Automatically initiating product replenishment

• US 9,324,042 B2
• Filed: 01/25/2012
• Issued: 04/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Amazon.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Agarwal, Amit D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zeender, Ryan
• Assistant Examiner(s): BUCHANAN, CHRISTOPHER R
• Application Number:
  US13/358,464
• Publication Number:
  US 20120136741A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,553 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26.1, 705/22, 705/28
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

A facility for assessing product replenishment is described. The facility determines that a purchasing entity possesses an item, determines an expiration time for the item, and schedules, for a time preceding the expiration, a unilateral communication to the purchasing entity indicating that the item should be replenished. The facility can also manage automatic item replenishment, including determining a target date for replenishment of the item, transmitting to the purchaser in advance of the target date (when the purchaser is not engaged in an electronic shopping activity) a replenishment proposal, and ordering a replacement for the item. In some cases, the facility places an order within a predetermined tolerance of the target date without intervention by the consumer. The facility can also establish and test a condition for suggesting replenishment, can raise an event when the condition is satisfied, and can unilaterally make the replenishment suggestion when the event is raised.

Claims

1. A method in a data processing system for assessing item replenishment, comprising:

receiving, at a server computer system via the Internet, an electronic transmission from a purchasing entity, the received electronic transmission comprising an instruction to purchase a first item through an online item ordering facility;

accessing, in a memory unit of the server computer system, purchase history information mapped to the purchasing entity;

responsive to a determination, based on the purchase history information, that the purchasing entity purchased a second item, probabilistically determining, using one or more computer processors of the server computer system, that the purchasing entity follows a particular lifestyle preference;

determining a target replenishment time for the first item based on at least the lifestyle preference followed by the purchasing entity;

storing the target replenishment time in a replenish repository included in the memory unit; and

responsive to receiving a request for a web page via the Internet from a computing device, the request associated with the purchasing entity via a website cookie;

accessing the replenishment repository to determine that the first item should be replaced; and

transmitting the web page to the computing device, wherein the web page causes to be displayed on a display of the computing device a name of the first item and a user interface element that enables the purchasing entity to replenish the first item from the online item online item ordering facility by interacting with the user interface element.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an indication that the purchasing entity used the user interface element displayed on the web page to order an additional item to replenish the first item; and

in response solely to receiving the indication, ordering an additional item to replenish the first item.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface element is usable by the purchasing entity to request replenishment of the first item by performing a single action of selecting a control button.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the target replenishment time is determined further based on an expiration date of the first item and a rate at which the first item is consumed by a plurality of purchasing entities that have previously purchased the first item.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the target replenishment time is determined further based on a last date on which the first item was purchased by the purchasing entity and a quantity of the first item purchased on the last date.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the target replenishment time is determined further based on a rate at which the first item is consumed by the purchasing entity.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising computing the rate based on a historical frequency with which the purchasing entity has previously purchased a complement item to be used in conjunction with the first item.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the target replenishment time is determined further based on a date on which a new version of the first item will become available.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores instructions that, when executed by a computer processor, cause the computer processor to:

receive, at a server computer system via the Internet, an electronic transmission from a purchasing entity, the received electronic transmission comprising an instruction to purchase a first item through an online item ordering facility;

access, in a memory unit of the server computer system, purchase history information mapped to the purchasing entity;

responsive to a determination, based on the purchase history information, that the purchasing entity purchased a second item, probabilistically determine that the purchasing entity follows a particular lifestyle preference;

determine a target replenishment time for the first item based on at least the lifestyle preference followed by the purchasing entity;

store the target replenishment time in a replenish repository included in the memory unit; and

responsive to receiving a request for a web page via the Internet from a computing device, the computing device associated with the request via a website cookie;

access the replenishment repository to determine that the first item should be replaced; and

transmit the web page to the computing device, wherein the web page causes to be displayed on a display of the computing device a name of the first item and a user interface element that enables the purchasing entity to replenish the first item from the online item online item ordering facility by interacting with the user interface element.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions further cause the computer processor to:

receive an indication that the purchasing entity used the user interface displayed on the web page to order an additional item to replenish the first item; and

in response solely to receiving the indication, ordering an additional item to replenish the first item.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the target replenishment time is determined further based on an expiration date of the first item and a rate at which the first item is consumed by a plurality of purchasing entities that have previously purchased the first item.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the target replenishment time is determined further based on a last date on which the first item was purchased by the purchasing entity and a quantity of the first item purchased on the last date.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the target replenishment time is determined further based on a rate at which the first item is consumed by the purchasing entity.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to compute the rate based on a historical frequency with which the purchasing entity has previously purchased a complement item to be used in conjunction with the first item.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the target replenishment time is determined further based on a date on which a new version of the first item will become available.

16. A system for automatic item replenishment, comprising:

a computer processor executing;

an order history repository included in a first memory unit that stores a

a replenishment targeting subsystem that, for a first item purchased by a purchaser on a purchase date from an item ordering facility, probabilistically determines that the purchaser has a particular lifestyle preference based on the purchasing entity having purchased a second item after the first item, determines a target date for replenishment of the first item based on the determined preference, and stores the target date in a replenish repository included in a second memory unit;

a replenishment proposal subsystem that accesses the replenish repository, at a time preceding the target date, to determine that a replenishment suggestion is to be displayed to the purchaser, the replenishment suggestion indicating that the first item should be replaced, and transmits to a computing device associated with the purchaser in advance of the target date, a web page, wherein the web page causes to be displayed on a display of the computing device a name of the first item and a user interface element that enables the purchaser to replenish the first item from the online item online item ordering facility by interacting with the user interface element, wherein transmitting the web page is responsive to receiving a request for the web page via the Internet from the computing device, the computing device associated with the purchaser via a website cookie; and

a replenishment ordering subsystem that orders a replacement for the first item responsive to an interaction with the user interface element by the purchaser.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the target replenishment time is determined further based on an expiration date of the first item and a rate at which the first item is consumed by a plurality of purchasing entities that have previously purchased the first item.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the target replenishment time is determined further based on a last date on which the first item was purchased by the purchasing entity and a quantity of the first item purchased on the last date.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the target replenishment time is determined further based on a rate at which the first item is consumed by the purchasing entity.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the rate is computed based on a historical frequency with which the purchasing entity has previously purchased a complement item to be used in conjunction with the first item.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein the target replenishment time is determined further based on a date on which a new version of the first item will become available.