ONLINE ORDERING SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20090281890A1
• Filed: 07/22/2009
• Published: 11/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Liberty Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Licardi, Courtney Ann, Aliabadi, Amir, Hammond, Jeffrey T., Sutton, Becky, Frangos, Anargiros Zacharias, Dalton, Noreen, Tarvydas, Martin
• Granted Patent: US 8,600,822 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.340
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/047 Optimisation of routes or paths, e.g. travelling salesman problem
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0234 Rebates after completed purchase
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0605 Supply or demand aggregation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0621 Item configuration or customization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 : Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 : Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/50 : Business processes related to the communications industry metering or billing arrangements H04L12/14; telephonic communication involving automatic or semi-automatic exchanges H04M3/00; arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication H04M15/00; prepayment telephone systems H04M17/00; accounting or billing for wireless communication networks H04W4/24

Abstract

Systems and methods for facilitating an on-line purchase of at least one item on behalf of a consumer are disclosed. A consumer may shop and purchase at least one item on a consolidated shopping (CS) website displaying one or more items available for purchase on one or more different merchant websites. The CS website provides consumers with advanced searching that takes into consideration a personal profile of the consumer, the consumer'"'"'s previous shopping history, transactional data relating to a group of similar consumers, and the like. A host computer providing the CS website may access a merchant website selling the requested item, and order the requested item on behalf of the consumer, and charging a transaction fee, listing fee, receiving a rebate and/or offering a rebate for performing such. One embodiment allows a consumer to purchase/order multiple items from multiple websites in a single purchase request to the CS website.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method to facilitate an on-line purchase of an item, said method comprising:

receiving, by a host computer, a product feed from a source;

extracting, by said host computer, an image from said product feed;

retrieving, by said host computer, an image from a web site;

creating, by said host computer, a normalized product feed from a plurality of said product feeds such that said plurality of said product feeds are in the same format;

storing, by said host computer, said images and said product feed in a database, wherein said database includes product data from a plurality of web sites;

displaying, by said host computer, said product data including said images for viewing on a single user interface;

receiving, by said host computer, a request to purchase said item from among said product data, wherein said request includes order data entered into a first electronic form of a first website, and wherein said request is received at said first website; and

,

placing an order, by said host computer, for said item on a second website by automatically inserting said order data into a second electronic form of said second website, without redirecting said consumer to said second website, wherein said second website offers said item.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising charging a transaction fee to at least one of said second website, a wholesaler of said item, a manufacturer of said item, a consumer of said item, and an issuer of a payment instrument used for placing said order.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein said transaction fee is at least one of a set fee, a random fee, and a variable fee.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein said charging said transaction fee comprises charging a set transaction fee based on at least one of a number of items purchased, a purchase amount, number of websites where said ordering occurs, type of said item purchased, payment method, type of said payment instrument and per transaction.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein said charging a transaction fee comprises charging a variable transaction fee based on at least one of a number of items purchased, a purchase amount, number of websites where said ordering occurs, type of said item purchased, payment method, type of said payment instrument, per transaction and a percentage.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein said charging a transaction fee comprises charging an affiliated merchant website said transaction fee.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein said charging a transaction fee comprises charging a non-affiliated merchant website said transaction fee, wherein said non-affiliated merchant website is solicited for said transaction fee.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising displaying information on said first website related to said item, wherein said item is capable of being ordered on said second website.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising charging a listing fee from at least one of said second website, a wholesaler and a manufacturer of said item.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of receiving and offering a rebate for placing said order.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a rebate from at least one of said second website, a wholesaler of said item, a manufacturer of said item and an issuer of said payment instrument.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising offering a rebate to at least one of a consumer, a school, a church, a research facility and a charitable organization.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising offering a rebate which is at least one of a set fee, a random fee, and a variable fee.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising offering a set rebate based on at least one of a number of items purchased, a purchase amount, number of websites where said ordering occurs, type of item purchased, payment method, type of said payment instrument and per transaction.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said order data is retrieved from a personal profile that is associated with a consumer of said item.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising parsing said normalized data feed and said image into categorized data elements to determine if a category exists in a product table which corresponds to said categorized data elements, wherein said categorized data elements are added to a buffer table in response to said category not existing and said categorized data elements are integrated with stored product data within said product table in response to said category existing to create integrated data.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, further comprising providing said integrated data to a consumer such that said consumer may utilize a single shopping website to search for, compare prices and order said items, wherein said items are associated with said stored product data from said plurality of websites, wherein each of said plurality of websites may be associated with a different merchant.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising placing a second order, by said host computer, for a second item on a third website by automatically inserting order data into an electronic form of said third website without redirecting said consumer to said third website, wherein said third website offers said second item for sale, and wherein said first website, said second website, and said third website are each different websites

19. A tangible computer-readable medium having stored thereon, computer-executable instructions that, if executed by a host computer, cause said host computer to perform a method comprising:

receiving, by said host computer, a product feed from a source;

extracting, by said host computer, an image from said product feed;

retrieving, by said host computer, an image from a web site;

creating, by said host computer, a normalized product feed from a plurality of said product feeds such that said plurality of said product feeds are in the same format;

storing, by said host computer, said images and said product feed in a database, wherein said database includes product data from a plurality of web sites;

displaying, by said host computer, said product data including said images for viewing on a single user interface;

receiving, by said host computer, a request to purchase said item from among said product data, wherein said request includes order data entered into a first electronic form of a first website, and wherein said request is received at said first website; and

,

placing an order, by said host computer, for said item on a second website by automatically inserting said order data into a second electronic form of said second website, without redirecting said consumer to said second website, wherein said second website offers said item.

20. A host computer providing a first website configured to facilitate an on-line purchase of an item, said host computer configured to:

receive a product feed from a source;

extract an image from said product feed;

retrieve an image from a web site;

create a normalized product feed from a plurality of said product feeds such that said plurality of said product feeds are in the same format;

store said images and said product feed in a database, wherein said database includes product data from a plurality of web sites;

display said product data including said images for viewing on a single user interface;

receive a request to purchase said item from among said product data, wherein said request includes order data entered into a first electronic form of a first website, and wherein said request is received at said first website; and

,

place an order for said item on a second website by automatically inserting said order data into a second electronic form of said second website, without redirecting said consumer to said second website, wherein said second website offers said item.