Dynamic mobile seller routing

• US 9,152,971 B2
• Filed: 09/26/2012
• Issued: 10/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Akin, Jeremiah Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): Koneru, Sujay
• Application Number:
  US13/627,353
• Publication Number:
  US 20140089050A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,105 Days
• Field of Search: 705 711- 742
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/13 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for combining historic data with geospatial data to help mobile sellers enhance their profits. Data can be collected, stored, and analyzed, such as via a server, to help mobile sellers select new locations for selling their products. For example, information regarding the sales of a plurality of other mobile sellers can be collected, stored, and analyzed to help the mobile sellers decide which one of a plurality of different candidate locations should be selected as the next location where the mobile sellers should sell products.

Claims

1. A computer system for dynamically routing a mobile sales operation, comprising:

a computing device associated with the mobile sales operation;

a global positioning system (GPS) device to navigate the mobile sales operation;

a memory; and

one or more processors in communication with the memory to;

receive, from the computing device associated with the mobile sales operation, a request to provide location recommendations for each of a plurality of available routes to the mobile sales operation, the request comprising GPS coordinates of the mobile sales operation provided by the GPS device;

analyze analytic data comprising sales of one or more mobile competitors of the mobile sales operation in view of a location based on the GPS coordinates of the mobile sales operation to determine the location recommendations for the available routes;

determine the location recommendations for the available routes, at least in part, based on the sales of the one or more mobile competitors in view of the location based on the GPS coordinates of the mobile sales operation;

send a first communication comprising the location recommendations for the available routes to the computing device of the mobile sales operation; and

send, by the one or more processors, a second communication comprising GPS coordinates of at least one updated location recommendation for one of the available routes to the computing device of the mobile sales operation in response to detecting movement of at least one of the mobile competitors.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the analytic data further comprises historic sales data and map data that are used in combination to determine the new location recommendations for the available routes.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein first communication further comprises total travel time and total on-location time for each of the available routes.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the determining of the location recommendations for the available routes is further based on a predefined assumption of profit.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the available routes is determined, at least in part, based on respective driving conditions on the route.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the available routes comprise a primary route and at least one alternative route.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the analytic data further comprises data from at least one data source selected from the group consisting of:

a payment provider database;

an online sales database;

a credit database;

a home ownership database;

a population database;

an income distribution database;

a consumer database;

a demographic database;

a tax database;

a census database;

a marketing database; and

an interne search engine.

8. A computer-implemented method for dynamically routing a mobile sales operation, comprising:

receiving, from a computing device associated with the mobile sales operation, a request to provide location recommendations for each of a plurality of available routes to the mobile sales operation, the request comprising global positioning system (GPS) coordinates from a GPS device associated with the mobile sales operation;

analyzing, by a computer system, analytic data comprising sales of one or more mobile competitors of the mobile sales operation in view of a location based on the GPS coordinates of the mobile sales operation to determine the location recommendations for the available routes;

determining, by the computer system, the location recommendations for the available routes, at least in part, based on the sales of the one or more mobile competitors in view of the location based on the GPS coordinates of the mobile sales operation;

sending, by the computer system, a first communication comprising the location recommendations for the available routes to the computing device associated with the mobile sales operation; and

sending, by the computer system, a second communication comprising GPS coordinates of at least one updated location recommendation for one of the available routes to the computing device of the mobile sales operation in response to detecting movement of at least one of the mobile competitors.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein determining the location recommendations for the available routes is also at least in part based on a cost to relocate the mobile sales operation between the locations along each respective available route.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the sales of the one or more mobile competitors is provided by a payment processing server.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the analytic data further comprises historic sales data of the mobile sales operation.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the second communication further comprises an updated total travel time and an updated total on-location time for each updated available route having at least one updated location recommendation.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the analytic data comprises sales of a combination of at least one mobile seller other than the mobile sales operation and at least one other fixed location vendor.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the analytic data includes data from at least one data source selected from the group consisting of:

a payment provider database;

an online sales database;

a credit database;

a home ownership database;

a population database;

an income distribution database;

a consumer database;

a demographic database;

a tax database;

a census database;

a marketing database; and

an internet search engine.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions, that when executed by one or more processors of a computing device, cause the one or more processors to:

receive, from a computer system associated with a mobile sales operation, a request to provide location recommendations for each of a plurality of available routes to the mobile sales operation, the request comprising global positioning system (GPS) coordinates of the mobile sales operation from a GPS device associated with the mobile sales operation;

analyze, by the computing device, analytic data comprising sales of one or more mobile competitors of the mobile sales operation in view of a location based on the GPS coordinates of the mobile sales operation to determine the location recommendations for the available routes;

determine, by the computing device, the location recommendations for the available routes, at least in part, based on the sales of the one or more mobile competitors in view of the location based on the GPS coordinates of the mobile sales operation;

send, by the computing device, a first communication comprising the location recommendations for the available routes to the computer system associated with the mobile sales operation; and

send, by the computing device, a second communication comprising GPS coordinates of at least one updated location recommendation for one of the available routes to the computing device associated with the mobile sales operation in response to detecting movement of at least one of the mobile competitors.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the available routes comprise a primary route and at least one alternative route.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the sales of the one or more competitors is provided by an online marketplace server.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the analytic data further comprises historic sales data of the mobile sales operation.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the second communication further comprises an updated total travel time and an updated total on-location time for each updated available route having at least one updated location recommendation.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the analytic data further comprises historic sales data of at least one other vendor having both a fixed location and a mobile sales presence.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the analytic data includes data from at least one data source selected from the group consisting of:

a payment provider database;

an online sales database;

a credit database;

a home ownership database;

a population database;

an income distribution database;

a consumer database;

a demographic database;

a tax database;

a census database;

a marketing database; and

an internet search engine.