least one of the plurality of levels of the hierarchical structure, wherein the items to be included in the sales promotion include items in a lower level of the at least one selected level in the hierarchical structure;

means for determining an automatic retail pricing procedure for the group of sales promotion sites; and

means for overriding the automatic retail pricing procedure for a first site for merchandise related to a trend;

wherein the sales promotion comprises a general sales promotion and a specific sales promotion, each of the general sales promotion and specific sales promotion having a plurality of parameters associated therewith including a sales price and a validity period, wherein the validity period of the specific sales promotion differs from the validity period of the general sales promotion, wherein a first set of one or more dates associated with the validity period of the specific sales promotion is included within a second set of one or more dates associated the validity period of the general sales promotion, wherein the means for determining the items to be included in the sales promotion comprises;

means for determining a list of items to be included in the general sales promotion from the list of items associated with the group of sales promotion sites, wherein the list of items to be included in the general sales promotion is determined based on a user selection of at least one of the plurality of levels of the hierarchical structure, wherein the items to be included in the general sales promotion include items in a lower level than the at least one selected level in the hierarchical structure; and

means for determining a list of items to be included in the specific sales promotion from the list of items to be included in the general sales promotion, wherein the list of items to be included in the specific sales promotion is determined based on a user selection of at least one node in a lower level than the at least one selected level in the hierarchical structure.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the group of sales promotion sites is determined based on the geographic location of each site.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the group of sales promotion sites is determined in response to user input.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the group of sales promotion sites is determinable in response to user input received from a graphical user interface.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein group of sales promotion sites is determinable based on the predetermined site grouping structure.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the list of items includes at least one of a service and a retail product.