Computer system and method for community-based shipping

• US 8,554,694 B1
• Filed: 03/08/2006
• Issued: 10/08/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ward, Charles L., Nicholls, Nanyan, Bezos, Jeffrey P., Ravindran, Vijay
• Primary Examiner(s): BORISSOV, IGOR N
• Application Number:
  US11/370,579
• Time in Patent Office: 2,771 Days
• Field of Search: 705330-341, 705/26, 705/27, 705/22, 705/28, 705/30, 705/7, 705/1.1, 705 261- 272, 705/414, 705/417
• US Class Current: 705/330
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders

Abstract

Computer system and method for providing community-based shipping of items may provide mechanisms that allow customers of an network service to participate in a community shipping program that provides customers that are members in a community with free and/or reduced-rate shipping for at least some items ordered via the network service for delivery to a target location (e.g., receiving/distribution site) for the community. The Web site may provide user interface elements that may provide one or more shipping and possibly other options to customers that participate in a community shipping program. Community shipping programs may include commercial shipping programs and locality shipping programs. In a commercial shipping program, a primary subscriber purchases a subscription to a commercial shipping program and shares the subscription with one or more occupants of the commercial property. A locality shipping program may be provided to members of a particular geographic region or locality.

Claims

1. A system for implementing a community shipping program for members in communities, comprising:

one or more data storage devices; and

one or more servers configured to implement community shipping program logic configured to;

establish a plurality of distinct communities among a plurality of registered users of a web site through which a product distributor offers items for sale, wherein each community includes a distinct subset of the plurality of registered users of the web site that have been identified as members of the respective community;

receive over a network, input from a member of one of the plurality of distinct communities to establish a common final shipping destination for the respective community to which orders for all the members of the respective community are eligible to be delivered and picked up by the respective members at the common final shipping destination;

store data pertaining to the plurality of distinct communities to the one or more data storage devices, wherein the stored data pertaining to the one of the plurality of distinct communities includes the common final shipping destination for the respective community;

receive over the network, input from two or more different members in the respective community specifying a plurality of orders to be fulfilled and shipped by the product distributor in accordance with the community shipping program such that each of the plurality of orders will be shipped to the common final shipping destination for the respective community, wherein each of the plurality of orders specifies one or more items ordered by a different member of the respective community from the product distributor;

direct fulfillment of the plurality of orders at an order fulfillment center of the product distributor;

determine consolidation of the plurality of orders for shipment in accordance with the community shipping program and the data pertaining to the respective community;

direct the consolidation of the fulfilled plurality of orders at the order fulfillment center into a consolidated shipment for the common final shipping destination of the respective community instead of separate shipments for shipping addresses corresponding to the two or more different members, wherein the consolidated shipment includes the plurality of orders for the two or more different members to be shipped together to the common final shipping destination for the respective community; and

direct shipping of the consolidated shipment from the order fulfillment center to the common final shipping destination for the respective community in accordance with the community shipping program, wherein the consolidated shipment includes items ordered by the two or more different members of the respective community from the product distributor, wherein to direct shipping, said one or more servers are configured to direct delivery of the fulfilled plurality of orders for the two or more different members as a consolidated shipment from the order fulfillment center to the common final shipping destination to be available to be picked up by the respective different members at the common final shipping destination.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the community shipping program logic is further configured to:

receive input from a primary subscriber for a community to obtain a subscription to the community shipping program; and

receive input from the primary subscriber for the community specifying one or more of the plurality of members of the community with which the subscription is to be shared.

3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the community shipping program is a commercial shipping program, wherein at least one community is a business, and wherein the members of the at least one community are affiliated with the respective business.

4. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the community shipping program is a commercial shipping program, wherein at least one community is a commercial property, and wherein the members of the at least one community are occupants of the respective commercial property.

5. The system as recited in claim 4, wherein the community shipping program logic is further configured to:

receive input from a primary subscriber for a commercial property to obtain a subscription to the commercial shipping program; and

receive input from the primary subscriber for the commercial property specifying one or more occupants of the commercial property with which the subscription to the commercial shipping program is to be shared.

6. The system as recited in claim 4, wherein the at least one commercial property is a residential property, wherein the occupants are residents of units in the respective residential property.

7. The system as recited in claim 4, wherein the at least one commercial property is a business property, wherein the occupants are businesses located in the respective business property.

8. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein at least one community is a geographic region defined by a postal code, a partial postal code, or a combination of two or more postal codes.

9. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the community shipping program is a locality shipping program, wherein the plurality of communities are defined by geographic regions, and wherein the members of each community are occupants of a respective geographic region.

10. The system as recited in claim 9, wherein the geographic regions are defined by postal codes, partial postal codes, or a combination of two or more postal codes.

11. The system as recited in claim 9, wherein the community shipping program logic is further configured to determine the geographic regions as the communities to which the community shipping program is to be provided.

12. The system as recited in claim 11, wherein, to determine the geographic regions as the communities to which the community shipping program is to be provided, the community shipping program logic is further configured to analyze data including purchasing and personal information of occupants of the geographic regions stored on the one or more data storage devices.

13. The system as recited in claim 11, wherein, to determine the geographic regions as the communities to which the community shipping program is to be provided, the community shipping program logic is further configured to analyze data including one or more of:

supply chain information, order fulfillment information, inventory information, and information on shippers that deliver to the geographic regions.

14. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the community shipping program logic is further configured to determine the plurality of communities to which the community shipping program is to be provided.

15. The system as recited in claim 14, wherein, to determine the plurality of communities, the community shipping program logic is further configured to analyze data including purchasing and personal information of the members of the plurality of communities stored on the one or more data storage devices.

16. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the community shipping program logic is further configured to:

receive input from two or more users to form a community; and

provide the community shipping program to the user-formed community.

17. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the community shipping program logic is further configured to offer one or more incentives to members of a community to participate in the community shipping program.

18. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the community shipping program logic is further configured to offer one or more incentives to members of a community that participate in the community shipping program to recruit other members of the community to participate in the community shipping program.

19. The system as recited in claim 18, wherein the one or more incentives include reduced shipping charges for the members of the community under the community shipping program upon determining that the number of members in the community that participate in the community shipping program meets or exceeds a threshold.

20. The system as recited in claim 1,

wherein the community shipping program logic is further configured to provide one or more shipping options for each of at least some items offered to members in a community;

and

wherein, to direct the shipping of the consolidated plurality of orders, the community shipping program logic is further configured to direct the shipping of the consolidated orders to the common final shipping destination for the community in accordance with one of the shipping options provided by the community shipping program.

21. The system as recited in claim 20, wherein the one or more shipping options include at least one shipping option according to which consolidated orders are shipped to the common final shipping destination for the community at scheduled shipping times.

22. The system as recited in claim 20, wherein the one or more shipping options include at least one shipping option according to which a consolidated order is shipped to the common final shipping destination for the community when an order threshold for the community has been reached or exceeded.

23. The system as recited in claim 22, wherein the order threshold comprises one or more of:

number of orders, quantity of items ordered, price of items ordered, weight of items ordered, and volume of items ordered.

24. The system as recited in claim 20, wherein the one or more shipping options include at least one shipping option for which members in the community that participate in the community shipping program are not charged for shipping for said at least some items.

25. The system as recited in claim 20, wherein the one or more shipping options include at least one shipping option for which members in the community that participate in the community shipping program are charged at a lower rate for shipping than at least some other users are charged by said community shipping program logic for said at least some items.

26. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the community shipping program logic is further configured to:

receive over the network input identifying a user;

based on the input identifying the user, determine that the user is a member in a community and that the user has access to the community shipping program for the community; and

in response to determining that the user is a member in the community and that the user has access to the community shipping program for the community, display one or more shipping options provided under the community shipping program for each of at least some offered items.

27. The system as recited in claim 26, wherein, to display one or more shipping options provided under the community shipping program, the community shipping program logic is further configured to:

receive input from the user to access a user interface configured for accepting user orders of a particular item; and

determine that the particular item is one of the items for which the one or more shipping options are provided;

in response to determining that the particular item is one of the items for which the one or more shipping options are provided;

display one or more community shipping program user interface elements on the user interface, wherein the one or more community shipping program user interface elements are configured for selecting one of the shipping options provided under the community shipping program for the particular item; and

receive input from the user selecting one of the one or more shipping program user interface elements to specify one of the shipping options provided under the community shipping program for the particular item.

28. The system as recited in claim 27, wherein the community shipping program logic is further configured to display the one or more community shipping program user interface elements on said user interface only to users determined to be members in a community that have access to the community shipping program.

29. The system as recited in claim 27, wherein the one or more community shipping program user interface elements are single-action user interface elements to select the particular item and shipping option.

30. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the community shipping program logic is further configured to:

display one or more community shipping program invitation user interface elements to a member in a community that has access to the community shipping program, wherein the community shipping program invitation user interface elements are configured for receiving input to generate invitations for users to participate in the community shipping program with other users that are members in the community;

receive input from the member accessing the one or more subscription invitation user interface elements to invite a user specified by the member to participate in the community shipping program; and

send an invitation to the specified user to participate in the community shipping program.

31. The system as recited in claim 30, wherein the community shipping program logic is further configured to display the invitation as a single-action user interface element to participate in the community shipping program.

32. The system as recited in claim 30, wherein the community shipping program logic is further configured to receive input from the specified user to accept the invitation to participate in the community shipping program.

33. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the community shipping program logic is further configured to provide members in a community that participate in the community shipping program access to one or more services not offered to at least some other users.

34. The system as recited in claim 33, wherein the one or more services include one of:

expedited handling, the ability to return the purchased item at no charge, free gift wrapping, free engraving, or access to a digital copy of the item.

35. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the community shipping program logic is further configured to promote one or more particular items for sale to the plurality of members of a community.

36. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the community shipping program logic is further configured to:

perform a shipping cost calculation for one or more shipping options for shipping a particular item offered to a community to determine a cost-saving shipping option for the particular item; and

promote the particular item for sale to the plurality of members of the community to be shipped to the community according to the determined cost-saving shipping option.

37. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the community shipping program logic is further configured to determine a shipping cost for the consolidated plurality of orders from one or more metrics of the plurality of orders.

38. The system as recited in claim 37, wherein the one or more metrics include one or more of:

the type of items specified by the plurality of orders and quantity of items specified by the plurality of orders.

39. A method, comprising:

establishing, by a community shipping program executed by one or more processors, a plurality of distinct communities among a plurality of registered users of a web site through which a product distributor offers items for sale, wherein each community includes a distinct subset of the plurality of registered users of the web site that have been identified as members of the respective community;

receiving over a network, by the community shipping program executed by the one or more processors, input from a member of one of the plurality of distinct communities to establish a common final shipping destination for the respective community to which orders for all the members of the respective community are eligible to be delivered and picked up by the respective members at the common final shipping destination;

storing, by the community shipping program executed by the one or more processors, data pertaining to the plurality of distinct communities, wherein the stored data pertaining to the one of the plurality of distinct communities includes the common final shipping destination for the respective community;

receiving over the network, by the community shipping program executed by the one or more processors, input from two or more different members in the respective community specifying a plurality of orders to be fulfilled and shipped by the product distributor in accordance with the community shipping program such that each of the plurality of orders will be shipped to the common final shipping destination for the respective community, wherein each of the plurality of orders specifies one or more items ordered by a different member of the respective community from the product distributor;

directing, by the community shipping program executed by the one or more processors, fulfillment of the plurality of orders at an order fulfillment center of the product distributor;

determining, by the community shipping program executed by the one or more processors, consolidation of the plurality of orders for shipment in accordance with the community shipping program and the data pertaining to the respective community;

directing, by the community shipping program executed by the one or more processors, the consolidation of the fulfilled plurality of orders at the order fulfillment center into a consolidated shipment for the common final shipping destination of the respective community instead of separate shipments for shipping addresses corresponding to the two or more different members, wherein the consolidated shipment includes the plurality of orders for the two or more different members to be shipped together to the common final shipping destination for the respective community; and

directing, by the community shipping program executed by the one or more processors, shipping of the consolidated shipment from the order fulfillment center to the common final shipping destination for the respective community in accordance with the community shipping program, wherein the consolidated shipment includes items ordered by the two or more different members of the respective community from the product distributor, wherein said directing shipping of the consolidated shipment includes directing delivery of the fulfilled plurality of orders for the two or more different members as a consolidated shipment from the order fulfillment center to the common final shipping destination to be available to be picked up by the respective different members at the common final shipping destination.

40. The method as recited in claim 39, further comprising:

receiving input from a primary subscriber for a community to obtain a subscription to the community shipping program; and

receiving input from the primary subscriber for the community specifying one or more of the plurality of members of the community with which the subscription is to be shared.

41. The method as recited in claim 39, wherein the community shipping program is a commercial shipping program, wherein at least one community is a business, and wherein the members of the at least one community are affiliated with the respective business.

42. The method as recited in claim 39, wherein the community shipping program is a commercial shipping program, wherein at least one community is a commercial property, and wherein the members of the at least one community are occupants of the respective commercial property.

43. The method as recited in claim 42, further comprising:

receiving input from a primary subscriber for a commercial property to obtain a subscription to the commercial shipping program; and

providing access to the subscription to the commercial shipping program to one or more occupants of the commercial property.

44. The method as recited in claim 42, wherein the at least one commercial property is a residential property, wherein the occupants are residents of units in the respective residential property.

45. The method as recited in claim 42, wherein the at least one commercial property is a business property, wherein the occupants are businesses located in the respective business property.

46. The method as recited in claim 39, wherein at least one community is a geographic region defined by a postal code, a partial postal code, or a combination of two or more postal codes.

47. The method as recited in claim 39, wherein the community shipping program is a locality shipping program, wherein the plurality of communities are defined by geographic regions, and wherein the members of each community are occupants of a respective geographic region.

48. The method as recited in claim 47, wherein the geographic regions are defined by postal codes, partial postal codes, or a combination of two or more postal codes.

49. The method as recited in claim 47, further comprising determining the geographic regions as the communities to which the community shipping program is to be provided.

50. The method as recited in claim 49, wherein said determining the geographic regions as the communities to which the community shipping program is to be provided comprises analyzing purchasing and personal information of occupants of the geographic regions collected via the network.

51. The method as recited in claim 49, wherein said determining the geographic regions as the communities to which the community shipping program is to be provided comprises analyzing information including one or more of:

supply chain information, order fulfillment information, inventory information, and information on shippers that deliver to the geographic regions.

52. The method as recited in claim 39, further comprising determining the plurality of communities to which the community shipping program is to be provided, wherein said determining the plurality of communities comprises analyzing purchasing and personal information of the members of the communities collected via the network.

53. The method as recited in claim 39, further comprising determining the plurality of communities to which the community shipping program is to be provided, wherein said determining the plurality of communities comprises analyzing information including one or more of:

supply chain information, order fulfillment information, inventory information, and information on shippers that deliver to the plurality of communities.

54. The method as recited in claim 39, further comprising:

forming a community in response to input from two or more users of network service; and

providing the community shipping program via the network service to the two or more users.

55. The method as recited in claim 39, further comprising offering one or more incentives to members of a community to participate in the community shipping program.

56. The method as recited in claim 39, further comprising offering one or more incentives to members of a community that participate in the community shipping program to recruit other members of the community to participate in the community shipping program.

57. The method as recited in claim 56, wherein the one or more incentives include reduced shipping charges for the members of the community under the community shipping program upon determining that the number of members in the community that participate in the community shipping program meets or exceeds a threshold.

58. The method as recited in claim 39, wherein said shipping the consolidated orders to the common final shipping destination for the community comprises shipping the consolidated orders to the common final shipping destination for the community in accordance with one or more shipping options provided by the community shipping program for at least some items.

59. The method as recited in claim 58, wherein the one or more shipping options include at least one shipping option according to which consolidated orders are shipped to the common final shipping destination for the community at scheduled shipping times.

60. The method as recited in claim 58, wherein the one or more shipping options include at least one shipping option according to which a consolidated order is shipped to the common final shipping destination for the community when an order threshold for the community has been reached or exceeded.

61. The method as recited in claim 60, wherein the order threshold comprises one or more of:

number of orders, quantity of items ordered, price of items ordered, weight of items ordered, and volume of items ordered.

62. The method as recited in claim 58, wherein the one or more shipping options include at least one shipping option for which members in the community that participate in the community shipping program are not charged for shipping for said at least some items.

63. The method as recited in claim 58, wherein the one or more shipping options include at least one shipping option for which members in the community that participate in the community shipping program are charged at a lower rate for shipping than at least some other users are charged for said at least some items.

64. The method as recited in claim 39, further comprising:

receiving over the network input identifying a user;

based on the input identifying the user, determining that the user is a member in a community and that the user has access to the community shipping program for the community; and

in response to determining that the user is a member in the community and that the user has access to the community shipping program for the community, displaying one or more shipping options provided under the community shipping program for each of at least some offered items.

65. The method as recited in claim 64, wherein said displaying one or more shipping options provided under the community shipping program comprises:

receiving input from the user to access a user interface configured for accepting user orders of a particular item; and

determining that the particular item is one of the items for which the one or more shipping options under the community shipping program are provided;

in response to determining that the particular item is one of the items for which the one or more shipping options are provided;

displaying one or more community shipping program user interface elements on the user interface, wherein the one or more community shipping program user interface elements are configured for selecting one of the shipping options provided under the community shipping program for the particular item; and

receiving input from the user selecting one of the one or more shipping program user interface elements to specify one of the one or more shipping options provided under the community shipping program for the particular item.

66. The method as recited in claim 65, wherein the one or more community shipping program user interface elements are displayed on said user interface only to users determined to be members in a community that have access to the community shipping program.

67. The method as recited in claim 39, further comprising:

displaying one or more community shipping program invitation user interface elements to a member in a community that has access to the community shipping program, wherein the one or more user interface elements are configured for receiving input to generate invitations for users to participate in the community shipping program with other users that are members in the community;

receiving input from the member accessing the one or more user interface elements to invite a specified user to participate in the community shipping program; and

sending an invitation to the specified user to participate in the community shipping program.

68. The method as recited in claim 67, further comprising receiving input from the specified user to accept the invitation to participate in the community shipping program.

69. The method as recited in claim 39, further comprising providing members in a community that participate in the community shipping program access to one or more services offered via a network interface, wherein the one or more services are not offered to at least some other users of the network interface.

70. The method as recited in claim 69, wherein the one or more services include one of:

expedited handling, the ability to return the purchased item at no charge, free gift wrapping, free engraving, or access to a digital copy of the item.

71. The method as recited in claim 39, wherein consolidating the two or more fulfilled orders for shipment comprises packing the two or more fulfilled orders in one container at an order fulfillment center for shipment.

72. The method as recited in claim 39, further comprising distributing the orders to the members of the community that specified the orders from the common final shipping destination, wherein said distributing comprises instructing a delivery service to further deliver the orders to the members of the community.

73. The method as recited in claim 39, further comprising distributing the orders to the members of the community that specified the orders from the common final shipping destination, wherein said distributing comprises instructing the members of the community to pick up their respective orders from the common final shipping destination.

74. The method as recited in claim 39, further comprising promoting one or more particular items for sale to the members of a community through a network interface.

75. The method as recited in claim 39, further comprising:

performing a shipping cost calculation for one or more shipping options for shipping a particular item offered via a network interface to a community to determine a cost-saving shipping option for the particular item; and

promoting the particular item for sale to the plurality of members of the community through the network interface to be shipped to the community according to the determined cost-saving shipping option.

76. The method as recited in claim 39, further comprising determining a shipping cost for the consolidated plurality of orders from one or more metrics of the plurality of orders.

77. The method as recited in claim 76, wherein the one or more metrics include one or more of:

the type of items specified by the plurality of orders and quantity of items specified by the plurality of orders.

78. A non-transitory computer-accessible storage medium comprising program instructions, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to implement a method for implementing a community shipping program for members in communities, wherein the method comprises:

establishing a plurality of distinct communities among a plurality of registered users of a web site through which a product distributor offers items for sale, wherein each community includes a distinct subset of the plurality of registered users of the web site that have been identified as members of the respective community;

receiving over a network input from a member of one of the plurality of distinct communities to establish a common final shipping destination for the respective community to which orders for all the members of the respective community are eligible to be delivered and picked up by the respective members at the common final shipping destination;

storing data pertaining to the plurality of distinct communities, wherein the stored data pertaining to the one of the plurality of distinct communities includes the common final shipping destination for the respective community;

receiving over the network input from two or more different members in the respective community specifying a plurality of orders to be fulfilled and shipped by the product distributor in accordance with the community shipping program such that each of the plurality of orders will be shipped to the common final shipping destination for the respective community, wherein each of the plurality of orders specifies one or more items ordered by a different member of the respective community from the product distributor;

directing fulfillment of the plurality of orders at an order fulfillment center of the product distributor;

determining consolidation of the plurality of orders for shipment in accordance with the community shipping program and the data pertaining to the respective community;

directing the consolidation of the fulfilled plurality of orders at the order fulfillment center into a consolidated shipment for the common final shipping destination of the respective community instead of separate shipments for shipping addresses corresponding to the two or more different members, wherein the consolidated shipment includes the plurality of orders for the two or more different members to be shipped together to the common final shipping destination for the respective community; and

directing shipping of the consolidated shipment from the order fulfillment center to the common final shipping destination for the respective community in accordance with the community shipping program, wherein the consolidated shipment includes items ordered by the two or more different members of the respective community from the product distributor, wherein said directing shipping of the consolidated shipment includes directing delivery of the fulfilled plurality of orders for the two or more different members as a consolidated shipment from the order fulfillment center to the common final shipping destination to be available to be picked up by the respective different members at the common final shipping destination.

79. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 78, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to further implement:

receiving input from a primary subscriber for a community to obtain a subscription to the community shipping program; and

receiving input from the primary subscriber for the community specifying one or more of the plurality of members of the community with which the subscription is to be shared.

80. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 78, wherein the community shipping program is a commercial shipping program, wherein at least one community is a business, and wherein the members of the at least one community are affiliated with the respective business.

81. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 78, wherein at least one community shipping program is a commercial shipping program, wherein the community is a commercial property, and wherein the members of the at least one community are occupants of the respective commercial property.

82. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 81, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to further implement:

receiving input from a primary subscriber for a commercial property to obtain a subscription to the commercial shipping program; and

receiving input from the primary subscriber for the commercial property specifying one or more v occupants of the commercial property with which the subscription to the commercial shipping program is to be shared.

83. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 81, wherein the at least one commercial property is a residential property, wherein the occupants are residents of units in the respective residential property.

84. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 81, wherein the at least one commercial property is a business property, wherein the occupants are businesses located in the respective business property.

85. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 78, wherein at least one community is a geographic region defined by a postal code, a partial postal code, or a combination of two or more postal codes.

86. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 78, wherein the community shipping program is a locality shipping program, wherein the plurality of communities are defined by geographic regions, and wherein the members of each community are occupants of a respective geographic region.

87. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 86, wherein the geographic regions are defined by postal codes, partial postal codes, or a combination of two or more postal codes.

88. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 86, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to further implement determining the geographic regions as the communities to which the community shipping program is to be provided.

89. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 88, wherein said determining the geographic regions as the communities to which the community shipping program is to be provided comprises analyzing purchasing and personal information of occupants of the geographic regions collected via the network.

90. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 88, wherein said determining the geographic regions as the communities to which the community shipping program is to be provided comprises analyzing information including one or more of:

supply chain information, order fulfillment information, inventory information, and information on shippers that deliver to the geographic regions.

91. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 78, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to further implement determining the plurality of communities to which the community shipping program is to be provided.

92. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 91, wherein said determining the plurality of communities comprises analyzing purchasing and personal information of the members of the communities collected via the network.

93. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 78, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to further implement:

receiving input from two or more users to form a community; and

providing the community shipping program to the user-formed community.

94. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 78, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to further implement offering one or more incentives to members of a community to participate in the community shipping program.

95. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 78, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to further implement offering one or more incentives to members of a community that participate in the community shipping program to recruit other members of the community to participate in the community shipping program.

96. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 95, wherein the one or more incentives include reduced shipping charges for the members of the community under the community shipping program upon determining that the number of members in the community that participate in the community shipping program meets or exceeds a threshold.

97. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 78,

wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to further implement providing one or more shipping options for each of at least some items offered to members in a community;

and

wherein, in said directing the shipping, the program instructions are computer-executable to further implement directing the shipping of the consolidated orders to the common final shipping destination for the community in accordance with one of the one or more shipping options provided by the community shipping program.

98. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 97, wherein the one or more shipping options include at least one shipping option according to which consolidated orders are shipped to the common final shipping destination for the community at scheduled shipping times.

99. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 97, wherein the one or more shipping options include at least one shipping option according to which a consolidated order is shipped to the common final shipping destination for the community when an order threshold for the community has been reached or exceeded.

100. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 99, wherein the order threshold comprises one or more of:

number of orders, quantity of items ordered, price of items ordered, weight of items ordered, and volume of items ordered.

101. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 97, wherein the one or more shipping options include at least one shipping option for which members in the community that participate in the community shipping program are not charged for shipping for said at least some items.

102. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 97, wherein the one or more shipping options include at least one shipping option for which members in the community that participate in the community shipping program are charged at a lower rate for shipping than at least some other users are charged for said at least some items.

103. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 78, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to further implement:

receiving over the network input identifying a user;

based on the input identifying the user, determining that the user is a member in a community and that the user has access to the community shipping program for the community; and

in response to determining that the user is a member in the community and that the user has access to the community shipping program for the community, displaying one or more shipping options provided under the community shipping program for each of at least some offered items.

104. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 103, wherein said displaying one or more shipping options comprises:

receiving input from the user to access a user interface configured for accepting user orders of a particular item; and

determining that the particular item is one of the items for which the one or more shipping options under the community shipping program are provided;

in response to determining that the particular item is one of the items for which the one or more shipping options are provided;

displaying one or more community shipping program user interface elements on the user interface, wherein the one or more community shipping program user interface elements are configured for selecting one of the shipping options provided under the community shipping program for the particular item; and

receiving input from the user selecting one of the one or more shipping program user interface elements to specify one of the shipping options provided under the community shipping program for the particular item.

105. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 104, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to further implement displaying the one or more community shipping program user interface elements on said user interface only to users determined to be members in a community that have access to the community shipping program.

106. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 78, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to further implement:

displaying one or more community shipping program invitation user interface elements to a member in a community that has access to the community shipping program, wherein the one or more user interface elements are configured for receiving input to generate invitations for users to participate in the community shipping program with other users that are members in the community;

receiving input from the member accessing the one or more user interface elements to invite a specified user to participate in the community shipping program; and

sending an invitation to the specified user to participate in the community shipping program.

107. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 106, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to further implement receiving input from the specified user to accept the invitation to participate in the community shipping program.

108. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 78, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to further implement providing members in a community that participate in the community shipping program access to one or more services offered via a network interface, wherein the one or more services are not offered to at least some other users of the network interface.

109. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 108, wherein the one or more services include one of:

expedited handling, the ability to return the purchased item at no charge, free gift wrapping, free engraving, or access to a digital copy of the item.

110. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 78, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to further implement promoting one or more particular items for sale to the members of a community through a network user interface.

111. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 78, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to further implement:

performing a shipping cost calculation for one or more shipping options for shipping a particular item offered to community to determine a cost-saving shipping option for the particular item; and

promoting the particular item for sale to the plurality of members of the community through a network user interface to be shipped to the community according to the determined cost-saving shipping option.

112. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 78, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to further implement determining a shipping cost for the consolidated plurality of orders from one or more metrics of the plurality of orders.

113. The non-transitory computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 112, wherein the one or more metrics include one or more of:

the type of items specified by the plurality of orders and total quantity of items specified by the plurality of orders.