Electronic commerce transactions within a marketing system that may contain a membership buying opportunity

• US 8,688,539 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2012
• Issued: 04/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Amway Corporation (Alticor Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Amway Corporation (Alticor Incorporated)
• Inventors: Bamborough, David L., Blodgett, James G., Dangl, William R., Horder-Koop, Robin A., Hunking, James P., McDonald, Kenneth J., Parker, John P., Savage, Kelly K., Zevalkink, Claire E., Paasche, Thomas D.
• Primary Examiner(s): ZURITA, JAMES H
• Application Number:
  US13/619,057
• Publication Number:
  US 20130013420A1
• Time in Patent Office: 564 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26.1, 705/27.1
• US Class Current: 705/26.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0214 Referral reward systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0231 Awarding of a frequent usage incentive independent of the monetary value of a good or service purchased, or distance travelled
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0235 constrained by time limit or expiration date
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0236 Incentive or reward received by requiring registration or ID from user
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0239 Online discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0258 Registration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0268 at point-of-sale [POS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0609 Buyer or seller confidence or verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a system and method for providing complete electronic commerce (“E-Commerce”) transactions and solutions for a marketing company'"'"'s products via the World Wide Web, including facilities for signing up new customers and recruiting, training and supporting new Independent Business Owners through an interactive online process. In another aspect, the present invention relates to the combination of a marketing business with a membership buying opportunity using both electronic commerce and face-to-face transactions. The present invention is also directed to a system and method for combining a marketing business with a membership buying opportunity, so that Independent Business Owners participating in the marketing plan can introduce customers to a membership buying opportunity and earn bonuses or commissions based on the purchases by those members, while Members in the buying opportunity can consume products or, at their option, qualify to become Independent Business Owners.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein data representing instructions executable by a programmed processor for compensating a member from a plurality of members for a customer purchase, the storage medium comprising instructions operative for:

receiving a request from a customer for a purchase, wherein the customer is not previously assigned to one of the members;

assigning one of the members with customer, wherein the assigning is based at least in part on a geographic proximity;

processing the request for the purchase, wherein the assignment is transparent for the processed purchase; and

compensating the assigned member for the processed purchase.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the received request is not from a member and the customer is not one of the members.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the member comprises a third party seller.

4. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the compensating is from a multi-level marketing organization that includes the members.

5. The computer readable medium of claim 4 wherein the members sell the organization'"'"'s products and receive compensation for those sales.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 4 wherein future purchases by the customer result in additional compensation for the assigned member.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein compensation comprises a volume credited to the assigned member based on an amount paid by the customer for the purchase.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the geographic proximity comprises a comparison of postal code for the customer with postal code for the member.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the geographic proximity comprises a comparison of zip code for the customer with zip code for the member.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the assigning further comprises identifying a group of members that satisfy at least one condition, including the geographic proximity and assigning the member from that group.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 10 wherein the at least one condition further comprises a type of membership or an amount of activity.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the assigned member does not know an identity of the customer when receiving compensation.