Display of popular, in-stock products of a merchant

• US 8,738,461 B1
• Filed: 03/18/2013
• Issued: 05/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Lee, Paul, Moisa, Dan, Chu, Christophe Francois
• Primary Examiner(s): Shaawat, Mussa A
• Application Number:
  US13/846,882
• Time in Patent Office: 435 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/26.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/18 involving self-service terminals [SST], vending machines, kiosks or multimedia terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

Displaying popular items that are available for sale at a merchant'"'"'s physical location comprises creating a electronic document corresponding to the merchant'"'"'s physical location. Then, a product availability database and a product popularity database are populated, the product availability database taking into account the inventory available at the merchant'"'"'s physical location. Next, a cross-referencing engine identifies the popular products that are available at the merchant'"'"'s physical location, and displays on the merchant'"'"'s electronic document a plurality of popular items that are available at the merchant'"'"'s physical location.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for presenting popular products that are in-stock at a merchant location, the method comprising the steps of:

creating, by one or more computing devices, an electronic document for a merchant corresponding to a physical location of the merchant, the electronic document comprising information regarding the merchant'"'"'s physical location;

estimating, by the one or more computing devices, whether one or more products are in stock at the physical location of the merchant, wherein the estimating comprises, for each of the one or more products;

receiving point of sale data, the point of sale data comprising a product identifier that identifies a product that was sold, a quantity of the product that was sold, a first store identifier that identifies the physical location of the merchant at which the product was sold, and a first timestamp corresponding to a first time (T1) at which the product was sold,

determining based at least on the received point of sale data, a rate of sales (r_s) for the product at the physical location of the merchant,

receiving, by the computer, an inventory snapshot, wherein the inventory snapshot reflects the inventory (Q) of the product at the store at a first time (T1), and wherein receipt of the inventory snapshot occurs at a second time (T2) subsequent to the first time,

determining, by the computer, a probability that fewer than Q products were sold between times T1 and T2, wherein the probability is based at least on the rate of sales (r_s), the first time (T1), and the second time (T2), and

determining, by the computer, an indication of product availability based at least on the probability, wherein the indication of product availability comprises an “

in stock”

indicator when the probability is greater than a first probability threshold, and the product availability indicator comprises an “

out of stock”

indicator when the probability is less than a second probability threshold,

populating, by the one or more computing devices, a product availability database with product inventory that is in stock at the merchant'"'"'s physical location based at least in part on the estimation that the one or more products are in stock;

populating, by the one or more computing devices, a product popularity database with popular products by identifying a popularity of each product relative to at least one other product;

comparing, by the one or more computing devices, information from the product popularity database with information from the product availability database to identify at least two products that are (1) identified as popular in the product popularity database relative to at least one other product and (2) estimated as in stock at the merchant'"'"'s physical location as identified in the product availability database;

populating, by the one or more computing devices, the electronic document with the at least two popular products that are estimated as in stock at the merchant'"'"'s physical location; and

presenting, by the one or more computing devices, the electronic document comprising the information regarding the merchant'"'"'s physical location and the at least two popular products that are estimated as in stock at the merchant'"'"'s physical location.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying a popularity of each product relative to at least one other product is based on at least one of editorial product reviews, user reviews, consumer reviews, number of units sold, number of network searches for a product, or a combination of price per unit and number of units sold.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the information regarding the merchant'"'"'s physical location further comprises at least one of a physical address of the merchant'"'"'s location and a map showing the merchant'"'"'s location.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing a hyperlink that allows a user to search for products that are available at the merchant'"'"'s physical location.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein populating the electronic document comprises presenting the top five most popular products that are estimated as in stock at the merchant'"'"'s physical location.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein additional information related to the popular products is available, such information comprising at least one of user reviews, expert reviews, whether the at least one popular product is of limited availability, or whether availability of the at least one popular product is limited to a specified number of units.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the product availability database and the product popularity database comprise a single database.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the point of sale data comprises data from a source other than the store at which the product was sold.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing r_e and the timestamps in a data object corresponding to the product and the store.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein (x=r_sΔ

T), (Δ

T=T2−

T1), (N=Q−

1), and the probability that fewer than Q products were sold between times T1 and T2 is determined according to an equation

24. The method of claim 23, wherein k is in a range 0.03≦

k≦

0.1.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the first and second probability thresholds are the same threshold.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein the rate of sales (r_s) is determined according to an exponential moving average.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the rate of sales (r_s) is determined by an equation <

u>

/<

t>

, where <

u>

is determined recursively as

<

u>

_i=(1−

j)*<

u>

_i-1+j*u_i,

and <

t>

is determined recursively as

<

t>

_i=(1−

k)*<

t>

_i-1+k*t_i,

such that u_i is the number of units sold during sales event i, t_i is a period of time between sales events i and i−

1, j is a constant in a range 0<

j<

1, and k is a constant in a range 0<

k<

1.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein j is in a range 0.02≦

j≦

0.5.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein j is in a range 0.03≦

k≦

0.1.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein j and k are equal.

8. A system for providing popular products that are in-stock at a merchant location, comprising:

a server that presents an electronic document that corresponds to a physical location of a merchant, the electronic document comprising an electronic document that presents information regarding the merchant;

a product availability database comprising inventory that is available from the merchant at the physical location of the merchant, the product availability database identifying products that are estimated as in stock at the merchant at the merchant'"'"'s physical location, wherein the identifying the products that are estimated as in stock comprises, for each of the products;

receiving point of sale data, the point of sale data comprising a product identifier that identifies a product that was sold, a quantity of the product that was sold, a first store identifier that identifies the physical location of the merchant at which the product was sold, and a first timestamp corresponding to a first time (T1) at which the product was sold,

determining based at least on the received point of sale data, a rate of sales events (r_e) for the product at the physical location of the merchant,

receiving, by the computer, an inventory snapshot, wherein the inventory snapshot reflects the inventory (Q) of the product at the store at a first time (T1), and wherein receipt of the inventory snapshot occurs at a second time (T2) subsequent to the first time,

determining, by the computer, a probability that fewer than Q products were sold between times T1 and T2, wherein the probability is based at least on the rate of sales (r_s), the first time (T1), and the second time (T2), and

determining, by the computer, an indication of product availability based at least on the probability, wherein the indication of product availability comprises an “

in stock”

indicator when the probability is greater than a first probability threshold, and the product availability indicator comprises an “

out of stock”

indicator when the probability is less than a second probability threshold,

a product popularity database comprising an identification of products that are each ranked by popularity relative to at least one other product; and

an analyzer that compares information from the product popularity database to identify at least two products that are identified as popular in the product popularity database relative to at least one other product and that are estimated as in stock at the merchant'"'"'s physical location as identified in the product availability database,

the server populating the electronic document with the information regarding the merchant'"'"'s physical location and the at least two popular products that are estimated as in stock at the merchant'"'"'s physical location.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the analyzer identifies at least one popular product based on at least one of editorial product reviews, user reviews, consumer reviews, number of units sold, number of network searches for a product, or a combination of price per unit and number of units sold.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein information regarding the merchant'"'"'s physical location comprises at least one of a physical address of the merchant'"'"'s location and a map showing the merchant'"'"'s address.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the server further inserts into the electronic document a hyperlink that allows a user to search for products that are available at the merchant'"'"'s physical location.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the server inserts into the electronic document the at least two popular products by inserting the top five most popular products that are estimated as in stock at the merchant'"'"'s physical.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the server populating into the electronic document the at least two popular products comprises populating additional information related to the at least two popular products comprising at least one of user reviews, expert reviews, whether the at least one popular product is of limited availability, or whether availability of the at least one popular product is limited to a specified number of units.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the product availability database and the product popularity database comprise a single database.

15. A computer-implemented method for presenting popular products that are in-stock at a merchant location, the method comprising the steps of:

estimating, by one or more computing devices, whether one or more products are in stock at a physical location of a merchant, wherein the estimating comprises, for each of the one or more products;

receiving point of sale data, the point of sale data comprising a product identifier that identifies a product that was sold, a quantity of the product that was sold, a first store identifier that identifies the physical location of the merchant at which the product was sold, and a first timestamp corresponding to a first time (T1) at which the product was sold,

determining based at least on the received point of sale data, a rate of sales events (r_e) for the product at the physical location of the merchant,

receiving, by the computer, an inventory snapshot, wherein the inventory snapshot reflects the inventory (Q) of the product at the store at a first time (T1), and wherein receipt of the inventory snapshot occurs at a second time (T2) subsequent to the first time,

determining, by the computer, a probability that fewer than Q products were sold between times T1 and T2, wherein the probability is based at least on the rate of sales (r_s), the first time (T1), and the second time (T2), and

determining, by the computer, an indication of product availability based at least on the probability, wherein the indication of product availability comprises an “

in stock”

indicator when the probability is greater than a first probability threshold, and the product availability indicator comprising an “

out of stock”

indicator when the probability is less than a second probability threshold,

identifying, by the one or more computing devices, products that are in stock at the physical location of the merchant based on the estimation that the one or more products are in stock;

identifying, by the one or more computing devices, popular products;

comparing, by the one or more computing devices, the estimated in stock products with the popular products to identify at least two products that are identified as popular and that are estimated as in stock at the merchant'"'"'s physical location; and

presenting, by the one or more computing devices, the at least two products that are identified as popular and that are estimated as in stock at a merchant'"'"'s physical location.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the identification of popular products is based on at least one of editorial product reviews, user reviews, consumer reviews, number of units sold, number of searches for a product, or a combination of price per unit and number of units sold.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising presenting, with the popular products, a physical address of the merchant'"'"'s location and a map showing the merchant'"'"'s location.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising presenting a hyperlink that allows a user to search for products that are available at the merchant'"'"'s physical location.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein presenting the popular products comprises presenting the top five most popular products that are identified as in stock at the merchant'"'"'s physical location.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the presenting step further comprises presenting additional information related to the popular products comprising at least one of user reviews, expert reviews, whether the popular products are of limited availability, or whether availability of the popular products is limited to a specified number of units.