Method, system and program product for distribution of feedback among customers in real-time

• US 8,527,307 B2
• Filed: 10/24/2007
• Issued: 09/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hamilton, Rick A. II, Huie, William J., Li, Jenny S., Pickover, Clifford A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dixon, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Fields, Benjamin S
• Application Number:
  US11/923,302
• Publication Number:
  US 20090112683A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,141 Days
• Field of Search: 705/10, 705/7.42, 705/7.11
• US Class Current: 705/7.11
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products

Abstract

A method, system and program product for providing distribution of customer feedback pertaining to an aspect of a retail environment. The method includes creating either a text, an audio or visual tag for inputting into a tool, feedback from customers using a plurality of devices, the tag including either a product-related or a location-related tag that can be used to extrapolate on the feedback. The method further includes identifying respective locations of customers, collecting in real-time the feedback inputted by the customers and providing a user, a customer that has provided feedback or not, access to the feedback collected based on either an inquiry submitted to the tool by the user or based on a current location of the user identified by the tool. The method further includes retrieving in real-time a subset of the feedback collected based on either the inquiry submitted or the current location of the user.

Claims

1. A method for providing distribution of customer feedback in a retail environment, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving, into a tool, feedback inputted by one or more customers using a plurality of portable devices that are configured to communicate with said tool, said feedback inputted pertaining to one or more aspects of a retail environment;

identifying, using said plurality of portable devices that are configured to communicate with said tool, respective locations of said one or more customers by continuously tracking, in real-time, movement of said plurality of portable devices;

collecting, using said tool, said feedback inputted by said one or more customers pertaining to said one or more aspects of said retail environment, wherein said feedback comprises a respective first tag for inputting a respective feedback into said tool, said respective first tag being configured to extrapolate on said respective feedback inputted, wherein said respective first tag comprises at least one of;

an image tag, an audio tag and a textual tag, and wherein said respective first tag comprises at least one of;

a product-related tag and a location-related tag;

determining whether said feedback inputted pertains to either a product or a location within said retail environment;

adding, by said tool, based on said determining in order to facilitate retrieval of said feedback collected, one or more additional tags to said feedback inputted by said one or more customers pertaining to said one or more aspects of said retail environment, wherein said one or more additional tags are extrapolated from said respective first tag in order to facilitate retrieval of said feedback inputted;

providing a user access to said feedback collected, including said one or more additional tags extrapolated from said respective first tag based on either an inquiry submitted to said tool by said user or based on a current location of said user identified by said tool, wherein said user comprises at least one of;

a customer of said one or more customers that has inputted said feedback and a customer, other than said one or more customers, that has not inputted said feedback, and wherein access by the user to said one or more additional tags extrapolated from said respective first tag is determined based on a preference of the user to specify an amount and degree to which the one or more additional extrapolated tags are retrieved and provided to the user; and

presenting said user with additional information besides said feedback collected based on either said inquiry submitted to said tool by said user or based on said current location of said user identified by said tool.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said identifying step further comprises the step of:

tracking, using said tool, a respective location of said user for identifying a respective location of said user.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein said collecting step further comprises the step of:

recording said feedback inputted by said one or more customers pertaining to said one or more aspects of said retail environment in real-time.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said providing step further comprises the step of:

retrieving in real-time a subset of said feedback collected based on either said inquiry submitted to said tool by said user or based on said current location of said user identified by said tool.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein said one or more aspects of said retail environment comprises at least one of:

product, service, store operation, recommendation, review, overall shopping experience and miscellaneous.

6. A system for providing distribution of customer feedback in real-time, comprising:

a network communications channel;

one or more servers connected to said network communications channel and to a trans-retail establishment server connected to said network communications channel, each of said one or more servers corresponding to one or more retail establishments, each of said one or more servers having deployed thereon a tool for distributing feedback received in real-time from one or more customers of said one or more retail establishments, said tool comprising;

a location tracking module configured to detect a location of a customer of said one or more customers providing feedback for an aspect of a retail establishment of said one or more retail establishments by continuously tracking, in real-time, movement of a portable device operated by said customer of said one or more customers within said retail establishment of said one or more retail establishments, said portable device configured to communicate with said tool;

an item identifier module configured to identify one or more products in said one or more retail establishments;

a collection module configured to;

collect in real-time, utilizing said location tracking module and said item identifier module, said feedback received in real-time from said one or more customers for said aspect of said retail establishment of said one or more retail establishments, wherein said aspect of said retail establishment of said one or more retail establishments comprises at least one of;

product, service, store operation, recommendation, review, overall shopping experience and miscellaneous, wherein said feedback is collected using at least one tag, said tag comprising at least one of;

a text tag, an audio tag and a visual tag, and wherein said tag comprises at least one of;

product-related data and location-related data;

determine whether said feedback inputted pertains to either a product or a location within said retail environment;

allow a user access to said feedback collected, and wherein said user comprises at least one of;

a customer of said one or more customers that has inputted said feedback and a customer, other than said one or more customers, that has not inputted said feedback; and

an update module configured to update said feedback collected and stored within said storage module by adding, based on said determining in order to facilitate retrieval of said feedback collected, one or more additional tags to said feedback inputted by said one or more customers pertaining to said one or more aspects of said retail environment, wherein said one or more additional tags are extrapolated from said at least one tag in order to facilitate retrieval of said feedback inputted,

wherein said collection module is further configured to allow a user access to said one or more additional tags, extrapolated from said at least one tag, and additional information, based on either an inquiry submitted to said tool by said user or based on a current location of said user identified by said tool, and wherein access by the user to said one or more additional tags extrapolated from said respective first tag is determined based on a preference of said user to specify an amount and degree to which the one or more additional extrapolated tags are retrieved and provided to the user.

7. The system according to claim 6, further comprising:

one or more clients connected to said network communications channel, said one or more clients being configured to allow input of said feedback for said aspect of said retail establishment of said one or more retail establishments, said one or more clients being configured to send inquiries from said user with respect to said one or more retail establishments;

said one or more clients being configured to communicate to a server of said one or more servers a respective location of said user.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein said trans-retail establishment server has deployed thereon said tool for enabling real-time distribution of said feedback collected to said user of said one or more retail establishments and to additional users of other retail establishments different than said one or more retail establishments, and wherein said additional users comprise at least one of:

customers that have inputted said feedback and customers that have not inputted said feedback collected.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein each of said one or more servers and said trans-retail establishment server further comprises:

an input module configured to receive input of said feedback into said tool;

a storage module configured to store said feedback collected; and

a retrieval module configured to access and retrieve said feedback collected and stored in said storage module.

10. A computer program product for distributing retail information in a retail environment, said computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable medium;

first program instructions to collect feedback pertaining to one or more aspects of a retail environment inputted by one or more customers using a plurality of portable devices, said first program instructions including instructions to determine whether said feedback inputted pertains to either a product or a location within said retail environment, and wherein said first program instructions further include instructions to receive a tag corresponding to said feedback inputted, said tag comprising at least one of;

an image tag, an audio tag and a text tag, and wherein said first program instructions further include instructions to create, based on said determining in order to facilitate retrieval of said feedback collected, additional tags extrapolated from said tag corresponding to said feedback inputted in order to facilitate retrieval of said feedback collected;

second program instructions to identify respective locations of said one or more customers by continuously tracking, in real-time, movement of said plurality of portable devices, and to identify one or more products in said retail environment;

third program instructions to search said feedback collected based on either an inquiry submitted by said user or based on a current location of said user identified, wherein said user comprises at least one of;

a customer of said one or more customers that has inputted said feedback and a customer other than said one or more customers that has not inputted said feedback, and wherein said first, second and third program instructions are recorded on said computer recordable medium;

fourth program instructions to retrieve a subset of said additional tags extrapolated from said tag corresponding to said feedback inputted corresponding to a subset of said feedback collected based on either said inquiry submitted by said user or based on said current location identified, wherein retrieval of said subset of said additional tags extrapolated from said tag corresponding to said feedback inputted corresponding to a subset of said feedback is determined based on a preference of said user to specify an amount and degree to which the one or more additional extrapolated tags are retrieved and provided to the user, and wherein said fourth program instructions are recorded on said computer recordable medium; and

fifth program instructions to present said user with additional information besides said feedback collected based on either said inquiry submitted to said tool by said user or based on said current location of said user identified by said tool.

11. The computer program product according to claim 10, wherein said first program instructions include instructions to collect said feedback in real-time.

12. The computer program product according to claim 11, wherein said third program instructions include instructions to search additional retail information besides said feedback collected and to retrieve a subset of said additional retail information searched based on either said inquiry submitted by said user or based on a current location of said user identified.

13. The computer program product according to claim 12, wherein said fourth program instructions include instructions to retrieve said feedback in real-time, wherein said one or more aspects of said retail environment comprises at least one of:

product, service, store operation, recommendation, review, overall shopping experience and miscellaneous, and wherein said tag comprises at least one of;

product-related data and location-related data.

14. A process for deploying computing infrastructure comprising integrating computer-readable code into a computing system, wherein said code in combination with said computing system is capable of performing a process of distributing customer feedback in a retail environment, said process comprising:

creating a tag corresponding to feedback to be inputted into a tool, said tag being configured to extrapolate on said feedback, wherein said tag comprises at least one of;

an image tag, an audio tag and a textual tag, and wherein said tag comprises at least one of;

a product-related tag and a location-related tag;

collecting by said tool in real-time said feedback inputted by one or more customers using a plurality of portable devices that are configured to communicate with said tool, said feedback inputted pertaining to one or more aspects of a retail environment, wherein the collecting further comprises determining whether said feedback inputted pertains to either a product or a location within said retail environment, and wherein the collecting further comprises adding, by said tool, based on said determining in order to facilitate retrieval of said feedback collected, one or more additional tags to said feedback collected based on said tag corresponding to said feedback inputted in order to facilitate retrieval of said feedback collected, and wherein said aspect of said retail environment comprises at least one of;

product, service, store operation, recommendation, review, overall shopping experience and miscellaneous;

identifying, using said plurality of portable devices that are configured to communicate with said tool, respective locations of said one or more customers by continuously tracking, in real-time, movement of said plurality of portable devices, and identifying one or more products in said retail environment;

storing by said tool said feedback collected from said one or more customers;

providing a user access to said feedback stored based on either an inquiry submitted to said tool by said user or based on a current location of said user identified by said tool;

retrieving in real-time by said tool a subset of said one or more additional tags corresponding to said feedback collected based on either said inquiry submitted to said tool by said user or based on a current location of said user identified by said tool, wherein said user comprises at least one of;

a customer of said one or more customers that has inputted said feedback and a customer other than said one or more customers that has not inputted said feedback, and wherein retrieval of said subset of said one or more additional tags corresponding to said subset of said feedback is determined based on a preference of said user to specify an amount and degree to which the one or more additional tags are retrieved and provided to the user; and

presenting said user with additional information besides said feedback collected based on either said inquiry submitted to said tool by said user or based on said current location of said user identified by said tool.

15. The process according to claim 14, wherein said collecting step further comprises the steps of:

identifying whether said feedback inputted pertains to either a product or a location within said retail environment.