Advertising infrastructure supporting cross selling opportunity management

• US 8,403,217 B2
• Filed: 04/20/2012
• Issued: 03/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Enpulz LLC
• Inventors: Winslade, Christopher C., Bennett, James D.
• Primary Examiner(s): RUDY, ANDREW J
• Application Number:
  US13/452,164
• Publication Number:
  US 20120203631A1
• Time in Patent Office: 340 Days
• Field of Search: 700/17, 700/83, 235/376, 235/383, 370/252, 370/352, 370/395.21, 709/705, 709/784, 709/203, 709/217, 709/219, 709/223, 709/224, 705/14.4, 705/14.51, 705/22, 705/28, 705/30, 705/34
• US Class Current: 235/383
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0224 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0235 constrained by time limit or expiration date
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0239 Online discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0244 Optimization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0253 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0257 User requested
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0605 Supply or demand aggregation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0611 Request for offers or quotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 : Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 : Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 : Insurance

Abstract

A sales system supports sales between a plurality of buyers and a plurality of sellers in a communication network. A sales server has a seller interface used by both a first seller and a second seller respectively via a first seller'"'"'s computer and a second seller'"'"'s computer to register availability for sale of a first product and a second product. The sales server, based upon received buyer input from an identified buyer via a buyer computer that includes buyer orders for the first product and the second product dispenses a first sales order to the first seller'"'"'s computer for the first product and a second sales order to the second seller'"'"'s computer for the second product. The sales server provides instructions to the first seller'"'"'s computer for fulfillment of the first sales order and to the second sales computer for the fulfillment of the second sales order.

Claims

1. A network infrastructure supporting a plurality of sellers via Internet, the network infrastructure comprising:

an advertising database having a structure supporting storage of a plurality of advertisements, the structure including a plurality of fields that support image related field data, pricing related field data, web link related field data, description related field data, identifier related field data, seller related field data, manufacturer related field data, and limitation related field data, each of the plurality of advertisements being represented at least in part within the structure;

a seller support system, coupled to the advertising database, that supports interactions through the Internet with the plurality of sellers via a corresponding plurality of seller systems, the interactions supported include gathering for storage within the advertising database the plurality of advertisements, monitoring activity relating to the plurality of advertisements, and reviewing amounts due relating to services rendered;

a search system that receives at least one search request and accesses the advertising database to extract and deliver primary output and cross selling output, the primary output corresponding to at least a first of the plurality of advertisements, the cross selling output corresponding to at least a second of the plurality of advertisements, the at least the first of the plurality of advertisements differing from but being related to the at least the second of the plurality of advertisements; and

the search system delivering the primary output and the cross selling output to support at least one related visual presentation to a buyer, the at least one related visual presentation including a cross selling offer based on the cross selling output.

2. The network infrastructure of claim 1, wherein the at least one related visual presentation comprises a first visual presentation relating to the primary output, and a second visual presentation relating to the cross selling output.

3. The network infrastructure of claim 2, wherein the first visual presentation includes a series of web page presentations through which the buyer can complete a transaction based on at least a portion of the primary output.

4. The network infrastructure of claim 2, wherein the second visual presentation comprises an email presentation.

5. The network infrastructure of claim 2, wherein seller interaction data gathered during the first visual presentation is used in an identification of at least a portion of the cross selling output for extraction.

6. A network infrastructure supporting a plurality of sellers via Internet, the network infrastructure comprising:

an advertising database having a structure supporting storage of a plurality of advertisements, the structure including a plurality of fields that support image related field data, pricing related field data, web link related field data, description related field data, identifier related field data, seller related field data, each of the plurality of advertisements being represented at least in part within the structure;

a seller support system that supports interactions between the advertising database and the plurality of sellers via a corresponding plurality of seller systems, the interactions including delivery of the plurality of advertisements for storage within the advertising database;

a search system that accesses the advertising database to selectively construct and deliver primary output and secondary output, the primary output corresponding to at least a first of the plurality of advertisements of a first of the plurality of sellers, the secondary output corresponding to at least a second of the plurality of advertisements of a second of the plurality of sellers, the at least the first of the plurality of advertisements differing from but being related to the at least the second of the plurality of advertisements; and

the search system delivering the primary output and the secondary output to support at least one related visual presentation to a buyer, the at least one related visual presentation including a first sales related offer based on the primary output and a second sales related offer based on the secondary output.

7. The network infrastructure of claim 6, wherein the at least one related visual presentation comprises a first visual presentation relating to the primary output, and a second visual presentation relating to the secondary output.

8. The network infrastructure of claim 7, wherein the first visual presentation includes a series of web page presentations through which the buyer can complete a transaction based on at least a portion of the primary output.

9. The network infrastructure of claim 7, wherein the second visual presentation comprises an email presentation.

10. The network infrastructure of claim 7, wherein seller interaction data gathered during the first visual presentation is used in an identification of at least a portion of the secondary output.

11. The network infrastructure of claim 6, wherein the search system considers at least one of the plurality of fields of the structure to identify at least a portion of the secondary output.

12. The network infrastructure of claim 6, wherein the search system considers buyer related information to identify at least a portion of the secondary output, and wherein the buyer related information comprises one or more of:

information relating to buyer input data relating to the primary output;

information relating to buyer history; and

information relating to a buyer profile.

13. The network infrastructure of claim 6, wherein the secondary output comprises one or both of cross selling output and up selling output.

14. The network infrastructure of claim 6, further comprising an accounting system that manages amounts due relating to services rendered.

15. The network infrastructure of claim 14, wherein the delivery of at least the primary output is for combination with non-seller web page data.

16. The network infrastructure of claim 14, wherein:

the delivery of at least the primary output is for combination with seller web page data;

the combination supports a comparison of items for sale from the plurality of sellers, the items for sale corresponding to the primary output; and

the cross selling output is delivered after the combination.

17. A network infrastructure supporting a plurality of sellers via Internet, the network infrastructure comprising:

an multi-seller advertising database having a plurality of fields for storing advertisement data such as image related field data, pricing related field data, web link related field data, description related field data, and seller related field data;

a first service that supports interactions between the multi-seller advertising database and the plurality of sellers via a corresponding plurality of seller systems, the interactions including delivering the advertisement data for storage within the multi-seller advertising database;

a second service that supports identification of a primary output from the multi-seller advertising database, the primary output corresponding to at least a first advertisement of a first of the plurality of sellers, the second service supports delivery of the primary output to support a first visual presentation to a buyer, the first visual presentation including a primary sales related offer based on the primary output;

the second service receives buyer selection data relating to the first visual presentation; and

the second service supports identification of a cross selling output from the multi-seller advertising database, the cross selling output corresponding to at least a second advertisement of a second of the plurality of sellers, the second service supports delivery of the cross selling output to support a second visual presentation to the buyer, the second visual presentation including a cross selling offer based on the cross selling output.

18. The network infrastructure of claim 17, wherein the first visual presentation includes a series of web page presentations through which the buyer can complete a transaction based on at least a portion of the primary output.

19. The network infrastructure of claim 17, wherein the second visual presentation comprises an email presentation.

20. The network infrastructure of claim 17, wherein buyer interaction data gathered during the first visual presentation is used in the identification of at least a portion of the cross selling output.

21. The network infrastructure of claim 17, further comprising an accounting system that manages amounts due relating to services rendered.

22. The network infrastructure of claim 21, wherein the delivery of at least the primary output is for combination with non-seller web page data.

23. The network infrastructure of claim 21, wherein:

the delivery of at least the primary output is for combination with seller web page data;

the combination supports a comparison of items for sale from a plurality of sellers, the items for sale corresponding to the primary output; and

the cross selling output is delivered after the combination.