Cost-based fulfillment tie-breaking

• US 8,498,888 B1
• Filed: 06/22/2011
• Issued: 07/30/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Li, Xiao Yu, Raff, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Dunham, Jason
• Assistant Examiner(s): HATCHER, DEIRDRE D
• Application Number:
  US13/166,322
• Time in Patent Office: 769 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26.2, 705/7.12, 705/28, 705/22, 705/401, 705/330, 705/332
• US Class Current: 705/7.12
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

Systems and methods for cost-based fulfillment tie breaking are disclosed. In some embodiments, a method may include receiving an indication of an order for an item stocked in a plurality of fulfillment centers, where a difference between a cost of fulfilling the order with one of the plurality of fulfillment centers and a cost of fulfilling the order with another one of the plurality of fulfillment centers is within a specified amount. The method may also include selecting a given one of the plurality of fulfillment centers to fulfill the order based, at least in part, upon expected costs corresponding to inventory positions that would result from fulfilling the order with each of the plurality of fulfillment centers.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

performing, by one or more computers;

determining a threshold value, wherein the threshold value is usable to determine whether a difference between a cost of fulfilling an order for an item stored in two or more fulfillment centers with a first of the two or more fulfillment centers and a cost of fulfilling the order with a second of the two or more fulfillment centers is within the threshold value, wherein a determination that the difference is within the threshold value results in a determination of a tie between the cost of fulfilling the order with the first fulfillment center and the cost of fulfilling the order with the second fulfillment center;

receiving the order for the item stored in the two or more fulfillment centers, wherein the order specifies a shipping destination;

determining that the difference between the cost of fulfilling the order with the first of the two or more fulfillment centers and the cost of fulfilling the order with the second of the two or more fulfillment centers is within the threshold value resulting in the determination of the tie between the cost of fulfilling the order with the first fulfillment center and the cost of fulfilling the order with the second fulfillment center;

in response to the determination of the tie;

determining a first expected cost corresponding to an inventory position of the item within the two or more fulfillment centers that would result from fulfilling the order with the first of the two or more fulfillment centers;

determining a second expected cost corresponding to an inventory position of the item within the two or more fulfillment centers that would result from fulfilling the order with the second of the two or more fulfillment centers;

in response to the first expected cost being less than the second expected cost, selecting the first of the two or more fulfillment centers to fulfill the order; and

in response to selecting the first of the two or more fulfillment centers, causing the order to be fulfilled by the first of the two or more of fulfillment centers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the threshold value is selected as zero.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second expected costs are based, at least in part, upon a probability of a future order for the item.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the probability of the future order is determined based, at least in part, upon historical order data.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the future order is expected to specify another shipping destination for which the first and second of the two or more fulfillment centers would have different fulfillment costs.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the first expected cost represents a cost of being unable to fulfill the future order with the first of the two or more fulfillment centers when the future order specifies a second shipping destination such that it would be cheaper to fulfill the future order from the first of the two or more fulfillment centers than from the second of the two or more fulfillment centers, and wherein the second expected cost represents a cost of being unable to fulfill the future order with the second of the two or more fulfillment centers when the future order specifies a third shipping destination such that it would be cheaper to fulfill the future order from the second of the two or more fulfillment centers than from the first of the two or more fulfillment centers.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining at least one of the first and second expected costs includes retrieving the first and second expected costs from a pre-computed table.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining at least one of the first and second expected costs includes performing a recursive calculation in response to receiving the order.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to the second expected cost being less than the first expected cost, selecting the second of the two or more fulfillment centers to fulfill the order; and

subsequent to selecting the second of the two or more fulfillment centers, causing the order to be fulfilled by the second of the two or more of fulfillment centers.

10. A system, comprising:

at least one processor; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor, wherein the memory stores program instructions, and wherein the program instructions are executable by the at least one processor to cause the system to;

determine a threshold value, wherein the threshold value is usable to determine whether a difference between costs of fulfilling an order for an item stored in a plurality of fulfillment centers with different ones of the plurality of fulfillment centers is within the threshold value, wherein a determination that the difference is within the threshold value results in a determination of a tie between the costs of fulfilling the order with the different ones of the plurality of fulfillment centers;

receive the order for the item stored in the plurality of fulfillment centers, wherein the received order specifies a delivery parameter;

determine that the difference between fulfillment costs of the different ones of the plurality of fulfillment centers is within the threshold value resulting in the determination of the tie between the fulfillment costs of the different ones of the plurality of fulfillment centers;

in response to the determination of the tie, determine expected costs of fulfilling a future order for the item corresponding to inventory positions that would result from fulfilling the order by different ones of the plurality of fulfillment centers; and

select a given one of the plurality of fulfillment centers to fulfill the received order based, at least in part, upon the expected costs.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the delivery parameter includes a delivery address, a delivery method, or a combination of delivery address with delivery method.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the threshold value is greater than zero.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the expected costs are based, at least in part, upon a probability of the future order, and wherein the future order is determined based, at least in part, upon historical ordering data.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the future order is expected to specify another delivery parameter for which the difference between the fulfillment costs of the different ones of the plurality of fulfillment centers is greater than the threshold value.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein to determine the expected costs, the program instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to retrieve the expected costs from a look-up table.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having program instructions stored thereon that, upon execution by a computer system, cause the computer system to:

determine a threshold value, wherein the threshold value is usable to determine whether a difference between costs of fulfilling an order for an item stored in a plurality of fulfillment centers with one of the plurality of fulfillment centers and a cost of fulfilling the order with another one of the plurality of fulfillment centers is within the threshold value, wherein a determination that the difference is within the threshold value results in a determination of a tie between the cost of fulfilling the order with the one fulfillment center and the cost of fulfilling the order with the other one fulfillment center;

receive an indication of the order for the item stocked in the plurality of fulfillment centers;

determine that the difference between the cost of fulfilling the order with the one fulfillment center and the cost of fulfilling the order with the other one fulfillment center is within the threshold value resulting in the determination of the tie between the cost of fulfilling the order with the one fulfillment center and the cost of fulfilling the order with the other one fulfillment center;

in response to the determination of the tie, determine expected costs corresponding to inventory positions that would result from fulfilling the order with the one and other one fulfillment centers; and

select a given one of the plurality of fulfillment centers to fulfill the order based, at least in part, upon the expected costs.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the order specifies a delivery address such that the difference between the cost of fulfilling the order from the one of the plurality of fulfillment centers and the cost of fulfilling the order from the other one of the plurality of fulfillment centers is within the threshold value.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the expected costs are based, at least in part, upon a probability of receiving a future order that specifies another delivery address such that the difference between a cost of fulfilling the future order from the one of the plurality of fulfillment centers and a cost of fulfilling the future order from the other one of the plurality of fulfillment centers would be larger than the threshold value.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the order specifies a combination of delivery address and shipping method such that the difference between the cost of fulfilling the order from the one of the plurality of fulfillment centers and the cost of fulfilling the order from the other one of the plurality of fulfillment centers is within the threshold value.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the expected costs are based, at least in part, upon a probability of receiving a future order that specifies another combination of delivery address and shipping method such that the difference between a cost of fulfilling the future order from the one of the plurality of fulfillment centers and a cost of fulfilling the future order from the other one of the plurality of fulfillment centers would be larger than the threshold value.