Determination and presentation of package pricing offers in response to customer interest in a product

• US 8,712,860 B2
• Filed: 02/11/2011
• Issued: 04/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Inventor Holdings LLC (Walker Innovation Inc. (f/k/a Patent Properties, Inc.))
• Inventors: Walker, Jay S., Fincham, Magdalena M., Dickerson, John B.
• Primary Examiner(s): ZURITA, JAMES H
• Application Number:
  US13/025,814
• Publication Number:
  US 20110131089A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,173 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26.1, 705/27.1
• US Class Current: 705/26.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10 by electromagnetic radiation, e.g. optical sensing; by corpuscular radiation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0224 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0239 Online discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A system and method for determination and presentation of package offers. A package offer is an offer for sale by a retailer of a package of products at a package price. A retailer may offer products for sale in an on-line retail environment or in a physical retail environment. A determination is made that a primary product is of interest to a customer. This determination may involve detecting and interpreting input signals transmitted from a customer device. In response to detecting that the primary product is of interest to the customer, a package is determined that may comprise the primary product and at least one secondary product. A package may be determined by accessing a database to locate a pre-determined package or to select the secondary products ad hoc. A package price is determined that is less than the sum of the corresponding retail prices of the primary product and secondary products in the package. A package price may be based on a profit margin of the primary product and/or a profit margin of at least one of the secondary products. A package offer for the sale of the package at the package price is then presented to the customer. The customer may indicate an acceptance of the package offer and authorize a financial account to be charged for the amount of the package price. The package products may be shipped to the customer or may be picked up at a retail establishment.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

detecting, by a processing device, that a customer has expressed interest in a first product the first product having an assigned first product identifier;

dynamically determining, by the processing device and in response to the detecting and on an ad hoc basis, a package to be offered to the customer, the package comprising the first product and at least one second product, wherein the at least one second product is selected for inclusion in the package based on an indication of past interest by the customer in the at least one second product and wherein the at least one second product does not have a pre-determined relationship with the first product;

causing, by the processing device, an outputting of an offer for the package to the customer, the outputting comprising an indication of a discounted price comprising a price that is less than a sum of individual retail prices of the first and second products; and

initiating, by the processing device, a sale of the first product and the second product to the customer for the discounted price.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting that the customer has expressed interest in the first product, comprises:

receiving an indication that the customer has clicked on an image of the first product.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting that the customer has expressed interest in the first product, comprises:

receiving an indication that the customer has initiated a keyword search relating to the first product.