Personalized customer shopping experience

• US 9,053,508 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2013
• Issued: 06/09/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Adoni, Siddique M., Duby, Scott, Schwartz, Robyn R., Shanmugam, Dhandapani
• Primary Examiner(s): STOPP, COURTNEY L
• Application Number:
  US13/781,006
• Publication Number:
  US 20140201025A1
• Time in Patent Office: 831 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26.1, 705/27.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations

Abstract

A system and method that improves and enhances the customer'"'"'s in-store shopping experience. The consumer product of purchase interest or intent to buy expresses (or self-announces via technology) it'"'"'s match (or fit based on known or understood buying habits, customer taste, tendencies, etc) against the customer preferences during an in-store shopping experience.

Claims

1. A system for personalizing a customer'"'"'s in-store shopping experience, the store including a plurality of electronic products for in-store customer purchase, the system comprising:

a receiver device physically attached to a corresponding electronic product and configured for receiving data over a communications network,

a memory device;

a programmed processor device for coupling to said memory storage device and configured to;

detect, using wireless communications signals, a presence of a mobile phone device associated with a customer in the store;

determine, from the mobile phone device of the in-store customer, one or more of the in-store customer'"'"'s purchasing preferences, tastes and tendencies to purchase electronic products;

determine the in-store customer'"'"'s intent to purchase a particular electronic product at the store;

determine a match of the customer'"'"'s intended particular electronic product purchase with inventory of electronic products available while the customer is in-store;

communicate information regarding the in-store customer'"'"'s preferences and a current purchasing intent, over the communications network, for receipt at the receiver device attached to the matched particular electronic product, such that said matched particular electronic product acquires a temporal understanding of the product preferences of the in-store customer;

use said wireless communications signals to sense and track position of the mobile device associated with the in-store customer and detect a proximity of the in-store customer to the available particular electronic product within said store; and

responsive to detecting the mobile device associated with the in-store customer is within a threshold vicinity to said particular electronic product, cause, via an interface provided with said particular electronic product, presentation of an alert to said customer, said alert indicating a match or fit personalized to the customer'"'"'s intent or interest to purchase said particular product.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the programmed processor device is further configured to:

determine one or more matched products of the customer'"'"'s intended particular product purchase with said inventory of products available while the customer is in-store; and

organize those one or more “

matched”

products via a rank presentation order.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the programmed processor device is further configured to:

alert, by the system, to the in-store customer of any cross-selling and related items that can announce themselves to a in-store customer based on known or understood relevance to the customer'"'"'s needs.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the product performs:

informing the in-store customer about the particular electronic product being matched when the customer is in its vicinity.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein to cause a presentation to said customer indicating a match or fit personalized to the current customer'"'"'s intent or interest to purchase said particular product, the processor device is further configured to:

automatically initiate switching on said electronic product and automatically providing, via said electronic product, one or more of;

an audio message, a visual message, or audio-visual message greeting the in-store customer of the known preferences.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein to cause a presentation to said customer indicating a match or fit personalized to the current customer'"'"'s intent or interest to purchase said particular electronic product, the processor device is further configured to:

automatically activate one or a plurality of indicators on said electronic product to respond in a sequence to indicate the match of the known preferences.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein to cause a presentation to said customer indicating a match or fit personalized to the current customer'"'"'s intent or interest to purchase said particular product, the processor device is further configured to:

automatically switch on said electronic product and automatically provide, via said provided product interface, one or more of;

an audio greeting message, a visual greeting message, or audio-visual greeting message describing itself.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein to cause a presentation to said customer indicating a match or fit personalized to the current customer'"'"'s intent or interest to purchase said particular electronic product, the processor device is further configured to:

automatically switch on said electronic product and automatically providing, via said product interface, one or more of;

an audio greeting message, a visual greeting message, or audio-visual greeting message describing the product content based on known, or immediately requested preferences.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein to cause a presentation to said customer indicating a match or fit personalized to the current customer'"'"'s intent or interest to purchase said particular electronic product, the processor device is further configured to:

automatically activate the mobile device associated with the in-store customer to provide indication via the mobile device to the in-store customer about the match.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the indication provided to the in-store customer via the mobile device comprises:

a light indication, a vibration at a specific frequency, playback of an audio ring tone, or a combination thereof.

11. A computer program product for personalizing a customer'"'"'s in-store shopping experience, the store including a plurality of electronic products for in-store customer purchase, said computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage device, said device tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the computer for performing a method comprising:

detecting, using wireless communications signals, a presence of a mobile phone device associated with a customer in the store, the store providing a plurality of electronic products or appliances for in-store customer purchase, each electronic product or appliance having a receiver device physically attached thereto configured for receiving data over a communications network;

determining from the mobile phone device of the in-store customer, one or more of the in-store customer'"'"'s purchasing preferences, tastes and tendencies to purchase electronic products or appliances;

determining the in-store customer'"'"'s intent to purchase a particular electronic product or appliance at said store;

determining a match of the customer'"'"'s intended particular electronic product purchase with inventory of electronic products or appliances available while the customer is in-store;

communicating information regarding the in-store customer'"'"'s preferences and a current purchasing intent, over the communications network, for receipt at the receiver device attached to the matched particular electronic product or appliance, such that said matched particular electronic product or appliance acquires a temporal understanding of the product preferences of the in-store customer;

sensing and tracking, using said wireless communications signals, a position of the mobile device associated with the matched in-store customer;

detecting a proximity of the in-store customer to the available particular electronic product or appliance within said store; and

responsive to detecting the mobile device associated with the in-store customer is within a threshold vicinity to said particular electronic product or appliance, causing, via an interface provided with said particular electronic product or appliance, a presentation of an alert to said customer, said alert indicating a match or fit personalized to the customer'"'"'s intent or interest to purchase said particular electronic product or appliance.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

determining one or more matched products of the in-store customer'"'"'s intended particular product purchase with said inventory of products available while the customer is in-store; and

organizing those one or more “

matched”

products via a rank presentation order.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising:

alerting, via the interface provided with said electronic product or appliance, to the in-store customer of any cross-selling and related items that can announce themselves to the in-store customer based on known or understood relevance to the customer'"'"'s needs.

14. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the product performs:

informing the in-store customer about the particular electronic product or appliance being matched when the customer is in its vicinity.

15. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the causing the presentation of an alert to said customer comprises:

automatically switching on said electronic product or appliance and automatically providing, via said electronic product or appliance, one or more of;

an audio message, a visual message, or audio-visual message greeting the in-store customer of the known preferences, an audio greeting message, a visual greeting message, or audio-visual greeting message describing the product itself, or an audio-visual greeting message describing the product content based on known, or immediately requested preferences.

16. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the causing the presentation of an alert to said customer comprises:

automatically activating the mobile device associated with a customer to provide indication to the customer about the match.