Retail website user interface, systems and methods

• US 9,846,904 B2
• Filed: 12/26/2013
• Issued: 12/19/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Target Brands Inc. (Target Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Target Brands Inc. (Target Corporation)
• Inventors: Alcott, Jennifer, Weber, Chad, Stromquist, Peter, Dingman, Josh, Stenzinger, Robert, Netland, Nicole, Roux, Thibault
• Primary Examiner(s): MISIASZEK, AMBER ALTSCHUL
• Application Number:
  US14/140,901
• Publication Number:
  US 20150186985A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,454 Days
• Field of Search: 705 711- 742
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers

Abstract

A website that presents a user interface that displays images of products to a user. The product images that are displayed are of products that are recently trending or popular as determined by data derived from one or more sources. Each product image is displayed without the price of the respective product and without text naming, describing or identifying the respective product. Therefore, the user interface is constructed to focus on the trending products themselves so that the user interface is clean and uncluttered, allowing customers to focus on the trending products for possible purchase.

Claims

1. A system comprising a graphical user interface (GUI) displayable on a display device, the GUI including:

a plurality of display states that are each displayable on the display device;

for each of the display states, a plurality of product images are displayable on the display device, each product image being of a product that is determined to be trending within the past seven days or less prior to being displayed, wherein determining whether the product is trending includes information from one or more social networks;

in a first one of the display states, one or more of the plurality of product images determined to be trending is displayable on the display device, and in a second one of the display states, if one of the product images from the first one of the display states previously determined to be trending is determined to be no longer trending, the one product image from the first one of the display states is not displayed in the second one of the display states; and

in each of the first and second display states, each product image is displayable without a price of the respective product and without text naming, describing or identifying the respective product, wherein each product image can be selected, and when one of the product images is selected, in a location of at least a part of the selected product image, the price of that product, text naming or describing that product, and a link to permit viewing of further details of that product are displayable.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein each product is determined to be trending based on a total number of positive reviews of the product and/or a total number of recommendations of the product via the one or more social networks.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein each product is determined to be trending based on the total number of positive reviews of the product and the total number of recommendations of the product via the one or more social networks.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein each product image is of a product that is determined to be trending within the past three days or less prior to being displayed, and no product images are displayed of products that are not trending within the past three days or less.

5. The system of claim 3, further comprising one or more of the following:

i) the reviews are from a website of a retailer that sells the products, and the displayed products have an average review score from the retailer website that is equal to or exceeds a predetermined threshold;

ii) each product image is of a product that is in stock; and

iii) each product image is of a product that is in season.

6. The system of claim 3, further comprising a badge icon displayed adjacent to one of the product images for the product that has received the largest number of positive reviews or the largest number of recommendations.

7. The system of claim 3, further comprising a first badge icon displayed adjacent to one of the product images for the product that has received the largest number of positive reviews, and a second badge icon displayed adjacent to one of the product images for the product that has received the largest number of recommendations.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the products are grouped into product categories;

and

for each product category, one of the badge icons is displayed adjacent to one of the product images for the product in the product category that has received the largest number of positive reviews or the largest number of recommendations.

9. The system of claim 1, further including a link that, when selected, causes only the product images of products that are currently subject to a sales promotion to be displayed.

10. The system of claim 3, wherein when one of the product images is selected, in the location of at least a part of the selected product image, the total number of positive reviews for that product, and the total number of recommendations for that product are displayed.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of product images are displayed on the display device in an arrangement of rows and columns including at least 4 columns.

12. An Internet website system, comprising:

at least one server that is connectable to the Internet and that is configured to provide a website that is viewable on the Internet, the website displays a plurality of separate product images arranged in a plurality of rows and columns;

each product image is of a product that is for sale by a company and has received at least one positive product review and/or has received at least one recommendation via at least one social network within a predetermined time period prior to being displayed;

each product image is displayed without a price of the respective product and without text naming, describing, or identifying the respective product;

the website does not display any product images of products that have not received at least one positive product review or at least one recommendation via at least one social network within the predetermined time period;

in a first display state, one or more of the plurality of product images that has received at least one positive product review and/or has received at least one recommendation via at least one social network within the predetermined time period prior to being displayed is displayable on the website, and in a second display state, one of the product images previously having received at least one positive product review and/or at least one recommendation via at least one social network within the predetermined time period prior to being displayed is determined no longer have at least one positive product review and/or at least one recommendation via at least one social network within the predetermined time period, the one product image is removed from the web site; and

each product image is of a product that is in stock for sale by the company, wherein each product image can be selected, and when one of the product images is selected, in a location of at least a part of the selected product image, the price of that product, text naming or describing that product, and a link to permit viewing of further details of that product are displayed.

13. The Internet website system of claim 12, further comprising a badge icon displayed adjacent to one of the product images for the product that has received the largest number of positive product reviews or the largest number of recommendations.

14. The Internet website system of claim 12, wherein the website includes a deals link that, when selected, causes only the product images of products that are currently subject to a sales promotion to be displayed.

15. A computer-implemented method of presenting products to a consumer for purchase via a graphical user interface (GUI) on a display device of the consumer, comprising:

determining products that are trending within the past seven days based on information from at least one social network;

via a website that is accessible by the consumer and that is rendered via one or more servers, displaying on the display device of the consumer a product image of each trending product, and displaying each product image without a price of the respective product and without text naming, describing, or identifying the respective product, wherein each product image can be selected, and when one of the product images is selected, in a location of at least a part of the selected product image, the price of that product, text naming or describing that product, and a link to permit viewing of further details of that product are displayed, and removing one or more of the product images previously determined to be trending when it is determined to be no longer trending.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein each product is determined to be trending based on a total number of positive reviews of the product and/or a total number of recommendations of the product via the at least one social network.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein each product is determined to be trending based on the total number of positive reviews of the product and the total number of recommendations of the product via at the least one social network.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein determining products that are trending comprises determining products that are trending within the past three days prior to being displayed, and no product images are displayed of products that are not trending within the past three days.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising filtering the products determined to be trending so that:

i) the reviews are from a website of a retailer that sells the products, and the displayed products have an average review score from the retailer website that is equal to or exceeds a predetermined threshold;

ii) each product image is of a product that is in stock; and

iii) each product image is of a product that is in season.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising displaying a badge icon adjacent to one of the product images for the product that has received the largest number of positive reviews or the largest number of recommendations.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising displaying a first badge icon adjacent to one of the product images for the product that has received the largest number of positive reviews, and displaying a second badge icon adjacent to one of the product images for the product that has received the largest number of recommendations.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising grouping the products into product categories;

and

for each product category, displaying one of the badge icons adjacent to one of the product images for the product that has received the largest number of positive reviews or the largest number of recommendations.

23. The method of claim 15, further including displaying a link that allows a user to select the link and when the link is selected, displaying only the product images of products that are currently subject to a sales promotion.

24. The method of claim 17, wherein when one of the product images is selected by the consumer, displaying, in the location of at least a part of the selected product image, the total number of positive reviews for that product, the total number of recommendations for that product, the price of that product, text naming or describing that product, and a link to permit viewing of further details of that product.

25. The method of claim 15, further comprising displaying the product images in an arrangement of rows and columns including at least 4 columns.