System and method of presenting on-line product selection based on internal marketing and user popularity

• US 20060085251A1
• Filed: 10/14/2004
• Published: 04/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Overstock.com Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Overstock.com Incorporated
• Inventors: Greene, Douglas F.
• Application Number:
  US10/965,526
• Publication Number:
  US 20060085251A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.530
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0237 at kiosk
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0257 User requested
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0268 at point-of-sale [POS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0272 Period of advertisement exposure

Abstract

An on-line Internet display of product viewing banners is selected and positioned in a predetermined viewing zone on a user screen, based upon: marketing personnel'"'"'s selection/creation of a total selected number of possible preferred product viewing banners; and the number of hits on each preferred product viewing banner received from a user over a selected period of time; and where only a subset of the most popular preferred product viewing banners is displayed in the viewing zone based upon the total number of hits received over time for each of the preselected number of possible viewing banners.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of presenting on-line product selection by electronic communication media from a product selection website for review by users, comprising the steps of:

(a) transmitting a product viewing banner relating to an on-line product from the product selection website on request by a user for an on-line display;

(b) forming a record of the user'"'"'s response to the transmitted product viewing banner to indicate a popularity of the transmitted product viewing banner;

(c) repeating steps (a) and (b) for other users, and cycling through a plurality of product viewing banners, such that the product viewing banners are presented to other users;

(d) forming a popularity ranking of the product viewing banners relative to other ones of the product viewing banners based on the formed records of user responses; and

then

(e) presenting a subset of the most popular product viewing banners to users based on the popularity ranking formed based on user responses.

2. The method of claim 1, further including the step of presenting a group of product viewing banners from the website server.

3. The method of claim 1, further including the step of:

responding to requests for access to the product selection website for on-line product selection.

4. The method of claim 1, further including the step of:

positioning the transmitted product viewing banner in a preselected viewing zone on the on-line display of the user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the subset of the most popular product viewing banners comprises at least one product viewing banner.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein step (a) is based on marketing directives that are internal relative to an organization operating or offering the product selection website.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) is based on responses from users that are external relative to an organization operating or offering the product selection website.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein step (a) is based on marketing directives that are internal relative to an organization operating or offering the product selection website, step (b) is based on responses from users that are external relative to the organization;

and further including the step of;

positioning the transmitted product viewing banner in an internally preselected viewing zone on the on-line display of the external user.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the cycling step of step (c) comprises randomly selecting one of the product viewing banners from among the plurality of product viewing banners.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the cycling step of step (c) comprises sequentially selecting one of the product viewing banners from among the plurality of product viewing banners.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) comprises presenting information about a product in response to the product viewing banner being selected.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) comprises enabling a purchase of a service/product associated with the product viewing banner.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein step (d) comprises determining popularity over a selected period of time, and step (e) comprises presenting the subset of the most popular product viewing banners after said selected period of time.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein step (d) comprises determining popularity on a real-time basis and step (e) comprises presenting the subset of the most popular product viewing banners on a real-time basis.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising removing a product viewing banner from availability for display to users when a service/product associated with the product viewing banner is unavailable.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the product viewing banner includes an image of a product.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the product viewing banner includes a description of a product.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the product viewing banner includes a price of a service/product.

19. A computer server presenting information as a product selection website for on-line product selection by users over a publicly accessible computer network, comprising:

a processor;

an interface connecting the processor to the publicly accessible computer network for communication with users;

a storage medium containing information about on-line products for selection by users;

said processor transmitting from the storage medium a product viewing banner relating to an on-line product from the product selection website on request by a user for an on-line display on the computer and forming in the storage medium a record of the user'"'"'s response to the transmitted product viewing banner through the computer to indicate a popularity of the transmitted product viewing banner;

the processor further repeatedly transmitting product viewing banners and forming records of user responses and cycling through a plurality of product viewing banners stored on the storage medium, such that the product viewing banners are presented to other users through the computer;

the processor further forming in the storage medium a popularity ranking of the product viewing banners relative to other ones of the product viewing banners based on the formed records of user responses; and

the processor further presenting a subset of the most popular product viewing banners to users over the publicly accessible computer network based on the popularity ranking formed from the user responses.

20. The computer server of claim 19, further including the processor presenting a group of product viewing banners from the storage medium.

21. The computer server of claim 19, further including the processor responding to requests for access to the product selection website for on-line product selection over the publicly accessible computer network.

22. The computer server of claim 19, further including the processor positioning the transmitted product viewing banner in a preselected viewing zone on the on-line display of the user.

23. The computer server of claim 19, wherein the subset of the most popular product viewing banners presented by the processor comprises at least one product viewing banner from the storage medium.

24. The computer server of claim 19, wherein the product viewing banner presented by the processor is based on marketing directives that are internal relative to an organization operating or offering the product selection website.

25. The computer server of claim 19, wherein the record formed in the storage medium is based on responses from users that are external relative to an organization operating or offering the product selection website.

26. The computer server of claim 19, wherein the product viewing banner presented by the processor is based on marketing directives that are internal relative to an organization operating or offering the product selection website, the record formed in the storage medium is based on responses from users that are external relative to the organization;

and further including the processor positioning the transmitted product viewing banner in an internally preselected viewing zone on the on-line display of the external user.

27. The computer server of claim 19, further including the processor randomly selecting one of the product viewing banners from among the plurality of product viewing banners on the storage medium.

28. The computer server of claim 19, further including the processor sequentially selecting one of the product viewing banners from among the plurality of product viewing banners on the storage medium.

29. The computer server of claim 19, further including the processor presenting information about a product from the storage medium in response to the product viewing banner being selected on the computer.

30. The computer server of claim 19, further including the processor enabling a purchase of a product associated with the product viewing banner over the publicly accessible computer network.

31. The computer server of claim 19, further including the processor determining popularity over a selected period of time, and presenting the subset of the most popular product viewing banners from the storage medium after said selected period of time over the publicly accessible computer network.

32. The computer server of claim 19, further including the processor determining popularity on a real-time basis and presenting the subset of the most popular product viewing banners from the storage medium on a real-time basis over the publicly accessible computer network.

33. The computer server of claim 19, further comprising the processor removing a product viewing banner from availability for display to users when a product associated with the product viewing banner is unavailable.

34. A system to present on-line product selection over a publicly accessible computer network, comprising:

a server computer at a site accessible to the computer network, the server computer having a processor, memory coupled to the processor to store operating instructions therein, and a graphical display coupled to the processor for displaying graphical images;

a database accessible to the processor of the server computer and containing database records about product selection;

the machine-readable instructions stored in the memory of the server computer to causing the processor to perform the following operations;

transmit from the server computer a product viewing banner relating to an on-line product from a product selection website on request by a user for an on-line display;

form at the server computer a record of the user'"'"'s response to the transmitted product viewing banner to indicate a popularity of the transmitted product viewing banner; and

cycle through a plurality of product viewing banners, such that the product viewing banners are presented to other users;

form at the server computer a popularity ranking of the product viewing banners relative to other ones of the product viewing banners based on the formed records of user responses; and

present from the server computer a subset of the most popular product viewing banners to users;

a user interface coupled to the processor to provide user access over the computer network for access to the database records;

a user computer at a user site accessible to the computer network, the user computer having a processor, memory coupled to the processor to store software therein, and to receive database records therein, a graphic display coupled to the processor for displaying graphic images, and a user interface coupled to the processor to provide a user access to manipulate the stored software and received database records;

the user computer being interconnected to the server computer over the publicly accessible computer network to view a transmitted product viewing banner relating to an on-line product from the product selection website;

the database accessible to the processor of the server computer storing a record of the user'"'"'s response to the transmitted product viewing banner to indicate a popularity of the transmitted product viewing banner; and

the server computer cycling through a plurality of product viewing banners to present the product viewing banners to other users, such that a popularity ranking of the product viewing banners is formed from the user responses in order to present a subset of the most popular product viewing banners to users.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the product viewing banners are selected based on marketing directives that are internal relative to an organization responsible for the product selection website, and popularity of the product viewing banners is based on responses from users that are external relative to the organization.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein the transmitted product viewing banner is positioned in an internally preselected viewing zone on the graphic display of the user external to the organization.

37. The system of claim 34, wherein popularity of the product viewing banners is determined over a selected period of time, and the subset of the most popular product viewing banners is presented to users after said selected period of time.

38. The system of claim 34, wherein popularity is determined on a real-time basis and the subset of the most popular product viewing banners is presented to users on a real-time basis.

39. A computer readable medium that is readable by a computer connected to a publicly accessible computer network to facilitate electronic commerce over the computer network with users, the computer readable medium comprising:

a set of instructions that, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to perform the following operations;

transmit from the computer a product viewing banner relating to an on-line product from the product selection website on request by a user for an on-line display;

form at the computer a record of the user'"'"'s response to the transmitted product viewing banner to indicate a popularity of the transmitted product viewing banner;

cycle through a plurality of product viewing banners, such that the product viewing banners are presented to other users;

form at the computer a popularity ranking of the product viewing banners relative to other ones of the product viewing banners based on the formed records of user responses; and

present from the computer a subset of the most popular product viewing banners to users.

40. A computer memory element containing stored in signal bearing media a database, the database containing the following data in computer readable format:

data indicating a plurality of product viewing banners relating to on-line products from a product selection website for transmission to users on a publicly accessible computer network;

data indicating records of the users'"'"' responses to the transmitted product viewing banners to indicate a relative popularity of the transmitted product viewing banners; and

data indicating a popularity ranking of the product viewing banners relative to other ones of the product viewing banners based on the formed records of user responses.

41. The database of claim 40, further including data indicating a subset of the most popular product viewing banners presented to users.

42. A computer system facilitating electronic commerce over a publicly accessible computer network, comprising:

a processor;

a storage medium having data accessible to the processor;

an input/output for transferring data to the processor;

the processor comprising;

means for transmitting a product viewing banner relating to an on-line product from a product selection website on request by a user for an on-line display;

means for forming a record of the user'"'"'s response to the transmitted product viewing banner to indicate a popularity of the transmitted product viewing banner;

means for cycling through a plurality of product viewing banners, such that the product viewing banners are presented to other users;

means for forming a popularity ranking of the product viewing banners relative to other ones of the product viewing banners based on the formed records of user responses; and

means for presenting a subset of the most popular product viewing banners to users.

43. A method of presenting on-line product selection for purchase by a user, comprising:

(a) preparing a group of product viewing banners for a product selection website;

(b) accessing the product selection website by a user;

(c) presenting one of the product viewing banners to the user in an on-line display of the product selection website;

(d) positioning said one of the product viewing banners in a preselected viewing zone on an interface of the user;

(e) tracking the user'"'"'s response to said one of the product viewing banners, such that a popularity of said one of the product viewing banners is increased if the user selects said one of the product viewing banners;

(f) repeating steps (b) through (e) for other users, and cycling through the product viewing banners in the group repetitively, such that the product viewing banners are presented to multiple users;

(g) ranking the product viewing banners relative to each other based on popularity; and

then

(h) presenting one of a subset of the most popular product viewing banners to subsequent users based on step (g).

44. The method of claim 43, wherein step (a) is based on marketing directives that are internal relative to an organization operating or offering the product selection website, step (b) is based on users that are external relative to the organization, and step (d) comprises internally preselecting the viewing zone and the interface of the user is external.

45. The method of claim 43, wherein step (g) comprises determining popularity over a selected period of time, and step (h) comprises presenting the subset of the most popular product viewing banners after said selected period of time.

46. The method of claim 43, wherein step (g) comprises determining popularity on a real-time basis and step (h) comprises presenting the subset of the most popular product viewing banners on a real-time basis.